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

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  Speaker 1: Your community. Your concerns. Your voice. Follow every moment of
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the local government elections on 702-CAKE-TALK and EWN.co.za.
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  Speaker 2: Right, let's continue with looking at what different political parties
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  Speaker 2: are offering voters ahead of the local government elections. Today,
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  Speaker 2: we focus on the ACDP, the African Christian Democratic Party,
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  Speaker 2: and we're joined now by that party's mayoral candidate for
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  Speaker 2: the city of Johannesburg, Bishop Dalton Adams. Welcome, and thanks
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  Speaker 2: very much for giving us your time.
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  Speaker 3: Good afternoon, John Bowman, and also your listeners. It's nice
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  Speaker 3: to be on 702 this afternoon, sir. So....
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  Speaker 2: A lot of parties, and indeed this is where government
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  Speaker 2: policy is heading, talk about ring-fencing revenue from water and
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  Speaker 2: electricity provision, the money that people are paying for either
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  Speaker 2: of those two services or both, and channeling that towards
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  Speaker 2: ensuring infrastructure development and maintenance. The ACDP is a little
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  Speaker 2: more circumspect about that, and I'm keen to know why.
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  Speaker 2: Because first of all, you say we're practicable. suggesting that
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  Speaker 2: sometimes it isn't. And secondly, you talk about sufficient revenue.
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  Speaker 2: Help us understand that better. Have you defined what sufficient
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  Speaker 2: revenue would be? Because my understanding is we'll never have
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  Speaker 2: enough for the maintenance. But secondly, how do you determine
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  Speaker 2: if it's practical or not?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Thank you so much, John, for the opportunity. Let
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  Speaker 3: me firstly appreciate and welcome the sentence that the two
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  Speaker 3: policemen that killed Nathaniel Julius They were found guilty in
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  Speaker 3: the courts today and they will be sentenced later. I
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  Speaker 3: was actually the pastor that buried Nathaniel Julius that fateful
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  Speaker 3: time and that Saturday when he died. So coming back
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  Speaker 3: to your question, Sean, I think it's important that the
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  Speaker 3: ACDP says we're practical. It means that, you know, sometimes
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  Speaker 3: it is difficult to ring fence everything. Like, for instance,
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  Speaker 3: your water and your... your electricity, and pick it up
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  Speaker 3: for refuse. Because the challenge is the billing system is
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  Speaker 3: not always right. Billing system is not right, so whatever
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  Speaker 3: comes in might not always be the correct revenue that
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  Speaker 3: is collected. But we do say that, you know, we
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  Speaker 3: do agree that it must be re-influenced, but also we
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  Speaker 3: must fix. the revenue streams coming into the city and
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  Speaker 3: the billing system must also be right for us to
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  Speaker 3: totally re-fence what the question asks, John.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I'm not sure how you wait for
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  Speaker 2: the one to be right before you implement the other
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  Speaker 2: because both, it would seem, would need fixing.
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  Speaker 1: Let's talk specifically, more specifically about water.
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  Speaker 2: Bishop Adams, you say, encourage private sector investment through financing options.
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  Speaker 1: What are those options and how would they work?
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  Speaker 3: Well, we can see, you know, the city is hemorrhaging.
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  Speaker 3: The city is struggling. Joburg water cannot cope. Rand water
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  Speaker 3: cannot cope. The money is owed between the two entities
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  Speaker 3: is a major challenge for the citizens of Johannesburg. We
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  Speaker 3: believe that you need to get in some companies to assist,
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  Speaker 3: not fully privatizing, let me mention that, water and electricity
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  Speaker 3: and those kind of entities. but having help. You see,
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  Speaker 3: the challenge is that we have left and abdicated the
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  Speaker 3: responsibility over to the administration and the government to make
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  Speaker 3: things work, and everybody else has been just spectators. I
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  Speaker 3: think the time has come in this administration that everybody
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  Speaker 3: needs to take hands together to see how we can
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  Speaker 3: actually rebuild the city of Johannesburg.
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  Speaker 2: But Bishop Adams, you, with respect, are describing the problem. You,
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  Speaker 2: in your manifesto, allude to a solution, but it would
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  Speaker 2: seem you haven't worked out what those financing options are.
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  Speaker 1: Is that the case?
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  Speaker 2: Is it a general idea that you have, but when
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  Speaker 2: it comes down to specifics, the work is still to
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  Speaker 2: be done?
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  Speaker 1: No, definitely.
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  Speaker 3: Definitely. Look, a lot of work is still to be done, John.
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  Speaker 3: I think we are in the season of campaigning and electioneering.
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  Speaker 3: One cannot fully, you know, preempt what will happen. And
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  Speaker 3: it's very critically important that we engage the citizens of
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  Speaker 3: the city of Johannesburg. And that has been the problem
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  Speaker 3: in the city of Joburg is that there's been a
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  Speaker 3: top-down approach and not a bottom-up approach. And we need
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  Speaker 3: to change and flip the pyramid in the city of Johannesburg, John.
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  Speaker 2: But it seems to me when you put yourselves up
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  Speaker 2: for election, it's because you believe you have answers. Now,
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  Speaker 2: certainly in your manifesto, you list substantially all the different
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  Speaker 2: problems we face.
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  Speaker 1: You allude to certain solutions.
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  Speaker 2: But are you saying that actually before you, let's say
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  Speaker 2: you come into either a significant position in a coalition
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  Speaker 2: or better than that, that when you get in, you
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  Speaker 2: then get to embark on a process of consultation before
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  Speaker 2: you actually have a policy?
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  Speaker 3: And that's exactly the challenge that we have, is that
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  Speaker 3: you have manifestos and plans. But when you get to
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  Speaker 3: the coalition, there's other parties also there. So one has
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  Speaker 3: to bother, one has to give and take in terms
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  Speaker 3: of what is it that we as a coalition will
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  Speaker 3: be able to put together. So we will put our
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  Speaker 3: stance and our position and we will then formulate that
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  Speaker 3: which is better and best for the citizens of Johannesburg.
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  Speaker 2: But, I mean, for example, let's take the scenario you've
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  Speaker 2: just outlined, Bishop Adams.
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  Speaker 1: You go into a coalition.
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  Speaker 2: You say you're going to set down your positions. Let's
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  Speaker 2: say you want to really hammer into shape a policy
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  Speaker 2: on water, and I'm just staying with that as an
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  Speaker 2: example because that's where we started. How do you push
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  Speaker 2: for your position on private sector involvement if you actually
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  Speaker 2: don't have one other than you think it would be
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  Speaker 2: a good thing?
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  Speaker 3: No, I mean, one doesn't. This is not what we
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  Speaker 3: call a glass that you can see through at the moment.
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  Speaker 3: I think one has to engage after the election in
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  Speaker 3: terms of what is going to be best for the
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  Speaker 3: citizens of Johannesburg. And one cannot preempt. And that's what
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  Speaker 3: we are saying as the ACDP, that we believe that
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  Speaker 3: we need to get help from private sector. But we
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  Speaker 3: are also saying, as I said earlier on, we cannot
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  Speaker 3: have it fully privatized. because we're going to make sure
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  Speaker 3: that the city and the administration still remains fully in
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  Speaker 3: control of the state and the resources that is available
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  Speaker 3: to us. So we are saying that, you know, we
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  Speaker 3: want to speak, we want to engage and speak to
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  Speaker 3: the people of the city of Joburg and then, you know,
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  Speaker 3: see what companies understand the plan that we have for
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  Speaker 3: water in the city of Johannesburg.
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  Speaker 2: I want to engage with you then on some of
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  Speaker 2: the financial stuff that you're setting out. And again, it
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  Speaker 2: seems to be quite general in nature. You want to
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  Speaker 2: ensure that municipal structures and systems are optimized to best
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  Speaker 2: serve our districts, municipalities, and metros. It's obviously a good intention,
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  Speaker 2: but it's very unspecific. I mean, what for you would
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  Speaker 2: be key to that optimization?
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  Speaker 3: For us, as the ACDP, for an optimization plan, John,
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  Speaker 3: we need to make sure that the finances that come
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  Speaker 3: into the city from the grant, from the province, and
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  Speaker 3: also the revenue that comes in and that we generate,
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  Speaker 3: one has to make sure that that money is spent
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  Speaker 3: correctly and optimize it optimally for our people and make
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  Speaker 3: sure that it is not diverted. and it doesn't end
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  Speaker 3: up with fruitless and wasteful expenditure, and the money that
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  Speaker 3: is earmarked for what it is supposed to be done
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  Speaker 3: must be optimized in that nature, John. How?
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  Speaker 1: How will you do that?
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  Speaker 3: So it's important for us, John, to say that we,
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  Speaker 3: I said earlier on that we agree that money must
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  Speaker 3: be earmarked, and some people call it ring fencing. We agree,
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  Speaker 3: I'd say 90% on ring fencing, but we're also saying
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  Speaker 3: that when we sit around the table... We must make
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  Speaker 3: sure the administration that is there must make sure that
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  Speaker 3: the money is given for the things that it's supposed
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  Speaker 3: to be used for.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Bishop Dalton Adams, the ACDP's mayoral
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  Speaker 2: candidate for the city of Johannesburg. We'll do this again
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  Speaker 2: next week. We've covered five parties this week. We'll go
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  Speaker 2: again from Monday. We're still to hear from the MK Party,
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  Speaker 2: from the Patriotic Alliance from the EFF, the ANC, and
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  Speaker 2: some others besides. 25 minutes past four. We thank Bishop
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  Speaker 2: Adams for his time.