Although the official debate on Mayor Herman Mashaba’s first State of the City address (Soca) will take place on 5 May, opposition parties have already expressed their concern over certain aspects of the guiding 10-point plan.
The African National Congress (ANC) Joburg spokesperson, Jolidee Matongo said the Democratic Alliance (DA) and its coalition government have not delivered on its 10-point plan.
“We are aware that Mashaba and the coalition partners will stop at nothing to vilify the ANC at the Soca. They will do so to provoke our councillors to such an extent that violence erupts and the ANC is blamed as a sore loser,” he said, adding that party councillors will continue to constructively participate in council meetings.
Barring the pilot project for extended clinic hours and five per cent economic growth, the party criticised the apparent lack of action on all other points.
Matongo said that nothing has been done to revitalise the inner-city and no semi-complete housing list or official housing waiting list has yet been produced.
Read: LIVE: Herman Mashaba’s State of the City Address
He slammed Mashaba for cancelling the Jozi@Work programme, saying it condemns 8 000 people involved to unemployment.
The previous ANC administration was blamed for the new DA-led administration’s inherited faults.
Mashaba, in his address, said these include a R170 billion infrastructure backlog, high unemployment and a 300 000 housing units backlog.
He even expressed concern over the R360 million council chamber from where he delivered his speech, saying it could have been used to build roads, clinics or houses. Mashaba also blamed the opposition party for allowing corruption in its term.
Matongo said the party supports the fight against corruption.
“However, under Mashaba, Johannesburg has become a police state where Metro police are used to suppress residents. In the nine months Mashaba has been chasing corruption ghosts, we are yet to see tangible evidence of investigations done,” he said.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) who, despite not being a coalition partner, helped vote the DA into power in Joburg and other municipalities across the country in a bid to oust the ANC.
The party’s chief whip, Silumko Mabona, said the party’s official response to the mayor’s address will be tabled during the debate.
Mabona did say however that the pledge to spend 60 per cent of the CapEx budget on projects in traditionally poor and under-serviced communities speaks to the issue the party has been raising.
“We understand what has been inherited, but the Integrated Development Plan and budget speaks to the issues of the poor,” he said.
Mabona added that the differences in how the EFF would compile a budget and how it has been compiled is vast.
“We would like to see the projects listed individually.”
Mabona said the EFF will vote with the DA from item to item with no assurance that it will agree on every issue.
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