Setting the record straight for JRA and the Coalition 

24 April 2018

Following the airing of Carte Blanche on Sunday evening, a number of matters need to be set straight.

The piece on JRA and our road network conflates the issues of the conditions of our roads, the departure of senior officials and alleged impropriety on the part of the JRA.

To set the record straight, the following should be noted:

1.  The condition of the roads in Johannesburg is the product of a R12 billion backlog in our road infrastructure, and a R56 billion backlog in our storm water drainage systems. In a survey conducted in 2017, 3900km of our road network fell into the poor or very poor condition.

These are enormous inherited backlogs arising from years of neglect that have seen our roads deteriorating over the past decade. What the multi-party government has inherited by way of this and other backlogs is truly staggering and will take years to correct. To hold the new administration responsible for such deterioration in 20 months, and ignore the decades of mismanagement is absurd. It would have required the entire Capital Budget to be spent just on roads to the total deprivation of housing, electricity and water etc.

Nonetheless, the multi-party government has adopted an approach which will turn this deterioration around and begin producing improvements in our road network for the first time in over a decade.

2. The departure of senior officials from the JRA is not cause for concern in the manner that was portrayed. Our approach has been to work with those who are willing and committed, and there are many such people. Those who elect not to work with us, are free to leave and will be replaced with dedicated, skilled and experienced people who will be able to drive our turnaround.

Last year, I held an engagement with Dr Sean Phillips and the Board Chairperson for the JRA, Mr Sipho Tshabalala, in order to address what I had been made to understand was a breakdown in the working relationship between the two parties.

This followed an initial discussion with Dr Phillips, who raised the matter with myself.

At this meeting, Dr Phillips expressed his discomfort with his perception of events at the JRA, particularly, the Board’s increased interest in operational matters at the JRA.

It is important to state that at no point was there any prima facie evidence that any corrupt activity had taken place.

Irrespective of this, I invited Dr Phillips, to provide any such evidence of wrong-doing, which would then be immediately acted upon – this I did on several occasions.

During my engagement with the parties, the Board Chairperson explained that the Board was of the view that they had an oversight role to play in the governance of the JRA, including how it operated its supply chain processes, and that the Board could not find itself in a position where it was accountable for the entity’s decisions yet was unaware of major operational decisions taken by the entity.

This was their reason for their greater oversight in the organisation.

The Board Chairperson then apologized to Dr Phillips for any action which may have been perceived as overstepping the Board’s role and committed himself to working towards building a better working relationship with Mr Phillips.

This I understood to be a reasonable approach to the matter. Unfortunately, following this engagement, the Dr Phillips elected to resign from his position without providing any evidence of alleged wrong-doing by the Board or any of its representatives.

3. Despite this the lack of any prima facie evidence being presented our Group Forensics and Investigations Unit initiated an investigation towards the end of 2017. This investigation is nearing completion.

The matter of the up-front payments to the construction company are included in this investigation, and we have agreed this appears to be highly irregular. The provision for such up-front payments is a legacy of the previous government, who in our assessment, made provision for this in the City Entities to circumvent the tenants of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA).

This is something that we are working to close, along with other provisions, as the City seeks to take control of City Entities through its institutional review.

In the event that the Forensics Investigation finds any wrong-doing on the part of anyone in JRA, I will be the first to insist that action is taken. Our track record on this speaks for itself, and my engagements with the IFP indicate that they are equally committed to this principle.

The idea that we would be inactive to address alleged wrong-doing because of coalition considerations are baseless. Our multi-party government is committed to combatting corruption and we have received nothing but full support in our efforts to rid our City of its culture of looting.

With the investigation nearing completion, we must be judged on how we address any findings that may arise from the forensic report. Acting before this would simply be premature and irresponsible.

It is important that the record is set straight following the airing of Carte Blanche on Sunday. Scrutiny from the media is a critical element of our democracy and I embrace it. This is why I availed myself at my first opportunity, to meet with the investigators of Carte Blanche. As we always do, we engaged openly, transparently and accountably. This is why I challenged Carte Blanche to publish the full interview so that people could judge for themselves our full responses against what was aired.

All that we ask is that we are afforded the fairness required for the complete picture to be painted for all to see while we tackle the complex task of turning around the City of Johannesburg with its many challenges and legacies.

Issued by Omogolo Taunyane, Media Specialist: Mayoral Communications, Mayor of Johannesburg, 24 April 2018