It has been just over three months since the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) saw the election of a new Executive Mayor, and some changes have already taken place.
During his election campaign, Herman Mashaba promised to bring change to the CoJ should he be elected as Executive Mayor, and after almost 100 days in office he has already started to fulfill some of these promises.
After his election, he implemented a ten-point plan to kick-start the city’s revival and speed up the resolution of residents’ service delivery issues. Some of the points on this plan included creating a professional public service, ensuring corruption is public enemy number one, extended hours at clinics and fast-tracking the handing over of title deeds to residents, churches and businesses.
One of Mashaba’s first actions was to compile a list of everyone still waiting for title deeds and start the process of handing them over. His first stop was at Eldorado Park, where he handed over title deeds to five families. He assured residents that had been waiting for a long time to receive their title deeds that they would get them soon.
He also fulfilled his promise of making health services available to residents for extended hours when he launched a project at Princess Clinic at the end of October. Many residents were overjoyed with this decision, but there were some concerns about their safety when visiting the clinic late at night. One resident, Kedebone Sebotsa said she thinks it is the right way to go. “It happens that people hurt each other or fall sick late at night. Previously we could not help them because the ambulances could not always come to us, but now, with the clinic being open later, we can take these people to the clinic and the ambulance can fetch them from there,” she said.
Mashaba also made good on his intention to declare corruption as public enemy number one when he announced former provincial Hawks head Shadrack Sibiya as the leader of the newly formed anti-corruption unit. He also promised the launch of a K9 Narcotics unit to the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD), and that was launched recently too.
The Mayor and Members of the Mayoral Committee (MMCs) have already started addressing service delivery issues by rolling out their visions for the different departments.
Have you experienced a change in the CoJ during the past three months? Do you feel positive about what’s happening and what the Mayor has achieved so far? Tell us what you think.
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