JOHANNESBURG – Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero said the City is laying the groundwork for a better future.
But for residents living through water shortages, roads ridden by potholes, crime at its peak, and decaying infrastructure, seeing the glimmer of hope in Morero’s future almost feels impossible.
Delivering his State of the City Address on Wednesday, Morero, who acknowledged the City’s mounting infrastructure and financial challenges, defended his record under the banner: We are a City at work.
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A functioning city
The mayor painted a picture of a City that is functioning and growing despite decay and service delivery failures.
Morero said more than 80% of Johannesburg residents continue to receive basic services, including water, sanitation, electricity, refuse removal, and housing opportunities.
He added that the City is absorbing more people, expanding employment, while health care services remain trusted.
He also highlighted the low number of people on private medical aid schemes, which he said stands at 18.6%.
To Morero, this demonstrates that the majority of residents have not checked out of the City's healthcare systems and that Joburg remains the primary healthcare of choice.
But beyond the mayor’s optimistic outlook lies a city battling daily frustrations.
‘We’re tired of speeches’
Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) CEO Wayne Duvenage described Morero as being out of touch with reality.
“We're getting tired of speeches that proclaim one thing, but it's not the picture that we're experiencing in the city.”
He went on to critique Morero’s comments on healthcare, saying residents are not simply choosing public hospitals because they prefer them, but because they do not have the luxury of affording a private hospital.
Duvenage accused the mayor of painting a picture that does not exist.
A debt crisis hangs over the city.
Beyond service delivery, a dark cloud of debt hangs over the City, one that will impact City residents at large.
Eskom threatened to cut off electricity supply to certain bulk supply points against the City and City Power, as arrear debt reaches R5.2 billion.
READ | Eskom threatens to pull plug on Joburg over unpaid debt
Eskom said it has been working with both the City and City Power for over two years to support the metro in meeting its payment obligations.
But failure to honour its Electricity Supply Agreement, including repeated defaults, has resulted in Eskom issuing a notice.
But Morero maintains that the power utility will not pull the plug.
He said a plan is in place as talks continue how they plan to settle the debt.
A laser eye on the City’s water crisis
The water crisis in the country is also not spared, with the South African Human Rights Commission moving to investigate
The Commission said it has received numerous complaints about ongoing water shortages, ageing infrastructure, and repeated service delivery failures.
She said the Commission aims to look at the systemic issue.
READ | SAHRC to kick off probe into Gauteng water crisis
This, according to WaterCAN’s Jonathan Erasmus, speaks volumes to the state of the city's water problems.
“It's very difficult for us to take much of what he said seriously. We really need much more information, much more facts to kind of back up what he's saying.”
The same was echoed by Johannesburg Property Owners Association’s Angela Rivers, who spoke first-hand of the Bomb Squad, which Morero praised for having transformed service delivery processing by establishing benchmarks for rapid intervention and resolution of issues that directly impact citizens' quality of life.
But for Rivers, they remain mum over her billing crisis.
She said that while there are those who do the work, some are content with just walking away with a salary without the work.
With critics of such nature, it is clear Morero remains under pressure over the deteriorating state of the City.