The Democratic Alliance’s ”report card” was getting worse by the year and it showed signs of desperation from the opposition, the City of Johannesburg said on Wednesday.
The DA presented the party’s 2003 report card for the Johannesburg City Council on Wednesday and stated that Johannesburg had high-class vision, but was lacking in service delivery.
DA leader in Johannesburg Mike Moriarty said most services in the city had deteriorated and the billing system was chaotic.
Responding, city manager Pascal Moloi said that although the DA’s report remained consistent in character to the previous two, which were inconsequential with neither insight nor substance, the new report showed signs of desperation from the opposition.
”They make these whimsical report cards but we are yet to hear the scientific methodology employed in these assessments.
”What is mind-boggling is how the opposition fail to mention even one of the illustrious achievements recorded by the city as acknowledged by independent institutions,” Moloi said.
Among these were the Fitch Ratings on National Long Term Credit Rating where the city was upgraded from BBB+ to A-, giving the city substantial ability in the money market; a Business Against Crime survey which showed that crime in the Inner City had been reduced by a massive 80%; and the Markinor-Sunday Times Top Brands survey which voted Johannesburg as ”2003 Most Popular Town or City in South Africa”.
The City had also commissioned a survey by the Palmer Group which recorded over 70% average satisfaction across all council services. The average satisfaction with billing stood at over 87%.
Moloi said: ”At the dawn of the tenth year of democratic government, one would have expected the opposition to acknowledge the role the city had played in the country’s collective effort of improving the quality of lives of South Africans.”
He said the DA was ”absorbed by subjective, divisive, personality driven so-called score cards” and failed to recognise the collective nature of governance and leadership in the City of Johannesburg.
”Like in the two previous years, this year’s report card will make no contribution in any efforts to improve service delivery and better the lives of residents,” Moloi said.
The DA’s report stated that the city had lost at least R6,5-billion in the previous seven years through the non-payment of services.
In the report Moriarty described the billing department and its call centre as the city’s biggest failures. – Sapa