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How will The ANC fix issues in 702 land ? · Drive with John Perlman

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  Speaker 1: Your rates, your services, your reality. Follow the local government
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  Speaker 1: elections on 702 Cape Talk and EWN.co.za.
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  Speaker 2: 702 Drive, let's continue our look then at what political
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  Speaker 2: parties are offering the voters ahead of next week's local
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  Speaker 2: government elections. Today it is the turn of the African
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  Speaker 2: National Congress. For that, we're joined by the Executive Mayor
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  Speaker 2: of Johannesburg, Dada Murero. Executive Mayor, welcome and thank you.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks very much for giving us your time. I'm looking
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  Speaker 2: at your party's manifesto, and the manifesto says this. When
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  Speaker 2: ANC mayors and councillors take office, the work continues immediately.
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  Speaker 2: The first 100 days will set the pace for the
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  Speaker 2: five-year term. There's a list of things you'll do in
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  Speaker 2: those first 100 days, but I want to focus on this,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm reading this word for word. Within 100 days
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  Speaker 2: in every ward, repair streetlights, fix potholes, stop water leaks
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  Speaker 2: and sewer spills. clear illegal dumping sites, unblocked stormwater drains,
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  Speaker 2: cut overgrown vegetation, clean public spaces and repaired road markings,
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  Speaker 2: and signage with residents, business, labor, and community structures working
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  Speaker 2: alongside the municipality. Executive Mayor, if it's possible to do
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  Speaker 2: all this in 100 days, why has that, for example,
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  Speaker 2: not been done in the city of Johannesburg? You, as
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  Speaker 2: the ANC after all, have held the mayorship since the
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  Speaker 2: 16th of August 2024.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, John, and good afternoon. You understand that part
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  Speaker 1: of the manifesto is to say what are the key
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  Speaker 1: issues that you can prioritize in the first 100 days
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  Speaker 1: when you take office, and those key issues that the
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  Speaker 1: manifesto is then highlighting as the basic issues that requires attention.
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  Speaker 1: and that we should focus on by setting up the
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  Speaker 1: necessary systems, more about getting the necessary resources, and go
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  Speaker 1: on ground to resolve those. And you'll then give a
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  Speaker 1: feedback post the 100 days, what percentage that you've been
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  Speaker 1: able to cover. And then the manifesto is alive to
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  Speaker 1: the fact that you may not cover everything in that
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  Speaker 1: 200 days, but you'll have the ability to prioritize as
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  Speaker 1: key interventions that are required. Remember, the manifesto was a
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  Speaker 1: product of consultations with communities, sectors, and civil society organizations,
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  Speaker 1: and that is why they reflect those as the key
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  Speaker 1: issues that requires attention.
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  Speaker 2: Why do you need 100 days to set those priorities,
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  Speaker 2: Executive Mayor? Many residents, not just of this city, but
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  Speaker 2: of municipalities, metros, and small towns all over the country
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  Speaker 2: will say, The needs are blindingly obvious. And the reason
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  Speaker 2: they haven't been delivered is because people haven't said about
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  Speaker 2: the task as they should. I mean, in the same vein,
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  Speaker 2: you say in 60 days, you're going to publish a
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  Speaker 2: state of the municipality report, the governance, financial and service position,
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  Speaker 2: what is working and what isn't. Surely as the city
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  Speaker 2: of Johannesburg, for example, or Ikura Leni, you would be
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  Speaker 2: able to deliver that today, yesterday. You must know.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's part of an election manifesto and I understand
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  Speaker 1: that it's targeted towards what we all know, which would
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  Speaker 1: be a period of budget adjustments in the cities. And
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  Speaker 1: should you then take over, you're able then to determine
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  Speaker 1: the budget adjustment and be able then to consolidate that
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  Speaker 1: report based on the budget adjustment that would have passed
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  Speaker 1: around January, which is within days. the 100 days that
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  Speaker 1: we're talking about. But in essence, the 100 days basically
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  Speaker 1: says key programs that we're able to deliver and take
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  Speaker 1: them to the communities and prioritize them. That's basically what
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  Speaker 1: the commitments on the 100 days are all about.
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  Speaker 2: So in other words, to be absolutely clear, within 100 days,
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  Speaker 2: you're not going to get all of those things done.
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  Speaker 2: You're going to identify which ones need doing the most
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  Speaker 2: and where the money could be best spent.
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  Speaker 1: Definitely, and then you'll be able to give an account
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  Speaker 1: within 100 days that this is what we've been able
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  Speaker 1: to do within this period. And of course, give a
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  Speaker 1: clear report to your constituencies.
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  Speaker 2: Why would you need to do that in municipalities? And
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  Speaker 2: we don't have to focus just on Joburg because you
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  Speaker 2: are speaking... more generally on behalf of the ANC, but
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  Speaker 2: in places where you've governed, I mean, surely you have
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  Speaker 2: a clear sense of what money is available, what's prevented
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  Speaker 2: these things from being fixed and what it would take
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  Speaker 2: to get them fixed.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, for example, John, you'd know that the budget adjustment
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  Speaker 1: will clearly define what you have to do because you're
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  Speaker 1: getting into a new election. And you're getting an action
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  Speaker 1: between a budget that has already been passed, which means
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  Speaker 1: your opportunity to readjust your own priorities when you come
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  Speaker 1: into government will only happen during the budget adjustment in January,
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  Speaker 1: which cuts across all municipalities throughout the country because our
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  Speaker 1: budget cycle is the same because we are governed by
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  Speaker 1: the same legislation. So therefore, that is why some of
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  Speaker 1: the manifesto issues are captured around those areas to the
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  Speaker 1: effect that you can now readjust your budget. In municipalities
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  Speaker 1: where you are not governing, you have an opportunity to
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  Speaker 1: then immediately readjust their budget in January.
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  Speaker 2: You, given undertaking, because we're going to look a little
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  Speaker 2: bit more at how this is all going to be
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  Speaker 2: done and by who, build capable municipal administrations and reduce
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  Speaker 2: dependence on consultants by strengthening the in-house financial, engineering, technical,
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  Speaker 2: legal procurement, and project management capacity. And I assume this
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  Speaker 2: will be a ballpark figure because presumably it changes regularly.
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  Speaker 2: But in terms of the vacancy levels in those key sections,
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  Speaker 2: if we were to look at the metros, Kuraleni and Johannesburg,
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  Speaker 2: if you want to Limit yourself to Joburg, that would
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  Speaker 2: be fair enough. Executive Mayor, what is the shortfall of appointments?
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  Speaker 2: What are the vacancy levels in those key positions?
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  Speaker 1: We do have a high vacancy rate, especially in your
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  Speaker 1: key management position. And of course, I think the position
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  Speaker 1: of Johannesburg was on the basis of a negotiated process
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  Speaker 1: with Labour. As you know, there's a matter at the
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  Speaker 1: table referred to as the political facilitated agreement of 2016,
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  Speaker 1: which requires us to move employees from level 8 to
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  Speaker 1: level 10 and be able to play them at that
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  Speaker 1: level and quantify. So we are in that process. And
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  Speaker 1: to a large extent, it's now delaying us being able
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  Speaker 1: to fill other positions because then it's going to blow time.
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  Speaker 1: going to blow our employee costs and as a result
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  Speaker 1: we need to trade carefully. But at the same time
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  Speaker 1: we've already taken a decision in the city that there
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  Speaker 1: must be a reduction of our contracted services at least
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  Speaker 1: to about 60% and that's what we've focused. We've already
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  Speaker 1: quantified what it also means and we've also quantified it
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  Speaker 1: in terms of rents and cents and we've also then
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  Speaker 1: said where will these services end now be rendered and
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  Speaker 1: how will they be rendered. So basically we're saying the
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  Speaker 1: services must now move in-house so that we reduce on
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  Speaker 1: contracted services, which is costing just around 700 million almost
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  Speaker 1: on an annual budget, which we're spending on contracted services.
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  Speaker 1: So we're saying we've got an opportunity, therefore, to bring
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  Speaker 1: back 60% of that back into the city by reducing
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  Speaker 1: on contracted services. So that decision we have already taken,
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  Speaker 1: and we are implementing that decision at the city of Johannesburg,
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  Speaker 1: which will help us also in a long way. But remember, John,
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  Speaker 1: you still have to try and balance that other services
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  Speaker 1: as part of growing the economy creating businesses and entrepreneurs,
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  Speaker 1: you still have to balance that. Other services you do
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  Speaker 1: not need to do in-house, you can then send them
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  Speaker 1: and outsource some of the services to try and also
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  Speaker 1: encourage growth, which is an important part of redress and
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  Speaker 1: over and above redress, growing your economy.
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  Speaker 2: The undertaking, just for the benefit of the listeners, critical
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  Speaker 2: municipal manager, chief financial officer, and senior management posts will
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  Speaker 2: be filled within 120 days. I want to come back
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  Speaker 2: to where we started our conversation, Executive Mayor, and ask
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  Speaker 2: you this. This repairing of the streetlights, the fixing of
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  Speaker 2: the potholes, and the list that I read out earlier,
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  Speaker 2: and you've suggested that I misunderstood the meaning of the
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  Speaker 2: 100 days. If you look at Johannesburg, how long do
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  Speaker 2: you think it would take to get those services to
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  Speaker 2: a level that obviously one wouldn't necessarily assume every single
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  Speaker 2: pothole is fixed, but a substantial and marked difference? Obviously
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  Speaker 2: not in 100 days. How many days do you think
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  Speaker 2: you'll need?
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  Speaker 1: Well, it might not be simply to quantify it now.
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  Speaker 1: We have to go through a scientific process. You'd know that,
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  Speaker 1: for example, in Jehovah's Witnesses, which is a regime D.
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  Speaker 1: Our portals are counting to about 4,000. At this stage,
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  Speaker 1: we are sitting at about 1,900. That has been at
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  Speaker 1: least resolved and then about four routes that have been resurfaced.
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  Speaker 1: So I'd have to give a better scientific report that
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  Speaker 1: covers the entire Johannesburg. But in essence, the commitment says
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  Speaker 1: within 100 days, we have to focus, we have to
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  Speaker 1: ensure that those issues, whether it's portals, streetlights, we are
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  Speaker 1: focused on. For example, streetlights, you can do all of
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  Speaker 1: them in one word, but what we're experiencing as we
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  Speaker 1: are doing them now, It's continuous vandalism that continues to
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  Speaker 1: destabilize the work that we're doing around the streetlights, which
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  Speaker 1: we have now focused on since we passed the budget
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  Speaker 1: in June. We've been focusing on fixing the streetlights throughout
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  Speaker 1: Johannesburg and also building high-mass lights to try and help
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  Speaker 1: reduce the impact of crime. But there's a focus to it,
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  Speaker 1: and every day the teams are on the ground replacing,
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  Speaker 1: restoring damaged ones and bringing new streetlights on the ground.
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  Speaker 1: So that program is working. Unfortunately, I can't give a
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  Speaker 1: period in which you can complete unless we do a
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  Speaker 1: proper scientific exercise.
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  Speaker 2: Dada Murero is the Executive Mayor of Johannesburg joining us
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  Speaker 2: for what will be again through this week a daily
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  Speaker 2: engagement with different political parties in regards to what they
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  Speaker 2: are offering to the electorate ahead of next week's polls.
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  Speaker 2: 25 minutes past four.