Almost two years after it had shut its doors, the City of Johannesburg’s head office, which used to house more than 3,000 employees, sits empty with no sign of any maintenance or repairs.
After the metro centre in Braamfontein was declared uninhabitable and a fire hazard, the council in September 2023 took a resolution to vacate what has now become a white elephant. Repairs were estimated to cost an unaffordable R870m.
The city, now led by acting city manager Tshepo Makola, has requested the National Treasury to assist with raising funds through a public-private partnership — but nothing has come of it. The Treasury confirmed it is still doing a feasibility study.
Acting Joburg Property Company (JPC) CEO Musah Makhunga told the Sunday Times that the city was still waiting for the Treasury to appoint a transaction adviser to oversee the building’s renovations.
“We went to Treasury, with the help of the government technical advisory centre, regarding the refurbishment of the centre,” he said. The city was faced with a predicament to either fix what was broken at a hefty price, or to embark on a public-private partnership for a long-proposed mixed-use development.
The metro centre, which provides office accommodation for the city’s legislative, executive and administrative arms, was flagged as problematic as early as 2014 over its habitability and structure.
Too many people are acting in [too] many positions, and it gets worse when you look at city entities.
— Source
A report tabled to the mayoral committee and council revealed that in 2019 the JPC commissioned a comprehensive technical study which confirmed the hazardous state of the metro centre.
The department of employment and labour also issued a confirmatory notice to the city highlighting the need to comply with occupational health and safety laws under the National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act — failing which it would open itself to prosecution.
Critics have questioned how the city’s leadership, who allowed its own offices to deteriorate to the point of being uninhabitable, could be trusted to manage the city’s water and electricity infrastructure. They said wrangles in the administration, accompanied by successive changes in political leadership, had accelerated the deterioration.
Acting city manager Makola’s substantive position is that of chief operating officer, in which Helen Botes, the CEO of the JPC, now acts. Botes’s contract, which ended in October 2024, was extended for six months while the board searched for her replacement. The application process closed on March 9.
Botes was earmarked as the administration’s pick to succeed ousted city manager Floyd Brink, whose appointment was declared irregular and unlawful by the high court in December.
A source said: “Too many people are acting in [too] many positions, and it gets worse when you look at city entities. The indirect consequence of this is that the Treasury drags its feet without pressure from the city — and we are all going nowhere slowly while we wait for the city manager to be appointed. This is not how a city must be run.”
Makhunga said the challenges with the metro centre did not develop overnight. “Just over ten years ago, there were already huge indications that the state of the building was deteriorating and that it needed major refurbishment. Studies were done, led by engineers, which further proved that conditions were getting worse. In 2022, we unearthed serious noncompliance with occupational health and safety act standards and regulations around fire, power constraints, and so on,” said the acting CEO.
While Johannesburg regional secretary Sasabona Manganye and his cohort led the charge for Brink’s reinstatement, regional chairperson and mayor Dada Morero took a decision not to appeal against the judgment on Brink, allegedly in favour of Botes’ ascension to the helm.
An insider said the political structure hasn’t had a conversation about the city manager post and therefore did not have a firm view on who should take over.
“Whatever happens with the city manager gig and the regional conference is going to have a huge impact in the upcoming elections. We also want to work towards regrouping and regaining support for the ANC. This is why we want administrators that are going to direct and redirect service delivery, to ensure that we regain lost ground. We want administrators that will improve the daily experience of communities and not of a few individuals.”
Another regional executive committee member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was not necessarily true that Morero was vying for Botes to get the post — but rather that he saw Brink’s axing as an opportunity for the ANC to bring in its own candidate.
“If you’ll remember, this administration inherited Floyd, he was brought to Joburg by Julius [Malema of the EFF when Herman Mashaba was mayor]. On what basis would the chair be fighting for his [Brink’s] comeback, where this gives us a chance to bring an ANC-aligned person? It’s never been a Helen or nothing approach.”
A source close to the process conceded that if the two factions did not find each other on the two controversial individuals, they were willing to explore an external candidate. “If these two names are creating problems, we could get a neutral person.”
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