January 28, 2005
By Tammy O'Reilly
JOHANNESBURG mayor Councillor Amos Masondo's State of the City address has been generally welcomed by commentators, and readers of one local newspaper also gave the City a positive assessment.
Rating a range of projects undertaken by the City in 16 categories, including finance, health, utilities, agencies and corporatised entities and priority projects, The Star on Friday, 28 January said Johannesburg had, largely, passed the test with its readers.
Based on telephone calls, letters, e-mails and faxes to the newspaper since September 2004, each category was given a score out of 10, deduced from comments by ratepayers. Each issue was prefaced by two words- "Masondo says" juxtaposed with "We say".
Several of the categories received good results, with the zoo getting full marks, followed by culture and tourism, which was awarded a nine. Johannesburg Water, health and the urban renewal programme received eight each, while Johannesburg City Parks and Pikitup were given seven.
Finance received a mixed result, with the municipal bonds issue being given 10 out of 10 but the general score being pegged at six. Justifying the scores, The Star said the issuing of two R1-billion municipal bonds was a good thing, but that the City was spending less and residents were seeing fewer services for their money. "The arrears bill of R7.1-billion is unacceptably high."
As one of the City's corporatised units, the Johannesburg Zoo scored full marks for its recent revamp and maintenance.
Also scoring high was culture and tourism, with praise going to the Johannesburg Tourism Company for its comprehensive guides to the city. In his State of the City address Councillor Masondo referred to the City's many cultural and tourism projects, like the Joburg Carnival, the Arts Alive festival, the exhibitions at MuseuMAfricA and the Credo Mutwa cultural village in Soweto.
Reflecting residents' confidence in the urban renewal programme, the City scored eight out of 10 in this category, with the overall view being that the CBD was much cleaner and safer than before The mayor reported an increase of 500 percent in the approval of building plans and a marked increase in interest from businesses and the private sector. Johannesburg's CBD is also home to numerous developments and attractions, including the Nelson Mandela Bridge, Drill Hall, Constitution Hill and the Newtown cultural precinct.
Generally people felt the City's stance on health issues was admirable. The current HIV/Aids campaign involving awareness, the training of counsellors and volunteers and the smooth running of clinics warranted an eight.
Ratings suggest residents are particularly concerned with the City's billing system and with electricity utility City Power.
On electricity provision, The Star said: "Masondo says: The City of Johannesburg gives its residents free basic electricity. We say: The constant outages are famous by now, and there have been numerous complaints about street lights that have not been repaired." The City scored a four in this category.
Billing and revenue were given a score of two. The City has recently been facing billing problems and although Councillor Masondo said there had been an improvement and many queries had been resolved, ratepayers maintained new problems cropped up at a faster rate, meaning the number of cases resolved remained stagnant.
Developmental progress in Alexandra and Soweto received a five and six respectively. An extensive amount of growth has been taking place in Alexandra, with many residents being given water, electricity and sanitation services for the first time. New parks, cemeteries, schools and clinics have been established and 1 438 houses have been built. The newspaper said the Alexandra Renewal Project, the body overseeing developments in the area, was experiencing difficulties and undergoing a revamp.
People were only moderately satisfied with emergency and policing services, expressing the view that the enforcement of by laws still left a lot to be desired and that the response time of emergency services could be improved.
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