By Angela Rivers
Johannesburg - The annual budget for the City of Joburg is the kind of ammo that could win a war. No other metropole in South Africa has access to the resources that R77.3 billion can buy. Just one division alone, City Power, gets a mammoth R20.5 billion to roll out for operational requirements. And yet, all around us the infrastructure is crumbling.
The City of Joburg budget for 2022/2023 was tabled in May 2022, and millions were earmarked to fix what is broken in the city. Then Finance MMC Julie Suddaby set out the four priorities that had been identified, which were in response to citizens’ feedback: keeping the lights on, keeping the water running, keeping the city clean, and keeping the city safe.
This included an allocation of R6.1 billion for public safety and crime prevention, R110 million for the upgrade of the city’s roads, R930 million for capital expenditure on water supply and sewer infrastructure, and R7 million for the development of inner city parks. Some R1.6 billion of City Power’s mammoth budget was earmarked for reducing power outages.
Joburg Water was allocated a R13.9 billion operational budget, with new service-level standards set for the entity, including 95% of water-pipe bursts repaired within 48 hours, 92% of sewer blockages cleared within 24 hours, and 95% of water-supply interruptions concluded within 12 hours of notification. Suddaby also promised that regular inspections would be conducted to crack down on illegal building and land use.
In return, Johannesburg property owners have paid substantially more for services: property rates up 4.8%, electricity up 7.4%, water and sanitation up 9.7%, and refuse removal up 5%.
The Johannesburg Property Owners and Managers Association and its members are all invested in the city’s success, and take our civic responsibilities very seriously, participating in forums with the local government, offering expertise and time, and often doing groundwork at own cost to try to make the City of Joburg’s work easier.
But time after time, when, despite plans and promises and supposed budget allocations, the repairs and essential maintenance of city infrastructure are not carried out by any reasonable deadline, one tired refrain is offered up as an excuse: “There’s no budget.”
We have to ask: “City of Joburg, where is the money?”
When the budget allocated R110 million for the upgrade of the city’s roads, why is the deepening sinkhole in Alexander Road in Berea still not fixed despite our members’ numerous attempts over a number of years to engage with the Joburg Roads Agency on a plan of action? A member, who wants to remain anonymous owing to personal safety fears, told us: “We keep on getting the same tired response: that the City does not have budget to repair.”
Where is that R110 million budget when repeated requests to repair the disintegrating Cedar Avenue West in Maroeladal, Fourways, are filed at the bottom of a JRA’s pile of priorities? A member reports that the road has extensive potholes, and it is estimated that if nothing is done soon, the road will deteriorate to such an extent that it will no longer qualify as a road.
When inner city park development received a capital budget of R7 million, why is Port Plein Park in Anderson Street, which was completed in August 2022 by the Johannesburg Development Agency, still closed to the general public? A member reports that they have seen burst pipes, unkempt gardens, tall grass and dumping in this park. When the members have engaged the City to attend to this, the lame excuse is trotted out again: “No operational budget.”
Where is that R7 million, and where are the 150 new park rangers, who merited a R1.3 million operational budget allocation, and who would “make Johannesburg’s parks safer”, when Alec Gorshell Park in Berea remains in ruins and a haven for criminal activity? Members report that when the City is engaged the answer is that there is no budget to facilitate an upgrade, despite commitments to include it in future budgets. So far, nothing. The property owners in the area have had to scrape together funding for security as the problematic park has a direct impact on the physical safety of the tenants in the buildings surrounding it.
If R930 million was allocated for capital expenditure on water supply and sewer infrastructure, why has nothing been done to fix the neglected stormwater drainage system that turns sections of Albertina Sisulu Street into a river during heavy rains, and causes flooding in surrounding buildings? A member, who owns an apartment building that offers affordable housing in that location, reports that whenever the City has been approached for help after the water from the street floods the building, the standard response is that “they only have one deep-cleaning jet, which more often than not is out of order”. No budget to buy another is the supposition one must apparently make.
We could go on and on.
While the administration has changed hands yet again since the tabling of the budget, with ongoing jostling for power at the city hall, those who own and manage property and provide affordable housing in inner-city Johannesburg, are looking hard to find evidence that the allocated budgets are being deployed as promised in the spending plan.
The buck-passing that takes preference over the rolling-up of sleeves and getting work done is extremely disheartening to those who are invested in making Johannesburg the world-class city the slogans try to sell us.
Corruption and chronic maladministration is the elephant in the room, and it is dispiriting that any administration that takes real steps towards accountability finds themselves shoved out of the boardroom before long.
While administrations come and go, the ratepayers and property owners are the constant, and our commitment to this city is historically proven by all we do. It should not be too much to ask that the budgets that have been allocated to keep the city going are used for that purpose, transparently and accountably.
Angela Rivers is the general manager of the Johannesburg Property Owners and Managers Association.