Help City to work for you, MMC pleads at IDP meeting

05 April 2017

 

Member of the Mayoral Committee for Community Development Cllr Nonhlanhla Sifumba has urged Soweto residents to pay their rates and taxes to make it easier for the City of Johannesburg to deliver on its obligations.

 

Speaking during a review of the City’s Integrated Development Plan (IDP) at the Pimville Multipurpose Centre in Region D last night (Tuesday April 4), MMC Sifumba said failure to pay for services would result in the City being unable to fulfil its commitments to the poorest of the poor.

 

The meeting was attended by ward councillors, Regional Director Pat Lephunya and other City officials.

 

Cllr Sifumba said the IDP was a social contract between the City and residents and a community accountability tool that had been translated into delivery agreements. Its aims, she said, were to:

• To grow the economy and create jobs;

• Enhance the quality of life by improving services and taking care of the environment;

• Advance pro-poor development that provided meaningful redress;

• Build caring, safe and secure communities; and

• Institute an honest, responsive and productive government.

 

Cllr Sifumba said Executive Mayor Cllr Herman Mashaba believed that Johannesburg had the potential to be “a city of golden opportunities” for all its residents.

She said many residents were without the dignity of a job and incapable of supporting their loved ones.

 

“The 2017-2018 IDP review, therefore, represents a more honest assessment of the state of the City in recognition of the experiences of those residents who, despite their hard work and dedication, still struggle to get ahead in life. It is these residents, in particular, who serve as the driving force behind the new administration’s desire to get Johannesburg working."

 

“We believe that a Joburg that works is a South Africa that works. Our strategy is to create an enabling economic environment by being more responsive in the delivery of quality services,” she said.

 

MMC Sifumba pointed out, however, that the City was faced with challenges such as slow economic growth, poverty, inequality, environmental decay, corruption, inadequate police visibility and social disconnect. Freedom Park resident Joseph Sadike accused councillors of making empty promises.

 

Khuthaba Rabotapi of White City Jabavu wanted to know when Moroka Jabavu Stadium would be opened.

 

Flo Msingatha of Pimville said the City should create jobs for everyone, not only for the youth, as overlooking older residents would be tantamount to discrimination. Innocent Sibeko said students at the Soweto campus of the University of Johannesburg no longer felt safe as they were mugged and raped daily.

 

The three-week IDP public consultation process, which started on Monday April 3, will culminate in a stakeholder engagement session on Tuesday April 25 when submissions and proposals from various cluster meetings will be communicated, discussed and, where applicable, incorporated into the final IDP document.