We shouldn’t celebrate when a few streetlights are turned on

Saturday’s rugby match between the Springboks and All Blacks offered glimmers of hope beyond sport.

The slick, three-minute train ride from Park Station to Ellis Park Stadium showed that much-disparaged Joburg can still aspire to be world class, albeit in a limited zone.

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa and Gautrain sparkled. Streetlights and potholes were repaired. Security was improved.

ALSO READ: Joburg mayor unveils spruced-up Ellis Park Precinct before All Black game [PICS]

Some day we may hear the full story of how the Jozi My Jozi initiative, backed by corporates such as Anglo American, Nando’s, FNB, Standard Bank, Investec, Absa and Microsoft has been busy in the area.

Meanwhile, in townships and suburbs, not much changed.

There are moves afoot to fix Joburg. Yet all this will amount to a combination of a Potemkin village and “bread and circuses” if the city is not well governed.

The term Potemkin village derives from Grigory Potemkin, an 18th-century Russian governor of Crimea, who wanted to impress Empress Catherine the Great.

He built fake villages with elaborate facades to create an illusion of a thriving, happy population.

In reality, the area was undeveloped and impoverished.

Bread and circuses were used by ancient Roman emperors to distract people from socio economic troubles. These distractions also helped maintain public support for ruling elites.

They provided safety valves for letting off steam. In Johannesburg, such ploys have limited traction.

We are asked to celebrate when a limited number of streetlights come on, or when one stretch of damaged road is patched amid a sea of craters.

ALSO READ: CoJ to polish Ellis Park precinct in preparation for All Blacks visit

Johannesburg’s local government lacks the ability to turn the city around. Individuals in charge don’t have the qualifications, experience, will power or motivation.

Why would they bother when they can milk the system? Yet, there is hope. Fed-up folk are taking a greater interest through residents’ associations and other civil society organisations.

Pressure is building to break the chain of incompetence and corruption, either through the dissolution of council or the introduction of a genuine government of local unity – along the lines of the GNU.

These options are not mutually exclusive. In terms of Section 139 of the SA constitution, if a municipality is not fulfilling its executive obligations, the provincial government can dissolve council, appoint an administrator and bring in hard-nosed specialists to fix the city.

Fresh elections would have to be held within 90 days.

New councillors would emerge. One problem with this model is that the minority (34%) ANC Gauteng government is already pulling Joburg’s strings.

Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi is complicit in the chaos.

To resolve this requires intervention by the ANC at national level to dissolve Lesufi’s ANC provincial executive committee.

This means tackling the “Alex mafia” head-on.

Not an easy task when the name of the deputy president of the party and country is frequently associated with these so-called mafiosi. It’s a test President Cyril Ramaphosa and ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula must face if they want to rescue South Africa’s economic heartland.

Smooth rides in shiny new trains – and rapturous rugby crowds – offer a glimpse, nothing more. Monstrous tackling and cleaning out the muck lie ahead.

Can captain Ramaphosa and his team prevail?