Local ward councillors are not inspired by City of Joburg Executive Mayor’s speech
The City of Johannesburg's performance was at a level of 66% at the end of the third quarter.
Local councillors are not impressed nor inspired by the Joburg Executive Mayor, Kabelo Gwamanda state of the city address delivered on June 6.
Gwamanda said the new political reality of the city being governed by various coalitions introduced a myriad of challenges, both for governance and politics.
“More importantly, it has introduced unprecedented levels of instability, especially under the various multiparty governments that have sought to settle political scores as opposed to serving the residents. As the Government of Local Unity (GLU) we are a government determined to serve the residents of Johannesburg and to meet their most basic needs and expectations of a city government.”
Al Jamah-ah’s member added that in light of being committed to good governance and efficient and reliable services for our people, he was happy to share that the city’s performance level at the end of the third quarter stood at 66%.
He outlined that the following were challenges faced by Johannesburg residents: Spatial inequality persists, high unemployment rates, lack of affordable housing, inefficient transport, and high crime rates.
The DA’s caucus leader, Belinda Echeozonjoku said the mayor’s speech showed he is out of touch with reality.
The following include areas that the mayor did not tackle in his speech:
“Joburg Water: Our residents now must contend with not only power outages but water outages as well, mothers and children must stand in queues to fight for water being delivered by tankers. We see trenches being dug across the city and being left open posing a danger of cars falling into these trenches, reinstatements are not being done.”
“Health and Social Development: The mayor said nothing, under the GLU about the homeless and vulnerable who are on their own as we go into Winter and there is a shortage of shelters across the city, no mention of shelters to accommodate families and LGBTQ+”
Gwamanda noted that at the end of June 2021, the GLU audited financial statements reflected a city with a healthy cash balance of R6.6 billion.
“However, upon our return in January 2023 when we took over from the multiparty government, we found a near-bankrupt municipality sitting with over R6 billion in unpaid supplier invoices. After consistent denial of the true state of affairs by the multiparty government, the GLU approved a short-term loan facility to begin to clear the unpaid invoices and the reality is that without a financially sound city, we will not be able to invest as required in our core municipal mandate of delivering basic services.”
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