Mashaba’s appearance a pleasant surprise

When City of Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba showed up at a recent protest, residents of Roosevelt Park, Northcliff and Fairland were impressed.

More than 100 residents embarked on a peaceful protest to demand answers from Mashaba about electricity restoration from the Roosevelt Park substation, which is notorious for its outages. The residents gathered on Beyers Naudé and Preller drives, blocking traffic for the duration of the protest. Mashaba, the MMC for Environmental and Infrastructure Services, Anthony Still, ward councillors and City Power officials came out to address the crowd.

Residents felt the new mayor’s appearance was unusual, and commented that no bodyguards or blue light brigades were refreshing.

Later, after being asked why he decided to address the protesters, Mashaba said he came out because he recognised that the residents of the city are his bosses and he can never ignore them. “At all times, my administration must remember that it is the residents of this city that we serve; and in everything that we do, it is their interests that must come first.

“I always try to make myself available to our residents and where my busy schedule permits, I will make myself available to address residents and listen to their concerns on any platform, including protests. I declared the days of arrogance and self-interest from leaders in our city, over.”

Ageing electrical infrastructure and capacity expansion were the main causes of electricity outages in Northcliff, Roosevelt Park, Victory Park, Fairland and surrounds. This was contested by residents who said the problem had existed for many years and the substation should have been upgraded already. Mashaba said the upgrading project could take up to two years involving a budget of up to R80 million.

Less than a week later, the Roosevelt Park substation reportedly suffered yet another power outage.