Raspana Tshwane: Mayor Moya unveils bold 100-day plan for change

City of Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya is announcing her 100-day action plan to turn Tshwane around.

Deputy Mayor Eugene Modise has described the plan as ambitious but realistic. They have labelled the plan of action “Raspana Tshwane,” which translates to working together.

Moya said the mayoral committee spent two weeks reviewing the reports to understand what they inherited and the City’s true state.

She said the City was in a dire state and had a total debt of R11 billion, of which R6 billion is owed to Eskom.

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10:25 Deputy Mayor,
City Manager,
Members of the Mayoral Committee,
City officials,
Members of the media,
And most importantly, residents of Tshwane,

Good morning, and thank you for joining us.

On 9 October, when I had the honour of being elected as the Executive Mayor of the Capital City, I committed to ensuring that the provision of quality basic services for all residents would be a matter of priority and principle, not politics.

As a government, we owe this basic dignity to everyone we serve.

Over the past couple of weeks, since the announcement of the Multi-Party Mayoral Committee, we have grappled with the challenge of how best to deliver on this commitment.

Our aim is to master the basics of service delivery so that quality services are provided equitably to all residents of Tshwane. After extensive assessment, we are confident that we now have a clear path forward.

Today, on behalf of the Mayoral Committee, I am presenting a 100-day Action Plan that we believe will serve as a foundation for a decisive turnaround by the end of January 2025.

Before presenting this plan, however, I believe it is essential to share with the residents of Tshwane the true state of the City and the challenges we have inherited.

We do this in the interest of transparency and to set realistic expectations about the scale of the task before us. I do not believe in making promises I cannot keep.

For the past two weeks, the Mayoral Committee has rigorously reviewed reports and presentations from the City’s top management to gain an unfiltered understanding of the situation we have inherited – without the veneer of political spin.

Residents of Tshwane, the City is in a dire state:

The City’s budget has been unfunded for several years, meaning we lack sufficient income to cover expenses, including the provision of basic services and capital investments.

Tshwane’s debt stands at over R11 billion, with R6.76 billion owed to Eskom alone. And while the total amount owed to the City by creditors stands at R28.3 billion.

Capital investment demands over the next decade exceed R65 billion, while the City’s current annual capital budget is only R2.3 billion. In other words, at the current rate of investment, it will take the City 36 years to meet the 10-year demand.

Chronic underinvestment in repairs and maintenance has left the City’s ageing infrastructure vulnerable to frequent breakdowns, with residents enduring weekly power and water outages.

The City is unable to respond to service delivery queries within the established time frame, with over 23,000 open service requests at the end of September.

Vandalism and criminal activities, such as cable theft and illegal connections, further strain our infrastructure and reduce our capacity to provide reliable services.

Where capital projects are implemented, many are behind schedule. Of the 193 capital projects for the 2024/25 financial year, only 31% achieved their first-quarter milestones by the end of September, with actual spending at just 10% of the budget.

The City is in a state of disrepair with filthy streets and failing infrastructure, while a vast disparity exists in the quality of services between affluent areas and townships or informal settlements.

The stark contrast between affluent Waterkloof and impoverished Winterveld is a matter I hold close to my heart. No one should witness the conditions some residents live in without feeling deeply troubled by such inequality.

This goes hand in hand with unemployment and inequality, 34.9% of the City’s over 4 million residents are without the dignity of work.

Finally, many of the City’s residents feel neglected and disengaged from the work of government, having lost faith in our willingness and ability to improve the conditions in which they live.

These are just some of the considerable challenges facing the City. While many of these will require long-term solutions, we believe that by the end of January, we can make meaningful progress and set the City on a path to recovery.

To that end, I want to share our six priorities for our first 100 days in office.

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10:30 Priority 1: Financial Stability

No City can function without adequate resources. Simply put, delivering better services to residents requires a healthy financial status.

Ensuring that no community in Tshwane is left behind starts with a funded budget. Improving our financial performance and presenting a fully funded budget by March next year is at the top of our list of priorities.

To accomplish this, a financial recovery plan, adopted by Council, that consists of several elements will be implemented. I would like to highlight four of these elements.

First, we need to enhance revenue collection, which has not yet returned to pre-COVID levels. This requires improvements in billing measures and increased revenue collection, and intensifying the Tshwane Ya Tima programme.

I am proud to report that the City Manager and CFO have made significant progress on this front, with several new measures yielding positive results. The City is on track to achieve a record R4 billion in monthly collections, aiming for R4.4 billion by the end of the financial year.

This is up from an average of R3.5 billion per month in previous months.

It is critical that we establish a culture of payment. Key to this is moving away from billing customers on estimates, and billing them on actual readings. Our target is to reach 95% actual readings within our first 100 days.
As part of this strategy, we will also be doing an analysis of the City’s debtors book of R28.3 billion to classify debt according to potential of recovery.

Second, we need to reduce water and electricity losses. Water losses currently stand at a staggering 34%, while electricity losses are at 19%. Lowering these levels is crucial for financial sustainability, as every Rand lost on non-revenue water and electricity is diverted from essential service delivery.

The expanded ‘War on Leaks’ campaign will also be central to this effort, especially as the City and province face an unprecedented water crisis.

Finances aside, we cannot afford for this valuable resource to literally go down the drain. The same applies to illegal connections, where the City will be intensifying efforts to identify and disconnect people illegally consuming City services.

Third, we need to control expenditure. While financial stability is our goal, we must manage expenditures carefully in line with our budget. The new administration is committed to acting responsibly with the City’s finances.

With improved revenue and collection, we will look to the adjustments budget to reallocate resources to frontline services, settle historic debts, and work with labour unions towards a mutually acceptable resolution regarding [the] salary increase backlog.

Finally, we need to address our Eskom debt while ensuring our account with Rand Water remains in good standing.

The City is now in a position to service current debt to Eskom while reducing arrears.

In light of this, productive discussions with the Minister of Electricity and Energy, and Eskom as an entity, are laying the ground for a possible out-of-court settlement regarding the R6.76 billion in arrears. This is our top priority.

Ultimately, our target is to reduce debt owed to Eskom to R5 billion by the end of January, and to build cash-backed reserves of R50 million monthly, totalling approximately R150 million over 100 days.

In addition to the focus on financial sustainability, we have tasked the City Manager with improving audit outcomes. We cannot return to the era of adverse audit requirements.

This includes taking a zero-tolerance stance on corruption in the City to ensure that public funds are spent responsibly for the benefit of residents.

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10: 35 Priority 2: Economic Revitalisation

Economic revitalisation is essential to financial sustainability and revenue generation. A vibrant economy fuels a functional City, while a functional City enables economic growth.

To unlock Tshwane’s economic potential, we will focus on supporting both established corporations, SMMEs, emerging business and informal traders, particularly in township economies.

As part of our support to informal traders, we will be launching the Marabastad Informal Trading Stalls Project once this is completed.

In township business support, our goal is to improve the survival rate of emerging businesses. Over the next 100 days, we will assess the services offered by the six operational business support centres in Hammanskraal, Mabopane, Atteridgeville, Bronkorspruit, and Nellmapius. Additionally, we aim to identify potential new business support sites in Region 5 (Refilwe) and Region 1 (Ga-Rankuwa).

To build confidence among the broader business community, we will embark on a series of engagements to communicate the new administration’s priorities and explore areas for collaboration.

We have already begun these engagements, including a recent meeting with the Capital City Business Chamber (CCBC) to learn about the Rosslyn Improvement District (RID).

City Improvement Districts (CIDs) are vital to Tshwane’s success, allowing private sector resources to complement the City’s limited resources for service delivery improvement. Our long-term goal is to establish CIDs across the City in the interest of public-private collaboration.

While these initiatives target long-term growth, we will also provide short-term relief through the City’s Public Employment Programme (PEP), recruiting an additional 2,500 beneficiaries by end of January 2025.

We have secured R110 million in grant funding from National Treasury for the PEP, which complements our Expanded Public Works Programme. This has already provided 22,000 work opportunities over a period of three years.

In the longer term, an inclusive economy requires incentives for job-creating businesses that can provide permanent jobs – not just short-term opportunities.

To this end, we will review the services offered by the City’s investment facilitation programme and by-laws to ensure we reduce red tape and provide efficient ‘red carpet’ service to current and prospective investors.

Finally, in the coming months, we will introduce a strategy to revitalise the inner City and other economic nodes by identifying City-owned and abandoned properties for private sector-led mixed-use developments, including affordable housing and student accommodation.

One such opportunity is the underutilised Tshwane Showgrounds, which could be developed into a world-class conference facility.

Similarly, we have engaged the Gauteng Provincial Government on the issue of underutilised industrial areas such as Ekandustria, Babelegi, and Ga-Rankuwa, urging their intervention to reignite growth. These previously thriving industrial hubs, now stand as shadows of their former selves, depriving local residents of much-needed job opportunities.

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10:40 Priority 3: Infrastructure Development with a Focus on Energy, Water and Roads

A growing economy requires reliable services. We have heard residents’ pleas about frequent power and water outages and ageing infrastructure.

While the budget limits our capacity to solve all infrastructure issues immediately, we can improve capital project management. Our focus will be on kick-starting suspended projects in townships and informal settlements.

Our goal is to implement robust project management strategies so that by the end of the financial year, 100% of the capital budget is spent and no grant funding is returned due to under-expenditure.

The Deputy Mayor will oversee capital projects in collaboration with the Gauteng Provincial Government to ensure targets are met.

On a practical level, several key infrastructure projects will improve residents’ lives, including:

Advancing the Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Works upgrades, with the first phase of the project to be completed within the 100-day plan.
Completing the sewer pipeline refurbishment in Region 1, Amabokoboko Street, by January.
Progressing the Klipgat Wastewater Treatment Works refurbishment, set for completion by 2025, along with renovations to Olievenhoutbosch Clinic.

In addition, we will undertake the following public projects in the next three months:

Commission 18 high-mast lights across Regions 1 to 6.

Complete Phase 1 of the N4 powerline to stabilise power supply to Region 6 Waltloo Industrial area.
Install 300 LED streetlights in Regions 1 and 6.

Finally, a key project will be the revitalisation of critical substations, including Kwaga, Nyala, and IA. We have already engaged Minister Ramokgopa regarding these ageing facilities and are collaborating with him on a plan to upgrade them.

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10: 45 Priority 4: Equitable Basic Service Delivery and Maintaining a Clean City

For too long, many residents have felt abandoned and neglected in terms of basic service delivery. The new administration is here to restore hope and provide equitable services. Once again, let me say that delivering quality basic services will not be a matter of politics, but of principle.

Our goal is to improve lighting in areas that have long been left in darkness. We are also putting measures in place to accelerate response times for water leaks and sewer blockages, aiming to address 90% of complaints within 48 hours, with a long-term target of 24 hours. These issues account for the majority of complaints received by the City.

To maintain clean townships, we will engage communities in clean-up programmes, including litter-picking, street sweeping, and illegal dumping clearance. We have already embarked on campaigns in Mamelodi, Atteridgeville and the CBD.

Additionally, we will work with private sector partners to expand the reach of MoUs to benefit more residents. We will ensure this is done in a transparent manner that benefits all communities.

This Friday, 1 November, I will also lead the launch of a public-private City rejuvenation initiative in Sunnyside, under banner: “Re A Spana”. This is more than a clean-up campaign; it is a programme to reclaim our streets and transform them into spaces we can be proud of.

I invite residents, businesses, and NGOs to join us as the programme rolls out across all seven regions.

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10: 50 Priority 5: By-law Enforcement and Inner-City Rejuvenation

Law and order are the cornerstones of a well-run City. Over the next 100 days, we will intensify by-law enforcement across Tshwane. This is crucial not only for public safety but also for public health.

In response to concerns around food safety, we will intensify spaza shop inspections in all seven regions, in partnership with TMPD, SAPS and other stakeholders.

Enforcement operations will also cover liquor license compliance, street-vendor trading, and public amenities by-laws. We will also focus on waste management, illegal dumping, and policing derelict buildings.

Over the longer term, our goal is to build a professional, responsive, and highly functional metro police unit that can ensure the safety and security of all. Ensuring a safe City is non-negotiable for Tshwane’s prosperity.

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10:53 Priority 6: Community Engagement and Taking Government to the People

Building a prosperous capital requires a renewed focus on social cohesion and bridging the divides in the City.

We aim to improve our communication with residents, understanding that nearly half of Tshwane’s residents lack regular internet access.

Residents deserve to be informed about service delivery progress, and we have a responsibility to bring government closer to the people.

Our priority communication areas over the next 100 days include updates on Hammanskraal Water Project, electricity pre-paid meter upgrades, water consumption awareness, and the impacts of theft, vandalism, illegal connections, and establishing a culture of payment.

The City needs to communicate proactively so that when issues arise, residents hear it from us first.

In the coming weeks, we will also launch a series of izimbizos to introduce the new administration to residents, listen to your concerns, hear your ideas to fix them, and share our plans to address them.

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10:55 Residents of Tshwane,

The plan I have outlined is not exhaustive. The issues facing our City are numerous, and this administration has prepared a comprehensive response to tackle them.

Today’s plan aims to provide a summary and lay the groundwork for our term, ensuring we bring about meaningful change while we have the privilege of serving in office.

Before I conclude, I want to thank our Multi-Party Government partners for their shared commitment to providing equitable services and building a business-friendly City that can reverse the decline we’ve observed.

Special thanks to Deputy Mayor Modise, Members of the Mayoral Committee, the City Manager, and his team for their invaluable support in shaping this plan.

This is not my plan alone but a collective commitment from all of us.

I also want to thank the residents of Tshwane for their support over the past couple of weeks. We appreciate your willingness to work towards fixing our city.

Finally, I extend an invitation to all councillors, regardless of party affiliation, to engage with the new administration in the interests of the residents we serve.

My door remains open to all who share our vision of improving Tshwane.

We are here to work. Work with us.

Thank you,
Baie dankie,
Kea leboga,
Ngiyabonga,
Enkosi