Government

DA mayor struggling to keep up with daily corruption cases in Joburg

Staff Writer

 ·1 Dec 2016

Executive mayor of Johannesburg, Herman Mashaba has revealed a 10 point plan to to fix Joburg – chief of which is to eliminate corruption.

The mayor outlined his vision for the city and the progress he has made during his first 100 days in office, having won the metro from the ANC in the municipal elections in August.

“Never again will the residents of this City be subjected to abuse by their government,” Mashaba said on Wednesday.

“Since I have come into office on the 23rd of August 2016, 100 days ago, I have come to learn that the City is not what I thought it was during my election campaign. It is far, far worse than I had thought,” the mayor said.

He said that the DA has inherited from the previous ANC administration, the following:

• The City of Johannesburg stands at 42% of the debt to revenue ratio that National Treasury limits to 45% as a debt ceiling;
• Has 881,000 unemployed people –with an unemployment rate over 30%;
• Under the previous administration, 190,000 people joined the ranks of the unemployed;
• Has a stagnant economy, with growth of around 2%;
• Has a housing backlog of over 300,000 and an average delivery of only 3,500 housing units being constructed per year; and
• Is home to over 180 informal settlements, with more than half of these with no basic services at all.

“Since taking office, we have been inundated daily with cases of corruption, nepotism and fraud. It has gotten to the point where we could not investigate as quickly as the cases were rolling in,” Mashaba said.

“Corruption is not a strong enough term for what was taking place in the City. It was outright, shameless, looting,” he said.

“Another trend that has disturbed me, is the extent to which the City has institutionalised denialism. I sit in meetings where the official performance reports of the City read that the City has become a safer place for our residents,” Mashaba said.

“When I took office, I met with the senior administration and the political leadership of the City and we devised what today is known as the 10 point plan,” Mashaba said.

The 10 point plan:

• Collaboration  – Every employee of this City must adjust their mindset to the environment of a new coalition government.

• Pro-poor – The City must run a responsive and pro-poor government. “When we determine our budget of the 2017/2018 financial year, we will focus on the most deprived in our City”.

• Economic Growth – “We aim to grow the City’s economy by a minimum of 5%. This is essential if we are going to turn around the high unemployment rate in our City,” Mashaba said.

• Skills Audit – “As part of creating a professional civil service, I have announced a ‘Service with Pride’ campaign within the City. I have also initiated a skills-audit to ensure every manager in the City is in their position because of what they know and not who they know,” the mayor said.

• Stop Corruption – “Corruption has been declared public enemy number one and I have already appointed former Head of the Gauteng Hawks, Mr Shadrack Sibiya to head our new internal investigations unit,” Mashaba said.

• Housing Maintenance – A list must be produced of all semi-completed housing units within the City that require work in order for people to take occupation of these units. “This list has been completed and we will seek funding to urgently complete over 3,000 units to house our people,” Mashaba said.

• Housing List – Producing an official housing list, open and transparent, available to residents in government offices and on the City’s website. “I am pleased to announce for the first time in the history of Johannesburg, a housing list have been completed. I am in possession of a housing list which bares the details of 79,000 people who have registered for housing dating back to 1996,” the mayor said.

• Title-Deeds – Title deed delivery to the beneficiaries of the City’s housing projects must be fast-tracked. In 2013/14 not a single title deed was handed out in Joburg. Within a week of the new administration, the DA had 2,000 title deeds ready for processing, Mashaba said.

• Clinic Project – Initiating a pilot project for a clinic to operate for extended hours. “On the 31st of October 2016, together with the MMC for Health and Social Development, I launched this pilot project at the Princess Clinic in Roodepoort. Today I am pleased to tell you that this clinic now operates from 7am to 10pm Monday to Friday, and is open Saturdays from 7 am –1:30pm,” Mashaba said.

• Inner City Revitalisation – “By world standards the infrastructure of our Inner City is young and it has the potential to become a model for a modern, post-Apartheid, South African city. Investors and developers with millions invested in the City are dedicated and passionate –they just need a government who can clean up the City and get the basics right,” the mayor said. “We are going to be that government.”

The mayor said that the DA plans to fundamentally review the service delivery model in Joburg. The political party will table a motion before Council in December to absorb all City Entities so as to ensure that service delivery is fast-tracked.

“I plan to decentralise the rollout of service delivery into our regions. In this respect, we will be structuring and empowering our regional structures to become the service delivery hubs of our City,” the mayor said.

“It is without doubt the greatest honour of my life to have the opportunity to serve our City and its residents. I intend to use every day that I am tasked with this important responsibility to make this City and its people realise their true potential,” Mashaba said.

Read: Joburg city centre will be a construction site in 12 months: Mayor Mashaba