Mashaba allocates millions to alleviate the city services’ challenges
THE City of Johannesburg has allocated R31-million for the recruitment of a further 1 500 officers into the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) to help combat crime‚ enforce by-laws and manage traffic congestion.
Announcing this during his 2016/2017 Adjustment Budget speech yesterday‚ mayor Herman Mashaba said creating safe and connected communities throughout the city was one of the key objectives of his administration.
He added that a specialised JMPD unit would also be set up to address the issue of traffic light failure in the city.
“This unit will operate as a rapid response team to downed traffic lights in order to provide relief to our residents while the broader issue of traffic light repairs is being addressed‚” he said.
Mashaba also declared war on potholes in the city’s roads.
“We have allocated R60-million for JRA to procure the requisite material for pothole repairs and R28-million in salaries to provide the requisite capacity behind this operation‚” he said.
To addressing the challenges faced by public transport users‚ the metro has also allocated a further R51-million for the purchase of additional buses for the Metro Bus‚ with a further R5-million for the refurbishment of its current fleet.
“In addition to this‚ we have further allocated R14.3-million for the Intermodal Transport Facility in the inner city.
“This is aimed at improving the efficiency of public transport for commuters using bus‚ rail and taxis.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of Jozi@Work programme employees, together with Jozi Bread owners and mushroom farmers, staged a protest outside the City of Johannesburg council chamber yesterday.
The protest was confirmed by Mashaba‚ who said he planned to lay charges for the damage they incurred. “Those responsible for the violence and damage to city property today [yesterday] must be held accountable and I will be laying criminal charges,” he said. The
claimed Mashaba had refused to meet the protesters‚ and stated: “The march today is not the last, there is a series of more marches to come if Mashaba continues with the arrogance that he displays.”
However‚ the former ruling party in the Metro said‚“We are disturbed by the fact that there has been damage to property by some elements within the marchers. We call upon the leadership of the affected workers to instill discipline among their members and to desist from destructive behaviour”.
Mashaba accused the party of instigating the protest.
“The Johannesburg Social Movement’s frontman‚ Tshepang Mokgatla‚ was the ANC’s councillor candidate for the recent elections in ward 125. He lost that ward to the DA and is now dedicating his time to disturbing this administration.”
Mashaba announced earlier this month that the Jozi@work programme had been cancelled because it favoured members of ANC branches above any unemployed resident of Johannesburg.
JMPD spokesman Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar confirmed the arrests of two men after they allegedly damaged property of the JMPD and the Metro Centre in Braamfontein. "The men were arrested for damage to property after they broke a glass windows and doors. They also broke windows of two JMPD patrol cars," said Minaar.
"There were no injuries but we had to use rubber bullets to disperse the crowd to unblock the roads, and after the crowds became violent."