City of Joburg Mayor Dade Morero has promised to revamp the city after President Cyril Ramaphosa voiced disappointment over the city’s state.
Image: Kamogelo Moichela/IOL
“Mr. President, from now on, watch the space. We will not disappoint you any further,” said City of Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero, vowing to turn things around after President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed disappointment over the bad state of Johannesburg during an earlier G20 meeting.
Morero made the remarks in his opening speech during Ramaphosa's day two oversight visit to the province, which seeks to tackle the challenges facing Gauteng and its municipalities.
“As the people of Johannesburg, we are ready to host the G20 Summit. Johannesburg is the gateway to Africa and the rest of the world,” Morero said, referring to the event which will be held in the province in November.
On Thursday IOL News reported Ramaphosa said he was not impressed with the state of Johannesburg, particularly when he attended a G20 meeting in the city, held at the Nasrec Expo Centre.
The metro is also battling with leaking sewer systems, uncollected waste, water throttling, and power cuts have become a constant reality for locals across the province, yet little has been done to address the problems.
Despite his disappointment, Ramaphosa gave the province another chance to improve ahead of the final G20 in November.
Morero had apologised to Ramaphosa for the dire state of Johannesburg and assured him that history would not repeat itself.
According to Morero, the challenges across the metro are structural, systematic, and financial.
“Local government is complex. Therefore, we need complex, innovative solutions to resolve and solve our challenges,” he said.
He said that as part of their efforts to address the challenges, they would implement mechanisms within municipal entities to reduce irregular expenditure and improve financial transparency.
“This oversight responsibility will force us to implement good governance principles, address our revenue collection inefficiencies, debt management, and unfunded mandates impacting service delivery for us to remain on a path of financial sustainability. Modernise water, electricity, transport, and ICT infrastructure to meet the growing demand,” Morero said.
In this backdrop, Morero said the City had written to Ramaphosa to request presidential intervention.
“Furthermore, we have forged partnerships that are already working on the ground.”
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President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged the Gauteng province's recurring problems.
Image: Itumeleng English/ lndependent Newspapers
Morero insisted that the metro was not providing services solely due to the G20 meeting.
“It is not true that we are only providing services because of the G20. Remember the Boks versus the All Blacks game at Ellis Park. Not only did we win the match, but we won the hearts of South Africans because we cleaned and prepared the precinct of Ellis Park. This programme has not stopped,” he said.
Morero argued that the city is always on the ground servicing its locals, with partners such as the Jersey My Jersey, taxi associations, and property owners.
“Recently the banking industry has reached out, and it is true, it is true banking lingo, they did say, how can we help you? Every day, every day through our community meetings and on social media, we are engaging our residents.”
He emphasised that as part of their approach to address the problems, is to “listen and do more".
Morero, however, admitted that the City of Johannesburg is experiencing difficulties in providing services to its residents.
“We are going through difficult times. Difficult times do not necessarily mean a crisis. We continue to provide services, save lives, and protect our environment,” Morero said.
“This is why we are aligning our U20 with the objectives of the G20. As we align, we must create pathways for economic opportunities that are accessible to all.”
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has also apologised to Ramaphosa over Johannesburg’s poor state.
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