Mayor Matongo wants to clean up Joburg’s streets and governance

It’s been just over two weeks since Johannesburg Mayor, Jolidee Matongo was elected into office, and though his reign is somewhat temporary in nature with the approaching local government elections, Matongo wants to hand over a cleaner and better run city to the next administration.

He has his work cut out for him, as he has a lot of dirt to clean up, literally and figuratively.

Not only has he undertaken to finalise numerous outstanding Covid-19 corruption matters casting a dark cloud over the city, he also wants to ensure the streets are no longer lined in filth.

“We have a problem of cleanliness in the city and even though we have three shifts working through the day and night to keep the city clean, the problem is that there are those users that also need to take responsibility to clean up after themselves. It is also an issue of law enforcement.”

As filth gathers on every corner of the Johannesburg CBD to the chagrin of residents and taxpayers, Matongo sees an opportunity to kill two-birds with one stone: Stimulate youth employment while keeping rubbish off the streets.

His plan, which is already under way, is to increase the enforcement of by-laws that keep street traders and users from littering and to eventually involve young people in Joburg’s thriving informal recycling economy.

But critics have pointed out that the real filth stinking up the city is hidden within the city’s offices, as evidence of corruption continues to pile up with few of its proponents seeing their day in court.

One of the issues Matongo has vowed to prioritise is dealing with hanging corruption allegations against city employees and political office bearers. Though he wants to avoid ‘firing people for no apparent reason’ he claims he will not hesitate to axe those facing clear evidence of wrongdoing.

On peacekeeping in the chambers

Despite mounting election pressure, Matongo claims all is peaceful between the political parties in city council.

“In terms of political stability there is no problem there as far as the government of local unity (GLU) is concerned. The opposition parties, mainly the DA and the EFF, have not at the moment raised any major issues of alarm or claimed to be dissatisfied with the current political arrangement. They have given their support.”

Johannesburg Mayor Jolidee Matongo

Service delivery

Matongo’s back-to-basics approach to local governance includes getting officials to spend more time on the ground, dealing with service delivery issues head on. He recently committed to dedicating Fridays to this end.

He is also on a mission to fill several vacancies in important positions in the city, but admits that this is a tricky task in an election year. He wants to avoid making major changes to the administration in order to maintain stability.

“We don’t want to be firing people for no apparent reason like our predecessors who came in 2016,” he quips.

“We fill those vacancies, but that may be a burden to the new administration. So we will be making a number of senior level appointments in the next week or so and they will be more short term, so instead of a five year contract they may be three years so that we give the new administration an opportunity to choose who they want to work with.”

In terms of fixing the city’s finances, Matongo says revenue collection has been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and foremost in his priorities in this regard is making sure the vaccination drive in the city is a success this year. This is so that national government can be encouraged to end the lock-down sooner, and allow for the economy to open up again, which should result in more revenue for the city.

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The former finance MMC says one thing he learned in his previous job is that Johannesburg residents need to be educated about the billing system. Downplaying the scourge of queried bills over the past few years with residents running up hundreds of thousands of Rands in water and electricity bills, Matongo says this can hardly be called a crisis.

He says his handover to current finance MMC Matshidiso Mfikwe included the mandate to keep dealing with the problems in the city’s billing system, including incorrect meter readings and other billing issues.

“I wouldn’t call it a crisis because JPC issues about 1 million bills on a monthly basis and only about 5% of these get queries, so I think talking about a billing crisis for me its incorrect.

“I think the City does have to embark on an education drive on how to read your bills correctly as a resident or property owner, to understand which levies and taxes apply for that financial year, as well as the water and electricity which changes due to various factors.”

Not here to stay?

Matongo presents himself as a man who is simply serving on behalf of his party with no personal ambition attached to his new title. He says when his comrades approached him for the nomination, he made it clear that he would be available as long as he is needed, whether he becomes a mayoral candidate for the next elections or not.

He understands that the party is seriously considering electing a woman to run for Johannesburg mayor next.

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” I believe women have to be given an opportunity to lead the city. I am here now but the ANC always has its own things. I have availed myself between now and the end of the term and if the ANC says I must continue it will be for the ANC to make that call, but I am not the one of those guys who wants to be in a position by hook or crook.”

Johannesburg Mayor, Jolidee Matongo

Simnikiweh@citizen,co.za