City of Johannesburg capital expenditure budget nothing but a ‘cut and paste’

The Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) has been given a key role in developing South Africa’s economic hub.  

City of Johannesburg (CoJ) MMC for Finance Dada Morero outlined his R83 billion budget for the CoJ, which granted JDA a R7.4 billion capital expenditure purse.  

JDA is the city’s infrastructure development arm and is entrusted with all projects, ranging from transport nodes to recreation centres and shared public spaces, among others.

The entity boasts being responsible for at least 1 300 projects in the 23 years since its inception.  

JDA infrastructure goals

Among the major capital layouts will be R240m for the Orange Farm urban renewal programme, R170m to complete Rea Vaya’s Phase 1C and R22m to finish swimming pools in Ivory Park and Cosmo City. 

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DA Johannesburg caucus leader, Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku, was unimpressed with the budget.

When asked is the amounts and allocations were adequate, she said the city hadn’t done a proper assessment of what is needed.

“No, because it’s a cut and paste. The city needs to properly audit and analyse these projects in progress in detail to see which are vanity projects for electioneering or is it a need of communities.”

Citing the Alexandra Automotive Hub, a project punted by the CoJ as being transformative for the Region E community, Kayser-Echeozonjoku accused the city of stagnant productivity. 

“Some projects are at a standstill with no indication of when it will be completed. When we were in government we terminated non-performing contractors and requested them to be reported to Treasury. Some of these were not done,” she added.

ALSO READ: Joburg’s budget process: A ‘mockery’ of public participation

JDA acknowledged questions from The Citizen about their 2023/24 track record and its full response is still pending.

Oversite on projects needed

Other projects in JDA’s funding pipeline include R300m for public transport facilities citywide, R105m for community centres, R64m for the construction of clinics and R25m for roof repairs and fire protection upgrades at the Johannesburg Central Library.

Kayser-Echeozonjoku stressed the need to monitor these projects closely to avoid any unnecessary waste.

“JDA has become a cash cow for ANC aligned businesses with no proper oversight. Until the city stop cadre deployment and retain technical expertise in an entity like JDA we will continuously see these problems.”

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