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The newly elected Joburg Government, clumsily presided over by the Executive Mayor,  Cllr. Thapelo Amad, has wasted no time in announcing the appointment of new acting senior managers. The new acting arrangements are designed to capture Johannesburg.

The City was on a steady path towards renewal, but there is now a clear and present danger of collapse and setback in the fight against corruption.

Ms. Sinaye Nxumalo has been appointed as the acting head of the city’s corruption watchdog, the Group Forensic and Investigation Services (GFIS). But she is the subject of an investigation by the very anti-corruption unit she now heads.

This can only be seen as a ploy to shield those who were under fire for their alleged nefarious acts. It was previously alleged that Ms. Nxumalo failed to submit forensic investigations into alleged acts of corruption to the Auditor-General that implicated senior officials.

It is clear that the new Joburg Government will be run in order to serve narrow political agendas, rather than the service delivery needs of the City’s 6 million residents.

The City’s annual report was ready to be tabled at the last Council meeting. But the report was jettisoned by the new government in the last Council meeting and Mayor Amad has missed the January-deadline.

A report to appoint a permanent City Manager was ready to serve before Council but was deliberately shunted aside by the Speaker. No doubt, Mayor Amad will do nothing to get it over the line.

This month, the City is supposed to adopt an adjustment budget, badly needed to stabilise the City’s finances. This process is now on hold and is unlikely to be passed.

The work of the Municipal Entities (the likes of City Power, Pikitup, Joburg Roads Agency, Joburg Water, Joburg City Parks and Zoo), which are the City’s main delivery engines, have been all but grounded by a heavy-handed instruction, to the Boards, in the form of this letter linked here, to cease functional operations. This same call was made during the 25 days the Multiparty Coalition were illegally removed from office; and can only be seen as a calculated to move to undermine and stop ongoing investigations into the likes of the Joburg Property Company and its CEO, Ms Helen Botes, for an allegedly dodgy R27-million payment, among other things.

The Multiparty Government had a clear repair and rebuild programme for Joburg. The same cannot be said Mayor Amad and his Mayoral Committee. But then, they are only “placeholders”.

We assure our constituents residents that the DA in Johannesburg will continue to fight tirelessly for them from the opposition benches. Being out of office will not deter our work of repairing and rebuilding Joburg for all its residents. We will fight for the residents of what can still be the City of Golden Opportunities under a strong DA government.

Issued by Cllr Mpho Phalatse - DA Johannesburg Caucus Leader