SOCA: Mayor gives City’s ‘forgotten people’ a good deal

04 May 2017

 

The City of Johannesburg’s proposed 2017-2018 Budget has a strong focus on the city’s most-deprived communities, with a minimum of 60% of the City’s expenditure earmarked for projects servicing traditionally poor and underserviced communities.

 

This was revealed by Executive Mayor Herman Mashaba during the delivery of his inaugural State of the City Address (SOCA) at Metro Centre in Braamfontein today (Wednesday May 3).

 

“In the coming weeks and months, the forgotten people of our city will begin to see developments and improvements where they have previously seen nothing,” Mashaba said. “They will start to see projects accelerating and progress taking shape. I have a vision [of a city] under construction.”

 

Outlining the steps the City had already undertaken to pursue its pro-poor agenda since assuming office in August 2016, he said his administration ensured that most of the funding in the adjustment Budget passed in February this year was directed at poor communities.

 

“Although legislation only permitted us to make minor adjustments, we made sure that those adjustments focused on Johannesburg’s forgotten people,” said Mayor Mashaba, who emphasised that his administration was “unapologetically pro-poor”.

 

As a result, R546-million was allocated for the electrification of incomplete housing units, whereas a further R41-million was channelled to the electrification projects of five informal settlements.

 

Over and above that, the City allocated R51-million to purchase additional buses for Metrobus, with an additional R5-million earmarked for the refurbishment of the existing fleet.

 

Other pro-poor budget allocations include:

• Additional funding of R219-million to enable the Johannesburg Social Housing Company (JOSHCO) to purchase buildings in the Johannesburg inner city for refurbishment and conversion into low-cost rental stock to house 1 164 families;

• An allocation of R49-million to waste management entity Pikitup to increase its cleaning shifts in the inner city and informal settlements, which has led to the employment of an additional 640 residents;

• An allocation of R5-million for the completion of the Shared Industrial Production Facility in Alexandra, a fully shared production facility for Alexandra-based SMMEs operating in the informal manufacturing sector; and

• An allocation of R2-million for the construction of shelters for the homeless.

 

Mashaba also recently launched a R24.5-million electrification project in Meriting and Finetown, south of Johannesburg.

 

He said the electrification of informal settlements was an important step towards social redress while reducing “illegal behaviours” such as illegal connections, which have resulted in six avoidable deaths within the past financial year. Several other massive developments and improvements are also in the pipeline.

 

“Our administration is serious about improving the quality of life for our poorest residents and providing quality services to the forgotten communities,” he said.