CITY ADDRESS POLITICAL, PROPOGANDA SPEECH - DA

THE Joburg DA has slammed the State of the City Address as a “propaganda” speech.

The claim that Covid-19 derailed the city’s ability to deliver is misplaced, it merely showed up the ANC’s continued inability to deliver, said DA Joburg leader Leah Knott.

“Midvaal, the City of Cape Town, and all other DA-run municipalities across the country responded proactively to the pandemic through programmes that provided food to hungry residents and real support to suffering businesses, all while maintaining their high standards of service delivery.

“The illusion that the mayor tried to sell to residents was of a city experiencing uninterrupted service delivery, zero corruption and a perfect scorecard over the last year, is not only ludicrous but reeks of misinformation and frankly political delusion.”

It was well known, said Knott, that there is a massive infrastructure backlog, created over the decades that the ANC was in government.

“We all know that the city has been running on 10% capacity, despite spending tens of millions on IT equipment for officials to work from home. The call centre never picks up, officials don’t answer their emails, and depots are running at reduced capacity.”

Corruption was a great problem with no city official being brought to book over the personal protective equipment fraud. The fact that the mayor had appeared before the Zondo Commission in regard to state capture, was also disturbing, she added.