President Cyril Ramaphosa has proposed the establishment of a presidential working group similar to the one implemented in the eThekwini metro as part of efforts aimed at turning the once City of Gold’s role as the engine of growth for SA’s economy.
Ramaphosa led a national executive delegation, which met the Johannesburg executive council on Friday, as part of efforts aimed at addressing service delivery challenges in a metro that is responsible for 16% of SA’s GDP and employs 12% of the national workforce.
Friday’s visit to SA’s biggest metro came a day after the national executive visited the Gauteng provincial executive. The engagements are aimed at strengthening co-operative governance and implementing the District Development Model.
In his opening remarks, Ramaphosa pointed out that Johannesburg faces “enormous challenges, ranging from financial and governance instability to rapidly deteriorating infrastructure”.
“Water and electricity interruptions have become the norm. This has an enormous impact on the quality of life of citizens and the operations of businesses. The road infrastructure faces tremendous challenges. These include vandalism of traffic lights, dysfunctional streetlights and rapidly deteriorating roads and bridges,” Ramaphosa said.
These challenges constrained growth in SA’s economic heartland.
“As national government, we understand the constraints faced by the city and appreciate the leadership shown by the executive mayor [ANC councillor Dada Morero] and his executive to stabilise governance and financial management. Without these critical levers, service delivery will not improve,” the president said, noting the challenges Johannesburg faced were similar to those faced by other metros.
When our visitors leave after the G20 Leaders’ Summit, let them leave inspired by what they saw and experienced in Johannesburg.
“A year ago, I established the Presidential eThekwini Working Group with the support of local stakeholders, including business, labour and civil society ... [and] we were able to unblock several challenges,” he said.
“We were able to fast-track water supply agreements for the Upper Mkhomazi Water Project, improving effluence compliance and reducing non-revenue water through infrastructure upgrades.
The president said: “We ensured a successful summer holiday period as beaches remained open, holiday hotspots were cleaned, critical infrastructure refurbished and police visibility increased.”
Ramaphosa said the ongoing work had led to a marked improvement in business confidence and a sense by all stakeholders that eThekwini “is on the road to recovery”.
“We would like to implement this collaborative approach in the City of Johannesburg as part of the District Development Model. We are proposing the establishment of Presidential Johannesburg Working Group.
“This would bring in all levels of government and the expertise of our stakeholders to accelerate service delivery, stabilise the city’s finances and operations, and enable economic growth and job creation.”
The city is set to host the G20 Leaders’ Summit in November.
“When our visitors leave after the G20 Leaders’ Summit, let them leave inspired by what they saw and experienced in Johannesburg.”
DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga said: “After president Ramaphosa's visit to the city on Thursday, all [Gauteng premier Panyaza] Lesufi could offer was an apology to Ramaphosa with no real explanation. The truth is that Lesufi and Dada Morero, mayor of Johannesburg, are both guilty of embarrassing SA on the international stage due to their mismanagement of the city and Gauteng’s decay.”
He accused the Gauteng premier of only waking up from his dream world of a perfect Johannesburg and Gauteng “once the president pointed it out — evidently, the daily complaints of Gauteng’s residents are not as important or enough for him”.
“It’s unfortunate that the apology was not directed to residents, and more so, that it has not been forthcoming from mayor Dada Morero himself,” Msimanga said.
He said the fact that Lesufi only apologised to Ramaphosa shows the utter disconnect and contempt he has for the residents of Johannesburg specifically and Gauteng at large, adding "These talk shops, are not going to making the cut."
A visit would not fix Gauteng, nor Johannesburg; capable, fit-for-purpose officials in the administration will, said Msimanga.
“The DA in Johannesburg has written to the ministers of Cogta and public administration to assist with lifestyle and skills audits on Johannesburg’s senior officials — we still await their compliance with that request,” he said.
“Now, we call on President Ramaphosa to ensure that those lifestyle and skills audits get implemented on senior officials and board members across Gauteng. That is, of course, only if he wants to avoid our province’s total collapse.”
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