8 January 2004 Press Release "DA report card another Moriarty Monologue" - Joburg The City of Johannesburg today said the annual Democratic Alliance (DA) performance report card on the city was getting worse by the year. City Manager, Pascal Moloi said although the report remained consistent in character to the previous two, which were inconsequential with neither insight nor substance, however, the new report showed signs of desperation from the opposition. "They make these whimsical report cards but we are yet to hear the scientific methodology employed in these assessments. What is mind-boggling however, is how the opposition fails to mention even one of the illustrious achievements recorded by the city as acknowledged by independent institutions," said Moloi. He pointed out that Fitch Ratings on National Long Term Credit Rating where the city was upgraded from BBB+ to A-. This rating gives the city substantial ability to compete in the money market. Also Johannesburg was the only city to have signed financial statements in November last year. Business Against Crime Survey showed that crime in the Inner City was reduced by a massive 80%, the city got voted the 2003 Most Popular Town or City in South Africa" in the Markinor- Sunday Times Top Brands Survey. The city won the provincial Bontle ke Botho Campaign and was one of the three provincial nominees for the National Awards of the Department of Provincial and Local Government and Development Bank of South Africa for the best-run city in terms of economic development and service delivery. The City also commissioned professional and credible institutions such as the Palmer Group using large sample where the city recorded over 70% average satisfaction across all council services. The average satisfaction with billing stood at over 87% satisfaction. "At the dawn of the 10th year of democratic governance, one would have expected the opposition to acknowledge the role the city has played in the country's collective effort of improving the quality of the lives of South Africans. In which the city has increased access to free clean and reliable water, access to energy and electricity, access to tarred roads, clean fresh and air and new regional parks in especially disadvantaged communities. The DA failed because it is absorbed by subjective, divisive, personality driven so-called score cards and failed to recognise the collective nature of governance and leadership in the City of Johannesburg. "Like in the two previous years, this year's report card will make no contribution in any efforts to improve service delivery and better the lives of residents," said Moloi. He said developmental municipalities, as is the case with the City of Johannesburg work with local communities to find sustainable ways to meet the community needs and improvement of their quality of life. Moloi said the city refuses to be drawn in a myopic view of what it is all about. "They try to reduce the city to a mere operation of a local authority. But the city is a complex combination of efforts of all stakeholders within the municipal boundary. The DA's weakness shows their failure to understand city politics, governance and what really makes Joburg ticks. The fact that we have successful partners is the strong indication of the city's ability to facilitate economic development and sustainable development as reflected in our 2030 plan," he said. The Executive Mayor, Amos Masondo, introduced the results of a Perception Survey undertaken under the auspices of Surveillance Technology (Pty) Ltd - previously BAC Surveillance Technology. He pointed out that perceptions were greatly influenced by the top issues that the city was addressing - unemployment, crime and law enforcement, unmanaged informal trading and operation of taxis, bad buildings and many other issues. "The perception survey results reflected the rising confidence in the CBD and the Mayor pointed out that another recent survey placed Johannesburg fifth after Washington, Detroit, Miami, and believe it or not, Cape Town in terms of violent trauma cases! There has been a massive shift in the respondent's views, for example, 82% have a positive outlook of the CBD as compared to 51% two years ago," said Moloi. In order to meet the objectives of Joburg 2030, the City has adopted a balanced scorecard that is a strategic measurement framework and provides the basis for implementing strategy, translating the strategy into operational actions. A medium term implementation plan translated into budget and integrated development plan is in place. For these programmes and plans the City has developed a performance management system that runs from July to July. This serves as an objective, scientific and reliable basis for measuring results. ENDS. Mbangwa Xaba Tel: 407 7226 Fax: 403 3494 082 467 9230 Or visit our website www.joburg.org.za