It is imperative that the City of Johannesburg achieve a minimum 5 per cent economic growth.
This is what both Mayor Herman Mashaba and the City’s administrative leadership agreed to at a Lekgotla, a meeting called by government to discuss strategy planning in early November.
This planning is part of the buildup to a new Integrated Development Plan (IDP) for the City over the next five years.
“The political and administrative leadership forged a framework to grow the economy and create a conducive environment for businesses to create jobs,” Mashaba said after the meeting.
“Without economic growth at this level, we will not be able to reverse the crisis of unemployment and poverty in our City. We have more than 800 000 unemployed people in Joburg who need us to work closely with business to create work opportunities. We do not have the luxury of time.”
Part of the plan to drive this growth is eliminating wasteful expenditure and uncertain investment programmes. Mashaba said resources need to be diverted to focus on the City’s core mandate as well. “Our focus cannot be on investing in projects where no business would invest. Our focus must be to incubate small businesses and fast-track their development into employers of our residents,” he said.
The mayor also hopes to see the inner city of Johannesburg become a construction site by private developers, realising a vision of high-rise, low-cost and affordable housing and office space.
Plans to implement this and Mashaba’s other goals will be brought to residents through the IDP early next year. This is an outline of the City’s future over the short, medium and long term. Issues considered include spatial planning, disaster management, finances, performance targets and economic development. The annual council budget will be based on the IDP, drafted over a few months.
Closer to home, ratepayers can contact their ward councillors, who also set out an IDP for their wards to address the specific needs of different communities, and to talk about issues they feel the council should give more attention to
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