I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the new administration of the City of Johannesburg led by multimillionaire businessman Herman Mashaba of the Black Like Me cosmetic business empire.
We hope and pray you will be bold enough to root out the endemic corruption and arrogance that has become embedded in the operation of the City since time immemorial, especially more so during the democratic rule of the African National Congress.
Although the new mayor of the golden city has assured its civil service that there will be no purge or witch-hunt – there certainly are witches there and you need to weed them out, as rotten apples have an adverse effect on others.
I, for one, can pinpoint the rotten apples, but it is not my business to call them out. All I can do is to point out the issues, challenges and problems that bedevil our city that you, Mr Mayor, need to attend to.
It’s not in my space to give you priorities, but I am sure the citizens of this once beautiful and clean city will or have already done so by sending you a needs list of issues to address during your many engagements with them while canvassing for their votes. The fact that you’re mayor today shows the confidence the people had in you to address their issues, some of which I have already tackled in the previous segments of this column.
This time, I want to narrow them down to a small community, one in which you, Mr Mayor, interacted intimately with before the elections. I am sure you will make them destination number one soon after assuming office in as much as you did when you came seeking their votes.
I am talking here about the people of Alexandra, the residents of Madala Hostel and those of Helen Joseph. I need not repeat the issues, Mr Mayor, as you and I both know what they are. They want to know, now that you have assumed office, what you’re going to do about the hotels’ problems, and about the siphoning off of funds under the guise of reconstructing the Alexandra Stadium into a modern facility that meets the requirements of the Premier Soccer League in order to host Absa Premiership matches.
They also want to know what you will do about the wastage of millions and millions on the unfinished work at the Alexandra Heritage Centre, which is nothing but a white elephant that has been under construction for the past 20 years, changing hands from one constructor to the other with millions paid to each of them.
They want to know what you will do about other white elephants in the names of KwaBhekilanga Sports Ground, the Tourism Hub on the banks of the Jukskei River at the old TB Hospital Settlement, and the state-of-the-art theatre next to KwaNobuhle Hostel, all of whose stories are similar to the heritage centre.
