February 14, 2007
By JoNews Reporter
THE City manager, Mavela Dlamini, is under no illusions about the scope and complexity of his job: to make concrete the council's ideas and plans of turning Johannesburg into a world-class African city.
A trained engineer – he holds a BSc Hons and an MSc in civil engineering from Leeds University in the UK – Dlamini has no problem turning abstract concepts into reality. And as the pivot in the administration of South Africa's premier city, his key task is to ensure that strategic decisions are implemented efficiently and effectively.
"Our objective is to improve both the reach and the quality of service delivery in Johannesburg," says Dlamini. "We have set ourselves clear objectives to eliminate the backlog in the delivery of essential services such as water, power and sanitation to all communities in the city."
His goal is to take the "grand plans mapped out by his predecessors" and "get the job done". He is succinct in summing up his role: "I have to focus on good administration and well-managed public resources."
Expectations for Johannesburg run high:
- It is the city with the largest annual budget, currently at R21-billion;
- It has an ever-increasing cosmopolitan population that needs to be catered for, as people migrate from all over South Africa and, indeed the continent, to the economic heartland of the country in search of jobs; and
- It is a significant role-player in the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup, mooted to host both the opening and closing matches and to be the home base of the Fifa delegation itself.
The FNB Stadium: 'The progress we make with our preparations for the 2010 Fifa World Cup will be the barometer to indicate the entire country's state of readiness', says Mavela Dlamini
"Johannesburg will be in the global public eye for the next four years. The progress we make with our preparations for the event will be the barometer to indicate the entire country's state of readiness for 2010."
Dlamini's focus is on the core functions of local government, ensuring that services are delivered without hitch.
Along with this is the need to encourage investment, with its knock-on effect of creating jobs and improving the quality of life for all of Joburg's people. "We need to attract investments that help to create employment and reduce poverty," he says. "We must ensure the economic cake grows so that everyone gets a piece."
Joburg is more than capable of competing with world-class cities such as Paris, London and Sydney in terms of the provision of infrastructure and the cost of doing business, according to Dlamini. He adds that the City is determined to play its role in supporting investment and encouraging economic growth.
"Johannesburg offers huge opportunities for people from all walks of life – it does not matter where you come from, you can find a niche in this city."
The 2010 soccer world cup is looming on the horizon, and it is an important focus for the city. Johannesburg is not only concerned with coping with tourists wanting to attend the games, but the City has plans to piggyback on the event and undertake a vast range of developments that will have long-term benefits for residents. These include:
- Upgrading its transport infrastructure, creating a more user-friendly system for visitors and locals alike;
- Revamping recreational facilities, improving the quality of life of residents as well as creating jobs;
- Improving existing infrastructure such as water, waste removal and electricity supply, which will have an knock-on effect for local businesses and residents; and
- Encouraging investment by showcasing to the world the limitless opportunities to be found in Johannesburg, with its obvious benefits for the people of the city.
"2010 is, however, only one milestone in the broader development strategy for Johannesburg," says Dlamini. "All the 2010 projects are part of the City's longer term Growth and Development Strategy to ensure that residents will benefit from the increased spending on infrastructure for many years to come."
Service delivery
Dlamini assumed the managerial reins in April 2006, shortly after the local government elections and the start of a new term of office for the City council. He was immediately immersed in establishing a comprehensive development strategy for the City, with his focus being on "delivering a service that enhances the value of life of the residents of Johannesburg".
Before his appointment, Dlamini headed up the Johannesburg Roads Agency – so he is no stranger to high expectations and complex delivery projects. It was under his leadership that the project to widen and tar all the roads in Soweto was brought in under deadline and under budget.
He brings a wealth of experience to the job, having held several senior positions in Johannesburg's administration.
Dlamini joined the new metro structure in 1996 as the strategic executive of infrastructure and technical services. Then, as the chief executive and accounting officer of the then Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council during the transformation of the city between 1999 and 2001, he assisted in setting up the City's utilities – Johannesburg Water, City Power and Pikitup – as well as the Johannesburg Roads Agency and Johannesburg City Parks.
He was also involved in the hosting of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002.
Barely a month after his appointment as City manager, the City began its surge towards creating its all-embracing Growth and Development Strategy (GDS). This started with a series of workshops identifying core sectors that would play a significant role.
"The GDS is not about the municipality, but about every person whose life is touched by the City of Johannesburg," Dlamini explains.
Under the GDS, Johannesburg has to tackle the issue of the increasing numbers of job seekers flocking to the city; develop strategies to deal with the intricacies brought about by the very different needs of the "first" and "second" economies; improve the quality of life for the poorest of the city; speed up transformation across the city, encouraging development in previously disadvantaged areas; manage the environment and the effects of environmental change; and encourage ties between the private and public sectors to support the various developmental projects.
Service delivery in Johannesburg is complicated by the fact that very little has been spent on infrastructure by previous administrations, says Dlamini. "We have to deal with water and power infrastructure that are more than 40 years old. Since 2001 we have embarked on an ambitious programme to replace or upgrade this ageing infrastructure.
"I am confident that we will meet our targets to provide basic water, power and sanitation services to all communities in the city."
Like any complex entity, the City has to find a balance between the disparate needs of all its people: from providing housing for the poorest of the poor to encouraging investment from international business players, from ensuring that all residents have access to pragmatic health services to ensuring a smooth flow of traffic across the region.
Managing the team
At the same time that Dlamini took up his new post, the City began restructuring, both politically and administratively. Politically, mayoral committee portfolios were redrawn with an emphasis on a more hands-on approach to governance. Administratively, this was reflected in the streamlining and consolidating of departments, along with the redrafting of the City regions from 11 to seven. "The principle is to create an integrated and efficient high-level institutional design."
This meant that with new departments came new appointments to senior managerial posts – nine new appointments in all. Dlamini is determined to build on the foundations of the past five years, during which the City of Johannesburg was formed as a unicity, created from the melding of a number of disparate municipalities.
"Employees should commit to working harder for the earnings offered by the City. As a collective, we are likely to raise the bar in respect of performance of our companies after the initial good performance of the past five years."
As the most senior manager in the City, Dlamini is certain that his team is capable of tackling the challenges of managing Johannesburg. He describes the team as "experts in their respective fields".
And in 2006 the City reached a number of its targets, including:
- Being ahead of schedule in identifying new stands for future housing development;
- Coming in above target on customer service satisfaction – it reached 84,3 percent, above the 80 percent targeted level;
- Running a number of successful campaigns and awareness programmes on a variety of topics, including substance abuse, maternal and childhood health, HIV/Aids and environmental health;
- Providing 98,7 percent of inner city buildings with access to a basic level of water services;
- Reducing the number of electricity outages to 106 for bulk outages and 1 248 for medium voltage outages; and
- Completing a 2010 Emergency Preparedness Strategy.
"In 2006 we completed the first five years of democratic local governance in Johannesburg," says Dlamini. "It enabled us to assess the progress we have made and to map out clear strategies for the future. We recently completed an extensive Growth and Development Strategy that will serve as the basis for the governance of the city as we meet the challenges of the next decade.
"A culture of working for a better Joburg at all levels, beyond the culture of simply looking after ourselves, is important," he concludes.
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