Mayor reflects on 2015
JOBURG - As 2015 draws to a close, there are a number of reasons for the people of Johannesburg to reflect on how the City has fared through the year and what we all aspire to in 2016.
Those were the words of Executive Mayor City of Johannesburg Parks Tau who said after all, the festive season is a time for us all to take a break from our regular work commitments, lay back and spend some quality time with family and friends. Tau said, “The Joburg Growth and Development Strategy 2040 remains our loadstar which outlines our commitment to the development of our citizens. During 2015 we have accelerated the City’s programmes and projects aimed at realising this commitment. Our more than R3 billion developmental programme, Jozi@Work, which is a co-production model designed for the metropolitan to partner with communities to boost the delivery of municipal services in their communities came alive in January 2015.”
The mayor said the City also begun rolling out Vulindlel’eJozi – a youth programme designed to break down barriers to various opportunities for up to 200 000 young people. He said these opportunities include online further education training, entrepreneurship skills development and entry-level job training and placement of youth. During this year, the City also launched the Jozi Digital Ambassadors programme – which will see up to 3000 young people being trained to impart digital literacy to more than 700 000 households in Johannesburg. “The City’s investment in these developmental programmes demonstrated that Johannesburg is a city that knows that with just a little help, our youth are not the challenge some think them to be, but our greatest asset,” Tau said.
He said all this development is happening on the backdrop of our continued service delivery. An infrastructure upgrade investment of R100 billion is currently underway in our city. This includes the building of roads and bridges, improvement of our public transport facilities, revamping our water infrastructure, as well as building more clinics and houses for the people of Johannesburg. Tau said the city went on to restore dignity and pride to occupants of government delivered houses by issuing tittle deeds to more than 1500 home owners in the City. More tittle deeds will be issued in 2016.
Confronted by the challenge of congestion in the Sandton city centre, and to demonstrate Johannesburg’s potential of becoming a global green transport city, in October, the City hosted the first ever EcoMobility World Festival on the African continent.
Furthermore, earlier this month the City hosted the 7th Africities Summit by the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa, which saw local government leaders deliberate on urban and economic development of African cities. The City also scooped the prestigious C40 Cities Award 2015 for Green Bond initiative in Paris. The Green Bond, which was oversubscribed, has already raised R1.458 billion in the past financial year. Tau said, “I look forward to rejoining forces with the people of Johannesburg in 2016 to continue transforming our City into a sustainable, resilient and successful metropolitan that we can all be proud of.
“With the above outline of the City’s year that was 2015 to reflect on, I wish all the people of Johannesburg a safe and joyous festive season, and a prosperous 2016.”
