City serves all residents equally

02 June 2015

 

Johannesburg Executive Mayor Clr Parks Tau has denied that the City spent the biggest slice of its Budget in the townships.

The Mayor was responding to claims made by the Democratic Alliance (DA) during a debate on the City’s 2015-2016 Budget at a monthly council meeting held on Thursday, 28 May 2015, allegedly because the governing party – the African National Congress – drew the majority of its electoral support from that constituency.

 

The debate followed the presentation by Member of the Mayoral Committee for Finance Clr Geoffrey Makhubo of the Budget for the new financial year at the Sandton Convention Centre on Tuesday.

In response to the DA’s allegations yesterday, Mayor Tau said it was not true that his administration spent the bulk of the Budget in black townships, saying the City served all Johannesburg residents equally.

 

“The City is for all people. We have a duty to give opportunities to all citizens irrespective of colour, race or creed. We also have people coming to Johannesburg from outside. Every month we have at least 100 people coming to Johannesburg for better opportunities. That is the reality we are facing.

 

“We need to ensure that we create opportunities and provide services for all. Access to prosperity is not determined by colour, race or creed,” he said.

The Mayor also said it was the duty of all councillors, as representatives of the people, to talk about the positive changes taking place in the city, saying it was not enough to simply say “today is better than yesterday”.

 

He said it was the councillors’ responsibility to tell their constituencies that things were changing for the better and that there was progress in the city.

Mayor Tau said there was a great future lying ahead. “It is incumbent on councillors to tell the people that we have come a long way and that we are committed to ensuring that we transform the municipality and provide basic services for our people,” he said.