Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero. (Lubabalo Lesolle/Gallo Images)
Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero has vowed to take action against non-performing senior municipal managers and members of the mayoral committee from July, by rotating them.
Morero said this during his maiden State of the City address (Soca) on Wednesday.
He stressed this was not a reshuffle.
“At this stage, we are not removing anyone … It’s a rotation. We will not lose any institutional memory because the same teams have been in the mayoral committee since I have been mayor, even before I was appointed as the mayor.
“There’s a need for us to strengthen certain areas of importance in accordance with the new strategy plan so that we can achieve a higher mileage so that people can indeed see that there’s a turnaround in the city of Johannesburg.”
To deal with illegal mining and crime, Morero said the city would declare a state of disaster for lawlessness, from July. By-law enforcement was non-negotiable, he said, and the “broken window” approach would be implemented.
He also declared war on potholes, illegal connections, land invasion, illegal dumping and undocumented migrants.
Morero said that at the centre of Johannesburg’s programme is the Inner City Revitalisation Project, aimed at upgrading bulk infrastructure, refurbishing abandoned buildings, installing safe public lighting and “restoring dignity to the heart of the city”.
The project would unlock mixed-income housing, attract commercial tenants and reignite the economy of the city’s centre, he said.
“Key precincts such as Marshalltown, Jeppestown, Hillbrow and Braamfontein will benefit from this multi-layered programme. The inner city is not just being restored, we are transcending so-called urbicide. It is being repositioned as the economic epicentre of the Gauteng city-region.”
The electrification of informal settlements remained a priority, he said, with a R296 million allocation for connecting to the grid areas such as Diepsloot, Orange Farm, Ivory Park and Kya Sands.
He said this initiative would provide safe and legal electricity to thousands of households, integrating them into the urban energy system and laying the groundwork for service upgrades and formalisation.
Morero said the city was aware of the high electricity tariffs residents were paying, particularly industrial customers.
“These customers are major employers in our city and we need to support them so they are sustainable and financially viable. Through City Power, we will provide a relief tariff option to our industrial customers.
“The programme also supports the city’s energy transition, through complementary investments in substation upgrades and energy efficiency retrofits.”
City finances
Morero said the city’s financial position remains fragile and called for a major reset in its financial management and revenue generation activities.
He said the way revenue is collected will be overhauled to improve the liquidity of the city, and it would be more robust from those who have the means to pay.
“Our large consumers of electricity and water in both private and public sectors are urged to make their fair contribution by paying their bills on time.
“We have no choice but to insist on proper financial discipline, so that we can ensure the proactive management of our income and expenditure, to derive the full value from each rand spent.”
He said the city must strengthen its financial development plan to create a sustainable multi-year funding model for capital infrastructure that will support social and economic projects.
Morero said the city’s problems are complex and resources are not infinite.
“Alone, we will not solve these challenges. For instance, the city is not financially stable, infrastructure is decaying and service delivery backlogs have reversed the gains we have made. Covid-19 alone set us back by 10 years.”
He called on Johannesburg residents to play their part.
“Please do not litter and stop illegal dumping. Please do not vandalise public infrastructure. Please do not hijack buildings. Please comply with all by-laws of the city.”
He said councillors should use the Soca debate on Thursday to present input from their constituencies.
“Tomorrow, I would like to hear voices representing the people of Johannesburg. I know you have the capacity to punch holes in my speech. But let us do things differently. Tomorrow, tell us about the Johannesburg you want to see.”