Editorial
Johannesburg - The City of Joburg has a new mayor this week – and a new speaker. Neither of them are from the two biggest parties – the ANC or the DA – but instead they are from parties that are so small that they should be insignificant. Yet they are now kingmakers and richly rewarded for helping unseat the incumbent DA mayor, Mpho Phalatse, this week.
The personalities are irrelevant, it’s the principle that matters and there has not been much principle at play in the Johannesburg mayoral council for some time now. The reasons are too clear to see: coalition government is about access to power and through that to tenders, rather than any pretence at serving the people.
This would be problematic anywhere, but it is ruinous in a metropolis the size and importance of Johannesburg. Until recently we were known as the financial capital not just of the country, but of the continent. It is difficult to wear that cloak in an era of load shedding and crumbling infrastructure.
Dithering and infighting in the chamber laid waste to our emergency response capacity, to the point where if there was a blaze of any magnitude we had to rely on fire brigades from as far afield as Ekurhuleni, Tshwane and even OR Tambo International Airport and then pray not a single other dwelling caught fire.
The rot, though, is far greater: potholes, water reticulation systems at the end of their life, the same with electrical substations and cable networks. Sagging bridges. The task to catch up the backlog is Herculean, while the journey to the much-vaunted world-class African City though is rapidly moving from fantasy to perverse nightmare.
The rest of the country needs to take serious note. It’s sad when a rural municipality collapses, but it’s a catastrophe when Johannesburg does.