Slimy greed by out-of-touch leaders is killing Johannesburg

I dread parking my old Volvo at the Joburg Metro Centre during council meetings. Corrosive slime which drips from stalactites on the A-level roof ruins vehicles’ paintwork.

Those without reserved parking bays must hunt for the few safe spots available on council days.

Walking to the council chamber from there, you pass two rows of spotless luxury German sedans, which are chauffeur-driven for the elite.

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Similar out-of-touch elitism prevails at lunch time, when special guests are ushered to well-appointed venues while councillors engage in a Gadarene crush in less salubrious surroundings.

The building has been declared unsafe and unfit for occupation, we are told. All this is emblematic of how Joburg is run.

The city, like the metro centre, is falling apart, yet porcine snouts remain firmly in the feeding trough.

As fellow councillor Leah Knott wrote during last week’s state of the city address: “The level of pomp and self-importance in chambers today is not only a disgrace but a giant middle finger to the citizens of Joburg.”

Then, as now, thousands of forgotten residents remained without electricity, water, decent roads, reliable refuse collection, etc.

This week we are discussing the city’s 2023-24 budget. It’s a work of fiction.

Much of the budget is unfunded. Items are listed for which there is no discernible, reliable source of funding – from revenue or anywhere else.

Crucially, there are multiple flaws in the process through which residents are supposed to participate in the budgeting process.

Residents have been forgotten. Public participation is not an optional extra.

In South Africa it is a legal requirement enshrined in the constitution.

The 1998 White Paper on local government invoked public participation mechanisms which are now prescribed in laws such as the Local Government Municipal Structures Act and the Municipal Systems Act.

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Among the mechanisms is the integrated development planning (IDP) process, which Johannesburg nominally follows.

Last month, the Joburg City Council speaker chastised mayor Kabelo Gwamanda and several members of the mayoral committee (MMCs) for missing 17 IDP sessions.

Even when MMCs do attend, the level and quality of public participation is often abysmal.

For example, Annette Deppe, ward councillor in Midrand, recently criticised the speaker’s office for allowing a maximum of three people per ward two minutes each to raise pressing issues.

“Total disrespect for the procedures and the purpose of an IDP public session. Only giving three people per ward time to talk is not public participation. Not fair to residents who came with their own lists. So, it is only a tick-box exercise and putting bums on seats,” she added.

After all this fuss, documents tabled in council yesterday still did not reflect many of the comments and suggestions made.

Residents may just as well have flushed their suggestions down the toilet, further clogging an overloaded sewerage system.

In seven years as ward councillor, I count on one hand the number of requests from residents that made it onto the budget cycle.

Residents, including ratepayers, are forgotten in the feeding frenzy where wisdom of Aesop’s fable The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs falls on deaf ears.

Corrosive, slimy greed by out-of-touch “leaders” is killing Joburg.

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