January 7, 2005
By Thomas Thale
THE CITY of Johannesburg has dismissed the report card on its performance issued by the Democratic Alliance as a political gimmick with no scientific credibility.
In a media release, Pascal Moloi, the City manager, described the DA scorecard as "a political statement lacking in factual information".
The DA report card, which was released on Thursday, accuses the City of failing to satisfactorily tackle constant power failures, billing problems and public safety.
The report singles out the executive mayor as one of the worst performers in the council for his "failure to intervene timeously and successfully in areas of crisis such as the power outages, billing, public safety and town planning".
The City manager is also given a low mark because he is "accountable for an administration that, in overall terms, has delivered less than satisfactory service".
But Moloi rejected the report, saying that the sample was neither fair nor representative of the 3,2 million residents of the city. "The so-called DA survey is restricted to selected groups of ratepayers in selected areas and members of the DA caucus."
Moloi attributed the unscheduled power outages in the city to ageing infrastructure inherited from the previous council. "We have started with a massive programme to upgrade cables and substations in areas such as Ruimsig and Helderkruin in Roodepoort," said Moloi. "We have also increased our capital expenditure to an average of R2-billion per annum to deal with the backlogs."
Moloi added that the city had acted decisively and made progress in resolving the billing problems, appointing qualified personnel and strengthening systems. "The establishment of the Revenue Shared Services Centre will go a long way to restore the confidence of residents in our systems."
Mike Moriarty, the leader of the DA in Johannesburg, admitted - during a media briefing to release the report - that the DA had only solicited views from residents' associations based in suburbs. "We received no response from township-based community organisations," said Moriarty.
The DA scorecard gives Christine Walters (community development, roads and parks), Sol Cowan (inner city), Nkele Ntingane (City enterprises), Thomas Phakathi (municipal administration), Brian Hlongwa (electricity, water and sanitation and waste management), Prema Naidoo (health) and Parks Tau (finance) good grades for the performance of their units. But Mally Mokoena (town planning), Executive Mayor Amos Masondo, Strike Ralegoma (housing) and Sizakele Nkosi (public safety) receive low marks.
The report identifies the Johannesburg Zoo, the Civic Theatre, the Johannesburg Development Agency, Pikitup, the Johannesburg Roads Agency and Johannesburg Tourism as the best-run council entities.
But Joburg Connect, the City's call centre, and the Metro Police are criticised as being poorly run.
Xolile George, the director of Region11, Callie Coetzee, the director of Region 5, and Greg Daniels, the director of Regions 1 and 2, lead the pack as the best regional directors.
Moriarty said that the findings of the DA study were confirmed by the City's own residents' satisfaction survey, which was released in August last year.
The survey, conducted by the Palmer Development Group, concluded that "almost half the city's residents report improvements in service delivery over the last year, and only a minority of 13,1 percent believe that services have declined". The residents surveyed identified unemployment, crime, health care, housing and HIV/Aids as the primary challenges facing the City.
Moloi described this survey as a more reliable measure of the City's performance.
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