GOOD Speech by Matthew Cook,
GOOD National Chairperson and City of Johannesburg Councillor
26 March 2025
*Note to Editors: This speech was delivered during the 29th Ordinary Council Meeting of the City of Johannesburg.
Speaker, Members of Council, and Fellow Residents of Johannesburg, GOOD is not an opponent of public safety, but a defender of real accountability, meaningful service delivery, and the interests of the people of Johannesburg.
Unfortunately, the reports tabled by the Public Safety Department are filled with numbers — roadblocks conducted, licenses renewed, and buildings inspected—but what it fails to present is the true measure of success:
Are the people of Johannesburg safer today than they were three months ago?
Most residents of Johannesburg will agree with me that the answer is NO.
Speaker, the department can boast of 16,000 roadblocks, 64,000 vehicles stopped, and 1,693 arrests made. However, these are just numbers.
Where is the evidence that crime has decreased? That our roads are safer? That our communities are more secure?
Speaker, the reports admit to several failures such as the ward-based policing, which is severely under-resourced, with officers stretched across multiple wards, unable to provide the security presence our communities need. There are also only 38% of CCTV cameras are functional, leaving our city in darkness while criminals roam freely. We cannot accept a report that tells us Johannesburg is safer when the very tools needed to ensure safety are broken, missing, or underfunded.
Speaker, the report shows that the department overspent by R464-million.
Where did this money go?
We see no major improvements in service delivery, no significant investments in crime-fighting technology, and no real reduction in criminal activity.
We cannot simply rubber-stamp a report that presents a budget deficit without clear justification.
Speaker, this report highlights that 1,053 shacks were removed and 11 brick-and-mortar structures demolished. But it fails to answer a crucial question:
Where did those people go? Were they provided with alternative housing? Were they given support?
The enforcement of by-laws must not come at the expense of human dignity.
We cannot be a city that destroys homes without providing solutions.
Speaker, despite all the interventions listed in this report, the city still faces rampant crime. Only 7 arrests for drug-related offenses were made in the entire city over three months.
We know that drug abuse and trafficking are crippling our communities, yet this is the best our safety department can do?
This report states that the Disaster Management Centre responded to 99 incidents affecting over 1,300 households.
But what does “response” mean? A temporary handout? Where is the long-term disaster prevention strategy?
Johannesburg needs fire prevention, flood mitigation, and urban planning solutions, not just emergency relief when disasters strike.
Speaker, this report is not a blueprint for a safer city—it is a report of broken promises, poor planning, and misplaced priorities.
Johannesburg deserves better.
Our residents deserve a public safety department that actually makes them safer, not one that merely measures how many roadblocks it sets up or how many posters it removed.
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