GOOD press statement by Sarah Mabotsa,
GOOD: City of Tshwane Councillor
22 April 2022
Thursday’s State of the City Address in Tshwane should be noted for what it failed to address rather than what it did. Mayor Randall Williams claims to have a data-driven grand vision for the future, but his speech seems to indicate the opposite.
GOOD welcomes the announcement that several key water and power infrastructure installations will be upgraded. Decades-old substations and water treatment plants have slowed the delivery of basic services such as drinking water and electricity. The improvements are long overdue.
According to the mayor, 4452 water connections were made as of March 2022. This simply isn’t enough. One in 20 homes can’t access running water or power. One in five can’t use running toilets. Claiming a victory in these circumstances demonstrates just how disconnected the Mayor is from the people he is elected to serve.
While we note Tshwane’s new housing projects, they simply aren’t sufficient to deal with rapid migration and urbanisation. The three “major” housing developments mentioned are in advanced stages of development and it is expected that they will supply 600, 607, and 1200 homes respectively – a total of 2407 homes.
The Mayor is clearly not serious about addressing Apartheid spatial injustices. The city has the power to unstitch the old Group Areas Act but lacks the political will to do so – as evidenced by countless state-owned properties lying dormant, underutilized, and derelict.
Mayor Williams failed to address these issues when he was MMC for Economic Development and Spatial Planning and we have no faith that he will take this problem seriously now that he is mayor.
Tshwane is home to over 10 000 homeless people – a statistic that many experts claim is an underestimation. The City is failing these vulnerable people by not giving effect to its very own homelessness policy. This is what the DA-led government describes as “a caring city”.
In the last financial year, R8.6 billion was lost to irregular and unauthorized expenditure. No mention was made of plans to recoup this money or to institute preventative measures which would prevent a similar occurrence from happening again. This is especially confusing as the mayor makes continuous “efforts” to ensure the “financial stability” of the city. This means nothing to the thousands of ratepayers who continue to foot the bill for sloppy financial management.
No blueprint exists to reduce the cost of water and electricity. For the time being, vulnerable residents will be forced to choose between feeding their families and keeping their lights on in a city with one of the highest costs of living persists. Mayor Williams’s failure to address this already stains his underwhelming record.
Championing eco-friendly initiatives across Tshwane is key. But the mayor should know this is about more than cleaning a few parks and public areas.
According to the mayor, he follows an eco-conscious agenda, but no mention was made of modernizing the Areyeng network to exist sustainably. New lines being opened to Menlyn are of no use if city buses continue to spew dirt.
Mayor Williams offered a mouthful of nothing during his State of the Capital Address. If he wants to assure residents that he hears their concerns, then he must put his ear to the ground and listen.
Media enquiries:
Sarah Mabotsa, GOOD: City of Tshwane Councillor
Cell: 064 684 8640
Email: smabotsamuthivhi@gmail.com
Samkelo Mgobozi, GOOD: Media Manager
Cell: 0792315977 (WhatsApp)/0829684021 (calls)
Email: samm@forgood.org.za