Makhubo’s mayoral bid
‘DA-EFF coalition proved unworkable; ratepayers were sacrificed at altar of compromise’
AFTER Wednesday, the City of Joburg will have a new mayor following the resignation and departure of Herman Mashaba. That’s if the speaker does not arbitrarily postpone the meeting.
We would hope that Mashaba was wrong about his assessment of the DA who deployed him, and even after describing it as racist and anti-poor, it still allowed him to continue as mayor. It would be a ghastly future to serve under a party as described by Mashaba.
There is also the real possibility that having worn the mayoral chain, thanks to what turned out to be an unworkable pact with the EFF, Mashaba found that he could no longer satisfy the unending demands that came his way.
Either way, the DA-EFF coalition has proved itself unworkable and too unwieldy for the City, with the ratepayers sacrificed at the altar of finding a compromise between polarised interests.
Based on the experience of the past three years, the key question we should all be asking ourselves is: what should we be looking for in the leader of a city?
This question should go beyond the individual who will be elected as mayor. It should be an ethic that informs how the city will be governed going forward.
The people of Joburg deserve a city leadership that values accountability, sound governance, and punishes malfeasance wherever it might raise its ugly head. This means being tough on corruption, while being prudent with the city’s resources. While the ANC government will seek to do all that, it is necessary to reverse the implications of decades of apartheid spatial planning that has led to some neighbourhoods enjoying better resources than others.
Such decisions should be made with the understanding that ours is a city with one tax base that must cater to all who live in it.
A pothole, sub-station outage or burst water pipe in any part of the city should be attended to as quickly as possible, regardless of the class or race history of the neighbourhood.
Our decisions as city leaders should be those that appreciate the long-term financial implications and avoid passing today’s financial obligations to future generations.
The City of Joburg needs a longhaul view of things.
The city needs a solid foundation for successive city governments to create a platform where ratepayers, business and other users of the city can obtain services and value for their rates and taxes. We should not be as short-sighted about “working on 80 buildings”, but we should instead seek to recreate in other parts of Joburg the success pockets such as the Maboneng Precinct east of the city, the business and corporate centre housing banks, mining and other professional services in the west, and the thriving student city that is Braamfontein.
The City of Joburg should not be limited to the Joburg inner city. The inner cities of suburbs such as Roodepoort and Randburg need just as much attention as those close to the Joburg city centre.
All regions of the city require sustainable plans and partnerships with other state institutions and business, so as to ensure that they have innercity communities in which people can work, play, shop and live comfortably and safely with their families.
Instead of seeking short-term political goals by scrapping what works such as the Joburg Inner-City Property Scheme (ICPS) started by Mashaba’s predecessors, the city’s leadership should rather look at other ways of how to replicate the successes of these programmes.
It is tempting to list all the clinics, housing, economic infrastructure projects or even the very establishment of the metro police department created during the ANC’s tenure, but such is what one would expect from a City government.
Someone must first build the clinics and establish a metro police force before another can claim credit for adding hours and numbers to these institutions.
Joburg has come a long way. Those of us who had to take the risk of crossing the Queen Elizabeth Bridge that was meant only for vehicles, with no walkway reserved for pedestrians to get to Wits University in pursuit of a commerce qualification, know just how much has changed since those days.
For instance, Nelson Mandela Bridge responds to the hardships of students and workers who move every day from the inner city to Braamfontein.
Furthermore, plenty of other young people are now able to use the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transport from the township to institutions of higher learning in various parts of the city to acquire the requisite knowledge that will see them contribute their skills to the country’s economy.
And in turn decreasing the high levels of unemployment, poverty and inequality.
The City of Joburg has indeed been transformational.
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Accountable, ethical leadership that punishes malfeasance
Makhubo is chairperson of the ANC’s Greater Johannesburg region