30 October, 2002

Press Release

SPEECH ON BEHALF OF THE EXECUTIVE MAYOR, COUNCILLOR AMOS MASONDO, AT LAUNCH OF THE "JOHANNESBURG: AFRICA'S WORLD CITY" REPORT, HOSTED BY THE CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENT & ENTERPRISE (CDE) ON 29 OCTOBER 2002

Delivered on his behalf by Mr. Pascal Moloi, Johannesburg City Manager

Programme Director,
Fellow Speakers,
Leaders in business and civil society,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen:

The Mayor wishes to thank the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) for affording The City the opportunity to address this launch of the "Johannesburg: Africa's World City" report.

We understand that the report has been a monumental effort, underpinned by extensive research and having taken no less than four years to complete. The Mayor would therefore like to convey his congratulations to CDE for finally completing this important study. We believe that the CDE report, in many ways, supports "Joburg 2030", the long-term economic development strategy of the City of Johannesburg, which we launched in February this year.

At the outset, it should be mentioned that in the last few months there have been at least three major socio-economic studies, including this one, that have been produced on Johannesburg. The city believes that this is a reflection of the growing intellectual and practical interest in the city on the part of government, communities, business, academia and civil society as a whole.

This is no doubt fuelled by the emerging economic centrality of Johannesburg on the African continent and its growing influence as a global transportation and telecommunications hub. The Executive Mayor acknowledges the report as a valuable contribution to a collective understanding and efforts to rebuild the City.

This research will be beneficial to stakeholders wanting to enhance their understanding of the city on key social, economic, cultural and political issues. More importantly, though, the report constructively contributes to the ongoing discussion on the future of Johannesburg. It is crucial for any progressive city to foster and promote healthy and robust discussion on its future direction.

Johannesburg, throughout its history, has been a fast-growing and dynamic city. Within ten years of its establishment in 1886, it had become the largest city in Sub-Saharan Africa. Although the city was built to support gold mining on the Witwatersrand, it had transformed itself to become the country's principal centre of manufacturing and trade by the end of the Second World War. At the close of the twentieth century, the city's economy had further diversified into the services sector. The composition of the city's economy is now dominated by knowledge-based industries such as business services, financial services, information and telecommunications technology and business tourism. It is the place of choice for corporate headquarters in South Africa; the premier centre for business interaction; and the location of the JSE. It also has the best educated and skilled workforce in the country.

The city believes that the platform is being created for Johannesburg to emerge as a "global city region". This is evidenced, in recent years, by the rapid consolidation of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni into a single, functional economic entity. The global city region has become an international transportation and telecommunications hub, it has witnessed major growth in high value exports and it is seeing large and rapid flows of international capital. Johannesburg has become the springboard for trade and investment into the rest of the African continent by local and international companies. In short, Johannesburg has become the economic central nervous system for Sub-Saharan Africa and a significant player on the world stage.

The World Summit on Sustainable Development, held earlier this year, was a crowning moment for Joburg. It confirmed to citizens and visitors alike that the city was able to flexibly, creatively and comprehensively meet the demands of a major international conference. It has positioned the city as a serious contender for trade, investment, leisure and business tourism.

In order to position the city as a world class or global city of the future, in February 2002, the City of Johannesburg launched "Joburg 2030". The strategy attempts to re-dimension the council as an agent of economic development. This implies a move away from an exclusive service delivery focus to one that marshals local government to economic growth and development. Joburg 2030 specifically focuses on creating a conducive environment for economic growth by addressing crime and skills; building the economic efficiency of the city by addressing spatial planning, infrastructure and telecommunications; and accelerating growth through developments of key economic sectors.

The CDE's report concedes that the Joburg 2030 strategy provides a solid basis for the long-term growth and development of the city. Indeed, it reinforces the core message of the Joburg 2030 strategy and highlights the centrality of Johannesburg in the overall economic framework.

From the city's point of view, the key to making the Joburg 2030 strategy work is to ensure the involvement of all stakeholders in its implementation. We are particularly keen to establish partnerships with business to further this agenda.

We also face many other challenges. The city acknowledges that homelessness, lack of access to basic services, HIV/Aids, poverty and social dislocation are widespread in the Johannesburg area. Government delivery is being accelerated on these issues and the efforts will continue until these have been fully addressed.

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Programme Director, the Mayor asked me to thank the organisers for providing the platform to talk about the future of our city. Before I end, however, let me make a few remarks on certain of the report's recommendations. I am especially concerned about the CDE's statement that City Council's leaders are "not strong enough" to meet the challenges facing the City and that perhaps "special incentives" are needed to "attract the most capable politicians and public servants" to work for Johannesburg's local government. You will forgive me for thinking that the most capable people are already working for the City!

The report also states that "the ANC on its own will not be able to take the bold decisions essential for Johannesburg to re-emerge as a world-class centre of economic growth". This is a very bold statement. The city's view is that in fact, we have been amongst the boldest of cities, as evidenced by our restructuring over the past few years and the content of "Joburg 2030" and will continue to be.

The city would have been very willing to engage the debate on these issues had there been more research work presented which told us how CDE reached these conclusions. An assessment made of the qualifications, performance or experience of any of the city's leaders, either in the political or administrative structures or research presented on the ANC and its capacity to make bold decisions would certainly have made the debate richer.

We raise some concerns about the idea that is then presented by CDE, that a special national partnership is required to help us run the City and that a special committee comprised of Cabinet Ministers, the Premier, newspaper editors, business leaders and others would be established to lead a new strategy.

Partnerships across the levels of government and with institutions outside of government, we consider essential and desired and we thank the writers of the CDE report for confirming that principle. We do however, also believe that the primary responsibility for governing and driving the city lies with the government mandated by the electorate.

Thank You

Enquiries: Tasneem Carrim
082 467 9227
tasneemc@joburg.org.za