By Simon Nare
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Joburg has accused the ANC-run City of Johannesburg metropolitan municipality of wasting billions of rands meant for potholes and fixing traffic on paying legal fees to conceal its failures.
The party’s caucus leader in the Johannesburg council, Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku, in what she described as the ‘True State of the City Address,’ told reporters that the city council consistently loses these court cases and is losing millions.
“Across three decades, successive ANC-led administrations have allowed Johannesburg’s infrastructure to deteriorate, burdening residents with the consequences,” said Echeozonjoku.
“The budget allocated for infrastructure, particularly for critical areas like water reservoirs, is grossly insufficient. Despite the mayor’s commitments to upgrade reservoirs, no updates have been provided, and the necessary funding has not been prioritized.”
Echeozonjoku said the city’s infrastructure painted a stark picture of neglect with potholes, broken traffic lights, hijacked buildings, and litter everywhere in a city that was once the nation’s pride.
She added that the city was now turning into a disgrace due to pure mismanagement and neglect.
She further claimed that while the city was looking at vanity projects, in contrast, the DA would focus on core priorities: fixing roads, ensuring reliable electricity, and upgrading water infrastructure.
Echeozonjoku briefed the media ahead of Wednesday’s State of the City Address, to be delivered by Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero at the Council Chambers in Braamfontein.
She further promised that a DA-run government in Johannesburg would priotise critical upgrades, creating 5000 jobs and reducing service delivery.
The DA government would reroute R500 million from sale of properties to roads, traffic lights, sewage repairs and R110 million for stormwater upgrades across the city, creating 300 jobs.
Pikitup would also be reprioritised towards an incinerator with R170 million to assist in achieving 8% landfill diversion, railway yard exploration and an additional 30 trucks leading to an improvement in collection and creating 500 jobs.
With City Power, R1.9 billion would be relocated for SCADA Expansion, mega devices, solar high masts, cable replacement and substation upgrades, reducing outages by 15% and creating 2000 jobs.
“It is a shame that only now, with the spotlight of the G20 Summit, does the president see the urgency of providing services to Johannesburg. This is not leadership – it is reactive crisis management.
“Millions of rand that could be spent on fixing potholes, repairing traffic lights or addressing water leaks have been wasted on litigation – litigation the city consistently loses,” she said.
She added that each time the council is challenged to quantify these costs, the administration merely refuses to provide answers and as a result, the DA has taken this matter to court.
She encouraged residents in the city to exercise their rights under the Promotion of Access to Information to demand transparency and uncover how much of their money was being wasted defending the indefensible.
“Johannesburg deserves leadership that conducts due diligence, follows proper procedures and prioritise service delivery over courtroom defeats,” she said.
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