Not all projects and suggestions made to the City of Johannesburg at the recent Integrated Development Plan (IDP) meetings will be realised, mostly because of budget constraints, according to the City’s Mayor Herman Mashaba at the first regional summit IDP meeting on 18 April.
Mashaba gave an overview of the region’s response to the ward-based meetings earlier this month, saying the City has taken note of all the concerns raised and will disclose information to communities about them. Not all projects, however, will be given a budgetary preference.
Ultimately, the mayor said that plans aligned to the five pillars and nine priorities will be a most important consideration.
Economic growth, pro-poor development, better service delivery and public safety, transparent government, responding to residents’ needs, better financial sustainability and innovation and preserving future resources are the key points the IDP and budget will align itself towards.
Each of these has a corporate scorecard, what Mashaba called a useful accountability tool, that shows what has been done and what still needs to be done to achieve the goals set out under these priorities.
Mashaba was adamant that restoring dignity to residents in informal settlements across the City will be given the upper hand.
He said that electrifying these settlements and building infrastructures would help ultimately grow the City’s economy and small businesses.
“Before I pave an entire road in Atholl, I will build a road in Alex,” he said.
Many of the issues specifically raised in Region B are already contained in the budget. Job creation and small, medium and macro enterprises (SMMEs) support, Mashaba said, will be improved through more SMME hubs and breaking tenders into smaller parts, helping informal traders and small businesses.
Crime, traffic congestion, service delivery issues, billing issues, housing and general maintenance were highlighted as issues within the region.
Solutions for these have already been planned for in the budget.
The mayor boldly announced that if he were not to live up to his promises, residents should vote him out in 2021, at the end of his five-year term and the term of the IDP currently in the public consultation phase.
He emphasised that the IDP is entirely about residents, citing this as the reason for breaking up the IDP summit into each region instead of it being one final meeting.
“People should take back the power from politicians,” he said.
The City’s R55.9 million 2016/17 budget will be tabled in council in May, set to come into force on 1 July.
For a full view of the IDP visit 2017-18 draft Integrated Development Plan Review
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