31-01-2013: City of Johannesburg reports major progress in service delivery
The City of Johannesburg has made achievements on its financial position and service delivery and continues to build on a solid foundation.
This is reflected in our Annual Report for 2011/12 financial year being released and tabled in Council today.
“The City’s finances are stable, our capital expenditure was at 89% and it is improving and we have R5 billion net surplus”, said Member of the Mayoral Committee for Finance, Geoffrey Makhubo.
Rating agencies, Fitch and Moody’s retained their rating of Johannesburg during the year under review.
It was a year of achievements for Johannesburg despite the impact of the global financial downturn. This financial downturn also affected Joburg customers’ ability to pay their bills.
Looking back at the 12 month period under review I want to refer briefly to some of the achievements made.
- Revised the City’s long-term developmental strategy. Following an extensive engagement with experts, academics and communities across the city and we launched the Growth and Development Strategy (Joburg 2040) in October 2011.
- Simultaneously the City embarked on a comprehensive and thorough redesign of its institutional arrangements to meet the demands of a modern and growing city and to ensure the seamless implementation of the Joburg 2040.
- During the first 90 days of the new term we launched an accelerated service delivery programme to address particular challenges. The short time-frames instilled a sense of urgency in the organisation to achieve the desired outcomes within a brief period.
- The upgrading more than 9km of water and sewer networks in Fourways, Orange Farm and Alexandra; repairing more than 6 000 water meters; maintaining 96% of public lighting; patching more than 18 000 potholes; cleaning more than 100km of storm water pipes; and conducting cleaning and repairs at Dube, Diepkloof and Meadowlands hostels.
“Under the positives, we are happy that most of the 2010/11 findings have been resolved. The 2011/12 findings relate to billing estimates and fixed assets. We will focus on ensuring that the city does address these issues” said MMC Makhubo.
He reiterated that the city is committed to a clean audit and to achieving the goals of Local Government Turnaround Strategy.
“We call on residents and stakeholders of Johannesburg to engage with the Annual Report and to provide feedback through the existing channels. There are a growing number of opportunities available to communities to engage with the City through ward committees, initiatives taken by the Office of the Speaker and the annual Budget and IDP processes”, said MMC Makhubo.
For more information contact: Nkhensani Makhobela
Group Communication and Tourism
Mobile Phone: 082 461-7075
e-mail: nkhensanima@joburg.org.za
