CoJ hosts the IDP meeting in Roodepoort

On April 17, the Johannesburg Speaker of Council, Margaret Arnold, engaged with the Joburg Region C community on the People’s Plan that will be initiated for the 2024/ 25 financial year.

The Integrated Development Plan (IDP) composes all of a municipality’s short-, medium-, and long-term goals and objectives for social and economic development and includes the financial budget on how these developments will be made.

According to Arnold, they named this development plan the People’s Plan because the city needed the community’s input and comments so that the city could adjust the plan to the interest of the community.

The MMC for Community Development, Lubabalo Magwetshu, presented the plan to the Region C community and allowed them to engage with him while presenting it.

The plan is intended to help improve the standard of living, however, residents were unable to address their concerns and some lost hope for this initiative as no development has been made in their communities thus far.

“Firstly, as a city under community development, we are a caring government. That is why we give the community a platform to engage with us because they help us develop communities by telling us what they want,” Magwetshu said.

“This plan has been derived from programmes we had from last October where communities were given a chance to identify their major issues and they’ll prioritise them in the budget,” he added.

Residents of Joburg Region C started chanting towards the Speaker’s office as some wards were not included in the development plan and some believe the city is not addressing their problems to their fullest. The Johannesburg Metro had to intervene and restore order in the meeting.

They made their voices heard on many issues, which include safety and security, clinics, employment, schools, extracurricular facilities, road standards, and sanitation which the city promised to bring about developments in the communities.

In the link below, Loyiso Masuku, the MMC for Group Corporate and Services, responds to the questions and requests presented by residents:

Residents were urged to pay their revenues which includes their rates and taxes because these are the funds that the city needs for these initiatives.

Despite all the challenges raised by the residents, the city is still confident that its plan will help restore the dignity of the residents and help improve their lives through development.