By Anish Abraham
Looking to past achievements and future challenges, in his State of the City address Executive Mayor Amos Masondo was confident Johannesburg was on a successful growth path.
Amid much pomp and ceremony, Johannesburg Executive Mayor Amos Masondo delivered his State of the City address to guests assembled in a large marquee in front of the Metropolitan Centre in Braamfontein on 3 April.
Masondo was re-elected as executive mayor of the Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality following local government elections in March. Among the guests were city manager Pascal Moloi, the speaker of council, members of the provincial legislature and other dignitaries.
Before speaking, Masondo inspected members of the metro police and emergency management services while a South African Police Service band played.
Introducing the mayor, outgoing city manager Moloi congratulated Masondo on his re-election. "It is a great pleasure to invite [Masondo] for the sixth time to deliver his State of the City address," he said.
Taking to the podium, Masondo thanked all those present and reaffirmed the City's commitment to building a better future for its residents. He said work done during the previous term had provided a solid foundation on which to build further.
"We have to ask what more can be done to catapult local government service delivery to greater heights."
Masondo likened councillors in the City to pioneers, talking about the challenges they faced following the creation of a new system of local government in South Africa. He said this was despite many pessimists seeing the council system as a failure.
"We listened to the needs and concerns of the community and ensured they were acted upon," he said, referring to the various mayoral roadshows that had been undertaken.
The consultative process for creating the Integrated Development Plan was "well-oiled", he said, adding that budgets closely reflected the needs of communities. He also urged councillors to make full use of the ward committee system as a means of setting up channels of communication between the City and its residents, not only as a matter of compliance with legislation.
"This will lead to increased service delivery. They are not there for self enhancement, but to serve the needs of the community."
Masondo called on his fellow politicians to be activists in the true sense of the word, and help to end poverty and unemployment, rather than simply attending meetings and taking decisions.
The projects undertaken by the City over the past five years, in its quest to turn itself into a world-class African city, were also discussed.
Batho Pele and Customer Care
"The City of Johannesburg again commits itself to service delivery that is friendly, courteous and compassionate but, above all, effective delivery and greater efficiency."
Masondo spoke of the City's performance management system, saying it remained "unrivalled". Independent panels were used to help clarify performance indicators.
He was especially pleased with work done by the City's call centre, Joburg Connect. Despite prevailing perceptions, service at the call centre was steadily improving and becoming vital to the City. Another innovation was the e-services section of its website, which allowed residents to check bills and fines, among other services.
"We in Johannesburg are not prepared to be left behind by advancing technological development and globalisation."
Customer Service and Revenue
The billing crisis of 2004 reached a peak in March, when about 7,5 percent of its customers lodged complaints. "After careful examination, we responded, Madam Speaker, by making some management changes."
As a result of the management changes, the number of new queries was drastically reduced and only 1 percent of residents now lodged complaints about billing.
Masondo added that during his current term of office, the City would have successfully implemented Project Phakhama, which aims to integrate revenue and customer information, as well as create a common information technology platform for the City's core administration and its 16 municipal-owned entities.
Financial stability
The mayor spoke of how the City had managed to turn around a financial crisis in 1997, adding that Johannesburg now reported operating surpluses and a strong balance sheet.
The City's capital expenditure budget had risen from R295-million in 1999-2000 to more than R3-billion in the current financial year - a record for any municipality in the country.
Through sound fiscal management and good ratings from credit agencies, the City had also managed to bring down the costs of borrowing by an average of 2 percent in the last four years. It had also been able to raise cheaper funds through its municipal bonds, the first issued by a municipality since democracy in 1994.
Masondo said the City was looking into launching a "people's bond", a retail municipal bond intended for Joburg citizens. It would come in lower denominations of R500 and R1 000, and it was hoped it would encourage residents to save.
Johannesburg's role in the country could not be disregarded, with it contributing 16 percent of gross domestic product, 11,3 percent to national employment and 20 percent to the country's wholesale and retail trade sector.
"We have brought financial stability and predictability to the financial affairs of Africa's premier city," he said.
UACs
Masondo commended the work done by the various utilities, agencies and corporatised entities in improving service delivery in the city. Operation Gcin'amanzi in Soweto ensured that more township residents had access to clean, metered tap water, and reduced the amount of water lost through old, leaky pipes.
The waste management utility, Pikitiup, earned praise for its 100 Spots campaign that targeted illegal dumping hotspots. These had been rehabilitated and turned into parks for children to play.
Masondo was also pleased with the work of the Johannesburg Roads Agency, which had managed to tar all the major streets in Soweto well ahead of the anticipated completion date.
"We intend to extend this programme to cover areas such as Orange Farm, Braamfischerville, Ivory Park and others," he said.
In his coming term, Masondo said City Power would embark on a "vigorous" campaign to reduce outages, to make more connections and to improve public lighting.
He said the utility would install universal public lighting and look into alternative energy sources like solar power and use energy saving bulbs to save on costs.
In January the Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market launched an outreach programme to more than 3 000 black farmers in its effort to diversify its sources. Masondo said he was especially pleased that the market attracted customers from as far away as Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique.
Over the next five years, he said, the market aimed to establish a fresh produce training academy and skills development facility, modernise market by-laws and expand activities to other African countries where possible.
Since receiving an extended mandate also to promote the city as a leisure tourism destination, the Johannesburg Tourism Company had launched the Soweto Tourism Information Centre, a one-stop shop for tourists to the township.
By the end of June the company would open another such centre at Johannesburg Park Station, to cater for shoppers from other countries.
"The centre aims to be a virtual and actual gateway for foreign visitors who come to shop in Johannesburg. It will provide information on places to shop around Johannesburg and booking services for all tourism activities within the city."
By far the biggest interventions by the City over the past five years had been through the Johannesburg Development Agency, which had undertaken projects such as Constitution Hill and the Baralink transport node.
The agency was also undertaking several projects in the traditionally neglected southern part of the city.
"Orlando Ekhaya project is possibility the most significant development in Johannesburg after the Alexandra Renewal Project. What makes Orlando Ekhaya particularly significant is the large investment it will generate. Ultimately over R1-billion will be invested in the precinct," Masondo explained.
Within the inner city, the Metro was intervening through projects like the Nelson Mandela Bridge, Newtown, the upgrading of Braamfontein and the Brickfields Housing Project.
Other significant developments had been the rollout of the CCTV camera network and the establishment of City Improvement Districts. "I am confident that no one here will associate the inner city with crime and grime after a decade."
Transport
Masondo spoke of the City's plans for a Spatial Public Transport Network and how the City wanted to improve commuting within its boundaries.
"We have been working on key strategic public transport network flagship projects, in particular on upgrading a route from Soweto through Parktown to Sunninghill," he explained.
This was vital given that about 70 percent of City residents made use of minibus taxis. Masondo said there was a need to integrate bus, minibus and rail to maximise their effect and improve mobility in and out of Johannesburg.
In addition, Johannesburg and its neighbouring two metros were discussing creating a single transport authority.
Growth and Development Strategy
The Growth and Development Strategy would look at the long-term future of the City and some of the major strategic decisions that needed to be made to accelerate development in the coming decades.
The City would engage in discussions with all stakeholders to ensure the process had been as participatory as possible.
"Most importantly, we will be consulting closely with communities, civil society and business across our City. This process will culminate in a major citywide event on 12 May, which we are calling the Growth and Development Summit," Masondo added.
The finishing touches to the strategy, as well as the five-year Integrated Development Plan, would be added during the summit, before both were taken before council on Budget Day at the end of May.
"In Johannesburg we have a dream. We seek to build a better quality of life for all our people. A better tomorrow is beckoning. We urge all of you, as optimists, to join us," he concluded.
Presentation for Seminar
