OPINION| The toughest job in Joburg — and why Dr Floyd Brink is the right man for it

By Doctor Tshwale

Johannesburg’s hardest problem is not a headline; it is a system. The city is still carrying legacy structural failures: aging infrastructure that needs refurbishing and expansion, chronically low economic growth, a labour market still recovering from COVID, weakening payment discipline among residents, and rising vandalism and lawlessness.

When the national economy underperforms, the strain shows up in Joburg first. Turning that around takes time, method and discipline.

Coalition politics have made Johannesburg a city governed by negotiation rather than mandate.

That is not inherently bad — coalitions can temper excess, broaden accountability and force transparency.

But they also fragment authority, shorten horizons and import factional theatre into the engine room of service delivery.

In this terrain, the city manager’s chair is not a back-office post; it is the fulcrum on which lights, water, waste and credibility turn. It is, right now, the most unforgiving job in South