By now the citizens of Johannesburg, the self-styled “world-class African city”, are exasperated by mayoral speeches making pie-in-the-sky promises to return the former City of Gold to its halcyon days.
Instead of improvement, the city has been plunged into what appears to be an inexorable decline. With the passage of time, it has become an increasingly unpleasant place in which to live and do business, so it's not surprising that many of its affluent citizens, an important source of revenue through taxes, are increasingly relocating to better-run municipalities.
For Johannesburg’s weary inhabitants and businesses, the time for speeches, for promises, is over. They need to see concrete steps being taken to finally fix their city
The decrepitude of Joburg — including its water and power cuts, bad roads and a decaying CBD — is well known, having been decried even by President Cyril Ramaphosa when he visited the city recently.
As expected, mayor Dada Morero, when delivering his state of the city address this week, had a long list of promises, including the establishment of a so-called “bomb squad” to remove service delivery blockages. This on top of Ramaphosa’s own presidential intervention working group, announced during his visit.
While Morero must shoulder much of the blame for his administration’s continuing failures, he is surrounded by a mayoral committee which seems to be in it over their heads — and whose political parties show no interest in demanding accountability.
Without the political will and an inclination to professionalise the running of the city, Morero’s plan to “rotate” MECs seems more like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
For Johannesburg’s weary inhabitants and businesses, the time for speeches, for promises, is over. They need to see concrete steps being taken to finally fix their city.
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