Joburg: Speaker’s legal opinion will give clarity for the future – DA is ready to continue building a World Class City

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has noted the decision of the City of Johannesburg Speaker, Vasco da Gama, to seek a legal opinion on the Council’s voting procedures. We believe this is the correct course of action, as it will ensure the legal standing of the vote.

What has been made clear by the ANC is that it does not have confidence in its candidate, the compromised Councillor Geoff Makhubo, who was rejected by the ANC Gauteng structure. Cllr Makhubo, is implicated in a R30-million corrupt tender with the City and has shown little regard for the residents of Joburg.

To further illustrate the ANC’s mixed feelings and lack of direction, it hauled out its most divisive and allegedly corrupt leader, Secretary-General Ace Magashule who endorsed his allegedly corrupt brother-in-arms, Cllr Makhubo. Furthermore, in a ploy to give Cllr Makhubo a false sense of credibility and dignity, the ANC brought in 94-year old anti-apartheid veteran Mr Andrew Mlangeni. This is nothing more than act of desperation and undermines Mr Mlangeni’s contribution to a Democratic South Africa.

The DA and its coalition partners – the IFP, ACDP, COPE and FF+ - stand firmly behind Cllr Funzela ‘Funzi’ Ngobeni to be elected as Mayor so that the great progress of the last three years is not destroyed by the ANC whose default modus operandi is corruption.

In three short years, the DA-led multiparty collation government has managed to:

Increased revenue levels from R35.29 billion in 2017/18 to surpass the R40 billion collection mark for the first time in 2018/19

Facilitated external investment in the City from R4.5 billion to R17.3 billion, bringing thousands of job opportunities to residents

Created 55 635 EPWP job opportunities, giving residents a foot up on the ladder of employment

Delivered 6,261 housing opportunities for residents

Delivered over 9,000 title deeds to beneficiaries through a massive title deed delivery programme

Developed 7,857 social housing units

Facilitated training and empowerment opportunities for almost 10 000 youth

Supported small businesses by procuring 49% of the goods and services the City requires from entrepreneurs – up from just 5% in 2016

Identified 37 abandoned factories to convert into multi-storey housing opportunities for over 3000 residents

Identified 154 properties in the inner city to convert to well-located affordable housing opportunities for over 11 500 families

Installed 6,336 public lights

1,500 new JMPD are set to be deployed following their training. This represents a 50% in the size of the JMPD force

A DA-led multiparty coalition government intends to continue delivering to all the City’s residents and continue the project of building a truly World Class City that all its residents can be proud of.

Today, the people of the Nelson Mandela Bay live a life a misery under a Coalition of Corruption which grabbed power from a caring and service delivery-orientated DA -led multiparty government. We cannot let this happen to the people of Johannesburg.

Statement issued by Mike Moriarty - DA Gauteng Provincial Chairperson, 28 November 2019