Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda in a sit-down interview with Salaamedia’s Selaelo Makwidhiri. [Picture: @KabeloGwamanda/X]
A gas explosion here, another one there and another somewhere else. A fire, then tremors, and now days (sometimes weeks) without water. Potholes everywhere, weeds on pavements. Sprawling informal settlements. Johannesburg is buckling.
When Kabelo Gwamanda took the reins from Thapelo Amad, both members of a minority party running the city in a coalition with other parties, he took on a tough job. One of Africa’s economic hubs, a city of opportunities, is facing the consequences of years of neglect. And he knows it.
“It’s a historical challenge that my blue-eyed predecessors have ignored, simply on the basis of focusing on … whatever their priorities were at the time, but critical to the maintenance of service delivery is the upkeep and the maintenance of infrastructure.”
The “blue-eyed” predecessors Gwamanda took a swipe at, in a sit-down with Salaamedia’s Selaelo Makhwidhiri are the Democratic Alliance (DA), a party that has been in and out of the mayoral seat several times since the African National Congress (ANC) lost its majority in 2016. The decay stems from a time long before that.
Dressed in a bright yellow and red jacket, Gwamanda concedes it is “unacceptable” that ratepayers should not get bang for their buck.
“The water shortages, the water cuts, the scarcity of water in the city of Johannesburg is something that is unacceptable. It cannot be correct that ratepayers in a world-class African city have to struggle with basic services such as water.”
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Strained infrastructure
South Africa has long been attractive to immigrants from neighbouring countries, many of them fleeing from poverty and conflict.
According to a report by Statistics South Africa, just over one million people came to settle in the country between 2016 and 2021. Most of them (47.5%) flocked to the bright lights of Gauteng. Cities like Johannesburg can’t keep up, says Gwamanda.
“We are a global destination. Anyone and everyone from the African continent that looks for opportunities, their first point of departure is the city of Johannesburg. The population density and the infrastructure roll-out in terms of the new developments currently underway, amongst other things, are putting a strain on a historical infrastructure that needs to be upgraded,” he says.
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Intergovernmental relations
Another challenge the City of Johannesburg has faced, added Gwamanda, was the nature of intergovernmental relations. For example, the city relies on external suppliers like Rand Water for its water supply.
“We rely heavily on the other spheres of government. It’s something that we need to correct. In as much as they depend on the City of Johannesburg in the main as we are the biggest customer, in return we struggle to maintain those particular relationships.”
As the rot and decay exposes the city’s biggest vulnerabilities, intergovernmental relations appear to be all over the place. Gwamanda is currently locked in a spat with the ministers in the presidency and water and sanitation.
Said minister in the presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshaveni last week: “We must indicate, even in the absence of the mayor of Johannesburg, Johannesburg Water has been part of the meetings with the minister of water and sanitation [Senzo Mchunu].”
But, the mayor maintains, no such invitation was received. He urges all stakeholders to set their egos aside and place the residents’ needs first.
“The best way, and the only way, we can be able to find a practical way forward is the understanding of putting the residents’ needs before our own egos, before our own need to be seen as the providers of solutions.”
The City for its part, he believes, is doing what it can to reverse years of infrastructural neglect and incompetence. “We are hands on deck. Government understands that this is unacceptable and therefore it is a priority of ours. I can safely say we’ve got our hands on the pulse,” he says.
