May 12, 2006
The Speaker: Nkele Ntingane
The Chief Whip: Bafana Sithole
Members of the Mayoral Committee
City Manager: Mavela Dlamini
Managers and Officials of the Council
The Business Community
Members of the Civil Society
Community Organisations
Labour Movements
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen
Programme Director, Johannesburg is well on its way to become the World Class African City that we all envision it to be. This summit meets at a crucial juncture in the history of the continent's premier City with a mandate to spell out a vision for our future over the next two to three decades.
My call to you today is to take a leap into the future. Let us approach this summit with a sense of anticipation and excitement as we map out strategies and produce programmes of action that will enable the City of Johannesburg to meet the myriad of challenges and opportunities we will be facing in the days and years to come.
Let us engage in discussion and participate in debate with cool heads and warm hearts. Cool heads to enable us assess the facts and consider the choices we have to make to move this City forward. But also with warm hearts because we realise that Johannesburg is more than bricks and mortar; more than power stations and high-rise office towers. This is a city comprised of people; living breathing communities, each with their own set of hopes and aspirations to secure a better future for themselves and their children.
Much of what we discuss and decide on today will not become a reality in the foreseeable future. Many of us will not be around - at least not in our present positions - when our plans come to fruition. But it should not deter us from taking a bold approach to the future and develop a vision for Johannesburg that will be sustainable even after we have left the scene.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is now a little more than five years since we embarked on an ambitious quest to change the face of Johannesburg. We inherited an urban landscape and architecture that in many respects reflected the literary notion of "A Tale of Two Cities." In much the same way in which President Thabo Mbeki often referred to a South Africa with "two economies" we had to deal with the realities of a dual Johannesburg.
The one part consisted of the predominantly "white suburbs" of Johannesburg. These communities for many years, enjoyed instant access to world-class infrastructure and top-of-the-range service delivery. They connected to the power grid at the flick of a switch. The best quality water in the world started to flow when they turned on the tap. Their refuse was removed on time and when they wanted to complain about service delivery they could find a more-or-less sympathetic voice on the other side of a phone-line.
I want to argue, ladies and gentlemen that very little has changed for these communities in the past decade since the advent of democracy. Yes, the racial complexion of the suburbs have changed as an increasing number of upwardly mobile black people move into what previously were exclusive white enclaves.
Despite what you might read in the letter's columns of certain newspapers or from discontented callers to radio shows they still, to this day enjoy a quality of services that is comparable to what you can expect in any fast growing city in any country of the world.
Obviously, we take seriously the concerns of people who complain about traffic signals that go on the blink or electricity that gets disrupted at the most awkward of times. But these are the exceptions rather than the rule.
In a real sense, Johannesburg has become the victim of its own success. With an economic growth rate of almost five percent the city is expanding at a rapid pace. The projections are that the number of households in the city may reach the two million mark by 2012 - double the number at the turn of the century.
I do not need to tell you about the rapid growth in urban development that we have experienced in the recent past. Take a ride on the perimeter of the City and see how many new suburban developments are being built or planned, how many shopping centres and entertainment facilities are under construction. If you want to ask for a vote of confidence in the ability of the current city government to run the affairs of Johannesburg you need not look for it much beyond Dainfern and Chartwell and Farmall.
A mere ten years ago people tended to steer clear of a piece of farmland on the north-western outskirts of the city, just off Hans Strijdom Drive, owned by the conservative icon, Robert van Tonder. Today we witness the emergence of an ambitious mixed housing development, called Cosmo City, described by the Institute of Housing as the "most innovative project" currently underway in South Africa.
At the high end of the property market the city is growing at an unprecedented pace. Yet we have to deal with the sad reality that very little was done in the 1980s and early 1990s to prepare the city for the current economic boom and growth in population. I do not want play the blame game with other political parties but you have to agree with me that our predecessors suffered from a lamentable lack of foresight when it came to future planning for the needs of Johannesburg.
With electricity provision, for instance, we are sitting with capital equipment that is 50 years old because very little was done to maintain or upgrade the infrastructure to expand their life-cycles. During my office of term we have committed more than R8 billion for infrastructure development to ensure that Johannesburg's entire power network are overhauled within the next decade.
These are the type of challenges we will continue to face in the next two to three decades. But at the same time, ladies and gentlemen, there is also the "other city"- the one that has been chronically neglected since the inception of Johannesburg in the late 19th Century. It is a city that has been systematically marginalised and banished to the outskirts of mainstream development - both in physical terms and from a human resources perspective.
Let us not forget that apartheid imposed on this country over decades a human settlement pattern where the poor were locked into urban and rural slums, banished to live far away from work opportunities, educational and health facilities and commercial opportunities.
When the democratic transition occurred in South Africa in 1994 we, as the democratically elected government, made it quite clear right from the outset that the existing society based on the principles of apartheid and exclusion must and will be transformed in a radical way.
Democracy in the South African context does not merely mean giving people the occasional right to vote. Fundamentally, it means that elected representatives - and the administrative structures that support them, listen to the voices of the people and implement policies and programmes that will improve the quality of lives and enable them to move up on the ladder of progress. And it also means the creation of a strong and independent civil society with the right to participate in the decision-making process on all issues that affect their lives.
As a government we have stated very clearly that we believe in a democratic, developmental state within which we can promote sustained and accelerated development in partnership with the people of our country. And we have also stated that the central challenge facing all of us in the second decade of freedom is how to defeat poverty and reduce the level of unemployment.
I think there is broad agreement amongst us that the objectives of a developmental state can most effectively be achieved within the sphere of local government. This primary role for local government is already defined in our Constitution and, subsequently, strengthened and defined by the White Paper on Local Government and legislation such as the Municipal Systems Act.
Programme Director, allow me to just, briefly define what we mean by the term "developmental local government" - particularly in the context of Johannesburg.
* Firstly it means that the government cannot sit back and expect that development will result spontaneously from the play of economic and social forces in our city. Obviously these forces are very important and are supporting us in our efforts to make developmental gains. But from our perspective it also requires a government that is proactive and prepared to intervene to address issues that are neglected and to shape the conditions for accelerated development in the future.
* The second principle in which we believe is that the pro-active state and people-driven development are two sides of the same coin. As important as the role of government might be the active participation of citizens and communities is a prerequisite for development. This summit is a public example of our commitment to involve communities and stakeholders not only in the formulation of our strategies but also in their implementation.
* The third characteristic of developmental local government is the requirement to follow a balanced approach. We must widen our focus and always look for ways in which we can synthesize the elements of economic development, social development, urban planning, environmental sustainability and good governance into one, coherent approach.
* And the final element of this approach is that we should continue to wage an ongoing battle against the legacy of apartheid and discrimination. We should never lose our focus and our commitment to address issues of inequality as it pertains to power, wealth, quality of life and access to opportunities across society.
Ladies and gentlemen, I think even our critics will agree with me that we have made significant strides towards our developmental objectives during the past five years. Progress, indeed but the work is far from completed.
In terms of broad economic planning and development we have laid solid foundations for the future. The Joburg 2030 Strategy describes our commitment to economic growth and thus provides a vital element of certainty to the business sector and potential future investors. Through our Economic Development Unit we have improved the city's ability to intervene and to steer the direction of growth and development.
Following a process of consultation we have put in place a number of strategies and programmes to add flesh to our broad visions for the city. We introduced a number of initiatives to support select economic sectors and promote development in key areas in our City. Amongst these are out strategies to support the creative industries, to attract new investment in the business process outsourcing sector and to stimulate economic activity in Soweto through the introduction of an empowerment zone.
Objective data shows that we have made significant progress in the delivery of services to communities that were marginalised during apartheid. We have reached a stage for close on 99% of residents in Johannesburg have access to clean water, electricity, sanitation and refuse removal.
We have made inroads in the severe housing challenges that are facing us and in our efforts to provide formal shelter to families that have to live in makeshift accommodation. We are steadily winning the battle against overcrowding and extremely dangerous living conditions in the inner-city. As we meet the City is involved in am ambitions clean-up operation in parts of the inner-city where we are proceeding in a systematic way to clean up the streets, remove all forms of illegal dumping, act against the illegal occupation of buildings, improve the safety aspects of building and structures and arrest and prosecute the unscrupulous slumlords who are profiteering from the misery of poor people.
We made a number of interventions to transform and regenerate the inner city. We had to stabilise the property market and the business environment following a lengthy period of urban decline and business flight. Through the Urban Development Zone tax incentives and other city initiatives we are now not only attracting business back to the CBD but also long-term residents. Developers are working in partnership with the City to upgrade existing residential accommodation and bring new residential products to the market. Thousands of new units are already in the pipeline and these developments will dramatically change the face of the inner-city.
We are making progress in our efforts to create a united City - in fact a "Unicity". We are moving away from the notion that economic opportunities and commercial development should only be confined to the CBD and the Northern Suburbs. Through the Soweto Development Initiative we are creating new commercial and leisure activities inside, thus eradicating this notion that we have a commercial Johannesburg being "serviced" by dormitory townships. In the last six months alone we completed the process to tar all the roads in Soweto and launched a R1 billion project. These, and similar projects in Diepkloof, Jabulani and Protea not only improve the quality of life of 70 percent of the residents of Johannesburg, but it also opens up tremendous new opportunities for the commercial sector SMMEs and informal traders.
We are on the brink of starting a dynamic new housing initiative which will see the rolling out of 100 000 new housing units over the next five years - many of them in better located parts of the City. This will be housing delivery on a scale never before seen in South Africa - with an even more accelerated pace in the five years to follow.
Right from the start we recognised that an effective transportation system is a key element in our efforts to eradicate the apartheid economic patterns. There was a dire need for the re-integration of existing spatial planning both in terms of where people can locate but also for them to move around to their jobs and places to shop. For this reason we have started with the complete overhaul of our public transportation infrastructure. Johannesburg produced the first Integrated Transportation Plan of any municipality in the country and we are busy with the implementation of key elements such as the Strategic Public Transportation Network.
In terms of governance we have also changed the face of Johannesburg. We are seeing meaningful improvements in outreach programmes to involve communities in the preparation of the IDP and the annual budget. Through our regular Mayoral Road-shows we are able to listen to communities and follow-up in a structured way on their concerns and suggestions. Ward committees are function and in many wards they have become an integral feature of political life.
We are making steady improvements in customer relations through the development of the Joburg Connect call centre, regular customer satisfaction surveys and constant improvements in our front-line service such as account queries or building plan approvals.
We have more than wiped out the financial and institutional instabilities we inherited from previous administration. Johannesburg now has the largest per capita municipal budget in the country - by far. Our capital budget has grown from a meagre R295 million in 1999/2000 to the current more than R2 billion. We now run a regular surplus on the operating account and in the last few months revenue collections has moved out of the "intensive care" stage to an average of 93%.
Clearly, our successes in bringing the city back to profitability and implementing sound financial management practices are being recognised by the business community both inside South Africa and in the global environment. Only last week there were reports of a major financial institution who has decided to move its corporate headquarters from Cape Town to Johannesburg. At the end of this month we will issue the fourth municipal bond to help us defray capital expenditures. As you know the previous three bonds we issued were oversubscribed in record times and other metros in the country are now preparing to follow the successful Johannesburg example.
Ladies and gentlemen, I believe you will agree with me that the Report Card for the City of Johannesburg over the first five years of democratic local governance shows significant positive results. We know that the vast majority of the residents of Johannesburg agree with this assessment because they returned this City government with an overwhelming majority on March 1 and instructed us to continue with our plans for better local government and an improvement in the quality of life for all citizens.
My intention is not to deny the many challenges that continue to face us in the biggest urban City in South Africa. Neither do I want to gloss over the mistakes we made or the slow delivery we had. We who find ourselves at the coalface of the city's administration are acutely aware of the fact that we can never be complacent or self-satisfied.
We know that we have to eradicate the social inequalities in our City and to address the burning issues of poverty, exclusion from government services and the need for early-childhood development programmes.
We know that we have to do more to unravel the distorted settlement patterns of apartheid and transform the so-called "dormitory townships", inner- city residential areas and informal settlements into normalised neighbourhoods with decent housing and services and a decent quality of life.
We are aware that despite the gains in the provision of infrastructure we are still faced with substantial backlogs in certain communities. At the same time we have to step up our efforts to make a measurable impact on poverty and inequality and create significantly more employment opportunities.
We know that we must address the current dysfunctional housing market where the rate of formation of new housing opportunities at the lower end of the spectrum nowhere near matches the demand. We are indeed looking at how we can come up with initiatives in areas of affordable rental accommodation and in the range of options available between RDP housing and the first tier of bonded housing.
We are addressing spatial development and the tendency to settle poorer communities at the edges of the City. A survey conducted in 2003 show that 48% of Johannesburg residents spend more than 10% of their monthly income on transport costs - a situation, which is clearly unsustainable.
We are aware of the need to high cost of doing business in Johannesburg and we have been talking to both industry and the small business sector for some time now on practical solutions. In this process we are looking at the unnecessary regulatory burdens that might affect business and prevent them from operating at full potential. And we recognise our responsibility to provide appropriate economic infrastructure and service inputs at a competitive standard and price.
And we are keenly aware about the concerns about crime coming from both the business community and ordinary residents throughout our City. And despite the drastic reduction we have seen in crime figures over the past year we will continue to strengthen our law-enforcement capabilities and step out our efforts to protect the lives, the property and the investments of the people of Johannesburg.
Ladies and gentlemen, this Summit is held as part of the commitment that government has made to consult extensively with the widest possible range of stakeholders on the content of and the implementation of a citywide Growth and Development Strategy.
Programme Director, you will recall that President Thabo Mbeki announced earlier this year that such summits should be held in each and every local government jurisdiction in the country. And as part of its election manifesto, the African National Congress stated the following very clearly:
"To ensure that everyone pulls in the same direction in building better communities every district will hold a Summit for Growth and Development within one year of the elections. These summits will bring together social partners - government, business, labour and community organisations - to develop concrete steps towards higher rates of local economic growth and poverty reduction."
As required by the Municipal Systems Act Johannesburg has been producing regular Integrated Development Plans that are the products of an extensive process of community consultation.
However, it is also quite apparent that city-on-the-move such as Johannesburg needs a long-term strategy to enable us to define the complex trends and dynamics that are shaping the city's future and enable us to negotiate the challenges and position ourselves to grasp the emerging opportunities.
Above all, we must develop an "idea of the city" - a long-term vision that is shared consensus of all stakeholders. This is the vision that will guide the City's government structures in their decision-making but also compel the private sector and communities to commit their energies and their resources towards the realisation of this goal.
During the first five year of office the City produced a number of key citywide strategies - the most important one being the Joburg 2030 document. Out of this we have generated a number of supporting plans and policies including a City Safety Strategy, an Inner-City Development Strategy, an Informal Trader Development Programme and our Spatial Development Framework.
However South Africa is not a static society. On the contrary - we are living in the most exciting and fast-moving times within one of the most progressive societies in the world. The current economic boom and our national objective to reach a 6% economic growth rate must have an impact on policy decisions and strategies if we want to keep ahead of the pace of development and provide strategic direction.
We also need to take cognisance of other strategies and decisions taken by other spheres of government. Our Growth and Development Strategy should be in harmony with and seek alignment with key other initiatives including those from our neighbouring municipalities, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane, the Gauteng Provincial Strategy, the National Spatial Development Perspective, the Medium Term Strategic Framework and, obviously the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa, now widely-known as ASGISA.
We have called this summit very shortly after the start of our second term of office. One reason is that we are ready with a draft outline of a GDS thanks to the excellent work done by our top management and wide spectrum of officials. But we also want to be quickly out of the blocks so that Johannesburg can maintain its leadership position within the South African local government landscape. We are not only the biggest metropolitan area in the country we are also the most innovative and the best positioned to grasp the opportunities presented to us. I have no doubt that other cities are looking towards us for leadership.
What we, want to achieve today is to develop a long term strategic perspective as well as a clear set of longer term goals supported by long term strategic interventions. This we will then take forward into a 5-year Integrated Development Plan that will determine our policies, initiatives and projects - each with a clear set of expected outcomes.
Some of the other presentations today will set the scene for our long-term strategic perspective set against the background of current and expected macro-trends that will influence our discussions and or decisions. Let me just briefly name a few of these:
* An accelerating pace of urbanisation - with the added dynamic that it includes large numbers from other African countries;
* A higher rate of fertility - but also a higher rate of mortality - with HIV-AIDS remaining the big demographic unknown.
* A rapid growth in the number of households where we expect that the one million households counted in 2001 will double to 2 million by 2012.
* A long term restructuring of the City's economy away from the relative importance of manufacturing and the traded-goods sectors towards the service economy.
* The inexorable trend towards urban sprawling and the de-densification of the urban form. How do we reach our objectives of "a compact city" and direct our planning decisions towards higher residential densities in improved neighbourhoods close to social and economic opportunities.
* How do we close those gaps in the housing ladder that I referred to earlier and ensure that our residents have access to housing options that best suite their needs?
* How do we ensure that development takes place in a sustainable and responsible manner in a water scarce region and given our historic dependence on fossil fuels?
* How do we transform governance and service delivery against the background of a global trend where citizens and stakeholders expect more development and delivery from their public authorities while wanting to contribute less and less to the available pool of public resources.
Programme Director, to guide our discussions here today allow me to refer to six principles that jointly constitute the "Development Paradigm" that underpins the draft Growth and Development Strategy. These six principles have been distilled from the various national and provincial policy directions as well as the process of consultation and debate that e have already conducted in recent months.
* The first principle is that we must find solutions to enable the pro-active absorption of the poor. A large proportion of Johannesburg's population lives in poverty. It is equally true that Johannesburg has become a magnet for more poor people - both from inside South Africa and the rest of the world - looking for a better life. As a post-apartheid City we would not be planning properly if we simply hoped that the poor will go somewhere else.
Johannesburg has a responsibility to facilitate the transition of the poor into the City and their absorption into the broader city environment. This means finding ways to accommodate and assimilate opportunity-seekers migrating to Johannesburg. It also means finding ways to absorb unemployed youth, newly formed households starting out in informal settlements or run-down inner city buildings, those who find themselves isolated in hostels and historical ghettoes, and refugees forced to seek asylum in South Africa because of conflicts in their own countries.
We must help these groups access basic livelihoods, master the demands of urban life and begin to participate in the urban economy, so that they too can get onto the ladder of prosperity.
* Secondly, we want to ensure balanced and shared growth and break down the divide between the "first" and "second" economies. Future economic growth in Johannesburg must be shared more broadly among all our people through more employment, fair remuneration and greater opportunities for new market entrants.
Certainly, we want an economy that is globally connected and that brings in more income through expanding value and volumes of exports. But we also want an economy that works to unlock latent energies in the domestic market.
Thus, Programme Director, our challenge is not only to drive up the rate of economic growth, but also to spread the benefits of this growth to address the issues of poverty, inequality and exclusion. In the long run this will add to the dynamic of growth itself, as the domestic market is bolstered by more people participating as both consumers and producers of goods and services.
* The third principle is that we must facilitate social mobility and equality. As a post-apartheid the City of Johannesburg has a non-negotiable obligation to assist the poor. But this does not mean simply taking in more poor people to end up with a bigger welfare burden.
Our objective is not merely to help people who find themselves in poverty. Through shared growth and targeted development we want to help people out of poverty.
It is therefore critical that the middle-strata of society continue to grow rapidly. This, in turn, will lead to greater social and economic equality, expand the domestic economic market, encourage investment, bring about greater social stability and create a pool of savers, risk-takers and investors in human capital from which future productive capacity is derived.
* In the fourth instance we should proceed from the perspective that Johannesburg has been transformed in institutional terms over the last decade. It is now time to accelerate the transformation of our City in spatial terms.
As a matter of principle the city form and urban landscape must be changed to bring jobs closer to people, and people closer to jobs.
This is not going to be an easy exercise. The current trends are towards urban sprawl. This squeezes the poor out of well-located areas close to economic opportunities and saddles them with the cost of living far from jobs and amenities.
To drive meaningful spatial restructuring will require boldness and creativity. It will demand a fundamental change in our approach to urban planning - away from simply facilitating spatial development towards actively directing it.
* In our planning and execution of policies we must ensure that Johannesburg becomes a more sustainable City by anticipating and managing the effects of environmental change.
Recent events in New Orleans show that cities ignore the risk of global environmental trends at their peril. As a rapidly growing City we have a duty to current and future generations of residents to limit the impact of urban processes of production and consumption on the environment.
These are not "nice-to-have" practices or the follies of environmental idealists. These are hard-core economic decisions. In the end unsustainable environmental practices get priced into the costs of services like water, power and waste removal. They increase challenges like congestion, which are a drag on economic competitiveness. They increase public health risks, which may affect the productivity of our workforce. And they increase the dangers of fires and flooding, management of which ultimately gets carried by the taxpayer.
Events in New Orleans also show that it is the poor who are always worst affected by failures to plan for sustainability. We are therefore committed to promote what could be called "environmental justice." This means ensuring that the quality of life of the poor is enhanced by doing things like tarring gravel roads - an intervention that massively cuts dust pollution - and extending green infrastructure in areas that have always functioned as grey, featureless dormitory townships.
* Lastly, the City recognizes that the developmental challenges facing Johannesburg cannot be met alone. We have to find new ways of working across the traditional public-private divide and across the boundaries that separate us from other parts of government and neighbouring municipalities.
We are committed to finding joint solutions by working closely with our residents, business, other spheres of government and other interested stakeholders. In the coming years the City will improve the system of participatory governance and structure creative partnerships with business and civil society.
In this way we can mobilise energies and unleash resources that will increase the impact of our development efforts.
Programme Director, early on in our first term of government I identified a set of broad priorities that I wanted to focus on personally as Executive Mayor of Johannesburg. As a local government we are tasked with service delivery across the entire spectrum of daily life in the city. However, I thought it prudent to list as specific Mayoral Priorities the following six issues: Economic Growth and Development; Good Governance; Service Delivery Excellence, Batho Pele and Customer Care; HIV and AIDS; Urban Regeneration and Safety and By-law enforcement.
For the purpose of the Growth and Development Strategy and therefore also for today's discussions we retained these priorities but also expanded it into 12 sector areas that broadly reflects the scope of work we do at the City.
Following the recent elections I also appointed a new Mayoral Committee whose responsibilities are now aligned with these 12 sectors and the new institutional structure of Johannesburg will also reflect this.
The 12 Sector areas are:
1. Economic Development.
2. Human and Community Development
3. Housing
4. Infrastructure and Basic Services;
5. Environment;
6. Spatial form and urban management.
7. Transport
8. Health.
9. Safety
10. Financial sustainability
11. Governance.
12. Corporate and shared services.
Ladies and gentlemen, I want to touch briefly on each of these sectors and provide you with some indications of what the City is proposing in the draft Strategy. Hopefully this can stimulate your thoughts and steer the discussions and debates that will be conducted during the course of the day.
* As far as economic development is concerned we envisage a City economy that plays a role as the key economic hub on the continent and a national economic growth-leader. We have to achieve this objective by ensuring sustainable-shared growth that benefits all.
I think the key question we have to address is how we diversify the local economy so that it rests on a broad base of economic sectors but also provides an environment where innovation and entrepreneurship can thrive and where infant industries can provide new impetus to our economic growth.
At a human level we must address the vexing question of economic inequality and reduce the current spatial economic disparities leading to the economic integration of previously disadvantaged areas into the wider city region.
To increase the competitiveness of the City's business community we will have a thorough review of the current set of regulatory burdens to ultimately reduce the cost of doing business in Johannesburg.
* We have a vision for the City where community development, personal growth and social mobility are enhanced so that the challenges of poverty and vulnerability, inequality and social exclusion are addressed at their roots.
We are of the opinion that a strong emphasis on Early Childhood Development will be a key element of such a strategy. We must also reconfirm our commitment to gender issues by an improvement in maternal and reproductive health and reducing the incidence of social crimes - especially those committed against women and children.
To promote social inclusion we must make our public spaces more accessible and attractive and maximise the role that the arts, culture and sports can play to break down barriers between people and create shared interests and values.
* With regards to housing we envisage sustainable human settlements where residents have access to a wide range of accommodation options that are all affordable, of good quality and located close to economic opportunities.
To prevent the decline of neighbourhoods and the rise of future slums the city rigorously enforce building standards and by-laws as well as ongoing maintenance and upgrading of private rental market accommodation and new sectional title and estate developments.
* Infrastructure and basic services are key elements of our city strategy. For many people these services constitute the essence of what they expect from a local authority and it is often the most obvious way to measure success or failure of the city government.
It is thus important that our investment in strategic infrastructure accurately takes into account the future needs of a rapidly expanding metropolis. We have a clear plan to eliminate the existing backlogs and to implement a cross-city maintenance and management system to avoid the wastage of precious resources.
We also want to take the lead in the utilisation of new technologies through contributing to research and development and by creating an environment where innovation and creativity can thrive.
* Service delivery can hardly be divorced from environmental sustainability. This will be an important focus area for the City as we work to lessen the impact of our own built environment and urban processes on the broad range of natural resources.
A greater emphasis on waste recycling, a reduction at source of waste generation and comprehensive measures to protect our precious natural resources should be at the heart of our approach. As residents we are justifiably proud of Johannesburg's reputation as the "world's largest urban forest. However, to maintain this precious habitat will require the closest co-operation between the city administration, the business sector and communities.
* We have a vision of a spatial urban form that embraces the principles of inclusivity and sustainability and progressively increases the opportunities and quality of life for all communities and citizens.
I have no doubt that the city government will have to provide strong direction to this process to ensure a coherent land management system and the growth of the desired urban forms.
As you can see in the allocation of portfolios on the new Mayoral Committee there will be a specific emphasis on effective urban management including large scale urban renewal projects to arrest the decline of certain parts of our city.
* Another new portfolio that we have established is that of transportation. Our vision is that of a City with a safe and efficient transport system and infrastructure that are able to connect businesses, people and places in a sustainable and cost effective manner. This will on the longer term not only enhance the quality of life for all our residents but also provide a stimulus to the growth of the local economy.
Commentators have predicted that the entire City will soon be transformed into a "giant building site" as construction begins on the Gautrain system and our transport infrastructure is upgraded to meet the expected demands from the 2010 Soccer World Cup preparations.
I have no doubt that these developments will lead to short-term irritations and inconveniences for our residents. But I want to appeal to you to keep the bigger picture in mind. If we fail to increase the available mix of transport opportunities we run the real risk of complete urban gridlock in the not too distant future.
Already the City is working on solutions to provide a comprehensive road network information system to provide all road users with accurate real-time advice on how best to respond to traffic congestion.
Within the various inner-city nodes we will have to follow a multi-pronged approach - on the one hand improving the quality, safety and accessibility of mass modes of transport and, on the other, regulating private car usage through travel demand management measures.
* In the area of health we envisage a City with an efficient, accessible and equitable health system with sufficient capacity to meet the changing health challenges facing Johannesburg.
We will strengthen our surveillance to protect residents against the possible outbreak of communicable illnesses and also monitor the urban environment to detect potential health risk. However, in future health promotion campaigns will grow in importance as we focus on reducing the prevalence and impact of non-communicable diseases including chronic diseases of lifestyle.
We will also build on the current partnership between the city, communities and civil society to prevent the spread of HIV-AIDS and to provide a comprehensive package of treatment and support to affected households.
* Ladies and gentlemen, I think we all share a vision of a City where life, property and lifestyles are safe and secure. Where residents and businesses can live and operate free of crime, emergencies and disasters.
To achieve this will require an even closer co-operation between the law-enforcement agencies and emergency services and City residents. Each and every one of us should sharpen our vigilance and apply a zero-tolerance approach to crime.
However, this approach should also flow over into the so-called "softer areas" of enforcement. We cannot expect a culture of respect for the law if we regularly transgress traffic regulations and openly flout the by-laws pertaining to building regulations, illegal dumping or pollution.
Programme Director, the final sector areas pertain to the issue of governance and the City's administrative structures.
* We are setting ourselves a long-term goal of a Johannesburg that maintains financial stability and sustainability through prudent expenditure, sound financial systems and a range of revenue and funding sources.
One of the issues that I think we can discuss to is how do we reduce our dependence on the traditional revenue streams such as rates and service and over the longer term introduce an expanded range of sources of operating revenue.
As the City continues to grow we will see significant increases in capital expenditure. I believe there should be a strong partnership between the City and the private sector in this field and that we must continue to look at innovative approaches to financing such as concessional funding and project financing bonds.
* In terms of governance we have already started with a process to change the architecture of City structures to respond more effectively to future challenges. This includes a much closer working relationship between the Office of the Mayor and that of the City Manager as well as greater responsibilities and accountability for Members of the Mayoral Committee.
At the same time we want to strengthen the ward committee system as a very important element of local democracy. We will have to empower both communities and Councillors to play a far more effective role in oversight over the executive.
We have set ourselves very comprehensive and ambitious targets. But we did so with the confidence that we have at our disposal a very dedicated team of elected representatives and officials that can really move Johannesburg into the next two or three decades.
Ladies and gentlemen, I trust that this summit will deliver on our expectations to produce a long-term vision for the future of Johannesburg - a vision that can be shared by all communities across the length and breadth of our City. The future of Johannesburg is crucial to the long-term growth and stability of the entire South Africa and, indeed, for the continent of Africa. I have no doubt that we will not disappoint the people who are looking to Johannesburg for leadership and direction.
Thank you.
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