ANC Joburg scores DA-led coalition 20% for performance
Johannesburg – The ANC on Tuesday expressed lack of confidence in the City of Joburg’s DA-led coalition government, and scored it 20% for its performance over the past year.
Mayor Herman Mashaba got an H symbol for having failed the city’s people, his predecessor and ANC regional chairperson Parks Tau told reporters in Johannesburg.
The DA, in coalition with the EFF, took control of the city from the ANC after the August 2016 local government elections.
Tau said the government had to borrow approximately R4bn at the beginning of the financial year to cover operating expenses.
He said the city had been paralysed by the coalition government’s failure to meet its promises. Tau claimed it comprised the liquidity of the city’s finances. The city was unstable and at risk of being downgraded by ratings agencies.
Tau said the solution to the financial crisis was for the incumbent administration to implement austerity measures.
He said the city’s housing budget was not being spent.
As a result, the city’s finance MMC Rabelani Dagada announced a housing budget cut in his budget speech in May. This was despite a major housing crisis and recurring protests over lack of housing and service delivery.
The provincial government reduced the housing top structures grant to R145m for the 2016/2017 financial year, from R411m in the 2015/2016 financial year.
Dagada said this meant the city would only be able to build 1000 housing units in the face of a 300 000-unit backlog.
"Since the DA has been leading, housing is underperforming. Before it was getting more allocations and we would even take money from other budgets and add it to housing," Tau said.
The axing of 27 of 35 of the city’s senior executives resulted in failure to meet waste, water, and electricity targets in informal settlements.
