Herman Mashaba outlines his vision for Johannesburg
From economic growth, to better services and rooting out crime and corruption, the Johannesburg mayor says in order for South Africa's economic capital to succeed, it cannot be business as usual.
"I think most of us, with some introspection, would agree that we can and must do better," Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba told stakeholders at the 2015/16 Annual General Meeting of the city's entities.
Mashaba outlined his administration's vision for the city during the meeting, held at the Joburg Theatre in Braamfontein.
The mayor says he believes the city's coalition government has a strategic advantage to take Johannesburg forward. He says the city's residents have given them a mandate to deliver on and, while the coalition partners differ ideologically and politically, they all agree on one thing: Johannesburg must succeed.
"We want a government free of corruption, we want quality services delivered to our residents and we want clean, inclusive and safe communities for all our people to live in," Mashaba said.
The mayor highlighted a number of challenges the city is facing - corruption and financial waste being among the chief concerns.
Again referring to corruption as public enemy number one, Mashaba vowed not to rest until the city has rid itself of the scourge. As part of his efforts in this regard, Mashaba has allocated R38 million to Anti Corruption Unit, headed by former Hawks investigator Shadrack Sibiya. Mashaba says the unit has already uncovered R62 000 lost to corruption, but adds it could ultimately run into the billions.
According to Mashaba, there has been a lack of attention to management of finances in the past. Of the R1.7 billion of irregular expenditure by the previous administration, 80% was only identified by the auditor general and not by the city itself, Mashaba stated. "Obviously, we cannot continue in this vain," he added.
Mahomed Moosa, an audit manager at the Auditor General's office concurred, saying while irregular expenditure decreased marginally over the 2015/16 financial year, it remains high. Moosa explains 100% of unauthorized expenditure was due to overspending. The Auditor-General's report described the city's audit outcomes as a regression. "Four entities achieved clean audit statuses as opposed to six in the previous year," he said.
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The Road Ahead
Mashaba highlighted nine priority areas during his address. These include providing housing to residents, fighting crime and corruption, improving service delivery and ensuring economic growth.
The city is aimed at focusing on small business development in the inner city, which Mashaba believes will contribute not only to reviving the inner city, but will also uplift the poorest of poor. With more than 800 000 unemployed residents, Mashaba said they have a responsibility to create jobs. He also wants to realise economic growth of at least five percent by 2021.
Apart from this, the city also wants to address high crime rates, homelessness, infrastructure challenges and public transport shortfalls. But the mayor stressed thatJohannesburg's numerous entities have to work together, and cannot go on as they used to. "We must shift our thinking from a place of conducting business as usual, it is now time for business unusual," said Mashaba.