STRAIGHT TALK
1 September 2023
Yesterday’s tragic fire that has claimed over 70 lives, and last month’s gas explosion that caused havoc in Johannesburg’s central business district, are not isolated incidents of bad luck or unavoidable “acts of God”.
Rather, like last year’s KZN flood damage, they are avoidable disasters, the consequence of an incapable government that has failed to get the basics right and failed to take proper precautions on behalf of residents.
South Africa’s capital city is literally falling apart, as are the lives of its residents, as they slide deeper into poverty and unemployment.
Meanwhile, the Joburg council is rocked by instability, the natural result of a highly fragmented vote in the November 2021 local elections that put 18 parties into the 270-seat council, with 8 of those having just one seat yet holding the balance of power.