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Joburg council meeting: How Phalatse plans to fix a ‘city on its knees’
Phalatse also took a jab at the ANC's Dada Morero and 'how nonchalant' he was about the R2 billion loan from the DBSA.
Photo: Mayor Mpho Phalatse
The Democratic Alliance’s [DA] Mpho Phalatse held a Joburg council meeting on Thursday to provide feedback on how her office will “repair” the city.
Addressing the media, Phalatse referred to the recent court action as “a programme of underhandedness […] through a series of illegal acts”.
“Under the leadership of the multi-party government, gradually Joburg was starting to look and feel better, but this was disrupted by an illegal grab of power,” Phalatse’s office said on Thursday.
Joburg council meeting
Johannesburg on ‘autopilot’
A year ago, Phalatse said Joburg was “on autopilot” because most residents were fed up with the political system in the province.
She promised at the time to make service delivery “smooth”.
Phalatse wanted the City of Joburg to be on the same level as “Cape Town, Midvaal or anywhere else [the DA] govern”.
How does she plan to do that, now that she’s regained control of the city?
Water infrastructure budget
Phalatse said her office had already allocated R795 million to water supply infrastructure, and an additional R600 million for sanitation infrastructure.
She said most of these projects will be completed between 2023 and 2024.
“Joburg Water has made steady progress in replacing Johannesburg’s old sewage and water piping infrastructure as well as completing road reinstatements,” Phalatse said.
In addition, more than 100 kilometres of water piping and 70 kilometres of sewerage piping had been replaced, which equates to 385% and 467% of the targets.
Energy procurement programme
Residents struggling with constant, unplanned outages will be happy to hear that City Power is on track with its alternative energy procurement programme.
The final preparations for the programme were finalised after the May 2022 Joburg Energy Indaba.
Phalatse said her office will “publish the first Requests For Proposal (RFPs) for short-term supply” in due course.
“Further to this, the multi-party government, through City Power has partnered with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to procure 15 000 solar water geysers at no cost.”
ALSO READ: Phalatse faces another no-confidence motion
Joburg’s ‘unaudited’ finances
Phalatse also highlighted the issue of corruption, saying, “there was little to no truth about what was said, in the main because the figures are unaudited”.
Phalatse added: “What was of concern, was how nonchalant Dada Morero was about the R2 billion short-term loan from the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA).”
According to Phalatse, “the report, of which was supposed to serve at the last council sitting but was blocked, has been kicked further down”.
She said the City of Joburg’s finances “are not in the best position”, but her office will rectify this.
“So, the notion that there is anxiety about the payment of salaries is a fabrication; and that we cannot meet our financial obligations is a lie.”
Dealing with ANC’s corruption
Phalatse on Wednesday said the provincial African National Congress (ANC) government “have peddled in lies in order to corrupt, capture and collapse Joburg through illegal acts”.
“The desperate need to remove the multi-party government is designed to gain access to the R77.3 billion budget, which the corrupt will divert from the service delivery needs of the city and its residents to the back pockets and bank accounts of the ANC and its allies.”
ALSO READ: ANC cadres have destroyed services
She also said lifestyle audits will be done on all councillors and officials. There’s a deadline too: the implementation for this should be done before the end of 2022.
Policing efforts to fight crime
Back in 2021, Phalatse vowed that crime fighting would be a joint effort between all law enforcement agencies, communities and businesses.
“They would use an integrated policing approach where the capacity of the metre police was enhanced. But the ultimate objective [was] to devolve policing power to the local level to enable them to fight crime at grassroots level.”
On Thursday, Phalatse said: “I am pleased to state that JMPD resources are being once again re-organised to give effect to their policing mandate and our priority of building a safe and secure city”.
ALSO READ: ANC makes moves to invade Joburg Council
