2009-08-28: Strong leadership in challenging times
ON 21 May 2009 the City of Johannesburg approved its 2009/10 Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and Medium Term Budget (2009/11) under difficult global economic conditions.
Like all institutions, the City of Johannesburg faces the challenges posed by the declining global economic conditions.
Implementation of the City's 2009/10 medium term budget comes at a time when the City has undertaken a number of extraordinary infrastructure development projects such as the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, preparations for the 2010 FIFA World Cup as well as the refurbishment of ageing infrastructure and the provision of essential services to a rapidly growing population.
As a response to the impact of the declining economic conditions and the pressures posed by the projects above, the City of Johannesburg has developed prudent measures to mitigate the impact of the economic downturn by re-evaluating its medium-term budget, by looking more closely at the management of its revenue streams, liquidity and cash management and to reprioritise on both operational and capital expenditure projects.
Simultaneously, engagements with other spheres of government will continue in order to assist the City to navigate through this challenging period. The City of Johannesburg remains committed to meet all its service delivery and socio-economic commitments.
The City has revisited its cash flow management to ensure that we can meet our entire financial obligation and has taken heed of the President Zuma's announcement of early August 2009, wherein he announced several programmes that the social partners have agreed upon in order to implement the country's framework response to the economic crisis. Including, among others:
• Payments by government to small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs) and other businesses within 30 days.
The City of Johannesburg acknowledges that the economic downturn will affect the pace at which the social and economic challenges are addressed.
While we are hopeful that a positive response will emerge in the engagement with other spheres of government, we are of the view that managing spending within the certainty of the revenue inflows is imperative. This has informed our approach to reprioritise operating and capital expenditure to accommodate National projects. To this end an adjusted operating and capital budget will be discussed and hopefully endorsed by the City's multi-party Council meeting today.
The outcome of the engagements with National and provincial government will have an impact on when and how far the City can re-instate some of the projects. It is pertinent to note that the Premier of Gauteng, Ms Nomvula Mokonyane, on Wednesday, also referred to the impact of the current economic downturn on metropolitan councils and said that more funds had to be found to help municipalities
In conclusion the City remains not only committed to rendering service effectively but also to meet all it financial obligations on time.
I would like to take this opportunity to urge the residents of Johannesburg, businesses and government to pay their accounts on time to enable us to render services effectively and enable us to meet our obligations to our loyal suppliers.
Issued by:
City of Johannesburg
For enquiries contact:
Nthatisi Modingoane
Media Liaison
Telephone: 011 407 7354
Fax: 011 403 3494
Cell: 082 467 9228
E-mail: Nthatisem@joburg.org.za
