Unemployment has risen by 180 000 in JHB since Tau took office

6 July 2016

Today, the ANC Mayoral Candidate and incumbent, Parks Tau presented his end of term report at the Wanderers Stadium. 

The report, which was meant to be a record of substantial achievements in his term of office, was void of a clear purpose and a vision to take Johannesburg forward.

I have come to realise that Tau is all about style over substance and he is in complete denial of the jobs blood-bath occurring in Johannesburg.

Almost one in three Johannesburg residents do not have jobs. Unemployment stands at 869 000 people, or a rate of 31.1%.

In contrast, there was an unemployment rate of 27.8% with 689 000 unemployed people when Tau came into office in 2011. 

Over a period of five years, Tau has overseen the unemployment rate rise by over 3% and the number of unemployed people increase by 180 000.

Daily, 756 people join the ranks of the unemployed in Johannesburg.

The growing unemployment in our city is a scar on Mayor Parks Tau’s record and conscience. It reflects the true end-of-term report for the incumbent mayor.

While Mr Tau impresses himself and his connected inner circle with repeated catch-phrases such as "Johannesburg’s new economic democracy" – the residents of Johannesburg are desperately seeking opportunities to improve the lives of their families.

Tau misleadingly touts the City’s ratings, while his administration and governance have fallen apart.

His end-of-term report reveals a Mayor who has selective amnesia of the plight faced by millions of Joburg residents and who blatantly ignores disastrous findings over his term in office.

The Auditor General has found that his administration has presided over R5.3 billion in unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure. 

Notably, the Auditor-General stated that the City had failed in its legal obligation to investigate whether any of this money could be reclaimed. One has to ask, who is Tau trying to protect?

There is a R68 billion electricity infrastructure backlog and over 300 power outages each month.

One fifth of Johannesburg’s electricity was lost in the last financial year, amounting to R2.3 billion in lost revenue. 

Over R1 billion worth of water revenue was also lost, R850 million of which was lost as a result of leaks due to poor maintenance.

R8 billion of debt was written off by the City over the past year as a result of a billing and collection crisis.

This all amounts to billions and billions of rands worth of lost opportunities to create jobs and deliver quality services to the people of Johannesburg.

Not only did he fail to explain what went wrong in the last term, he failed to pledge to fix this immediately if he were re-elected.

The Mayor’s lack of empathy for the jobless and indigent people of Johannesburg is underlined by how he spends millions on advertisements and billboards to promote himself under the guise of the City of Johannesburg. 

In fact, Tau spent over R1 million advertising his end-of-term report in newspapers over the past week. 

Tau’s wasteful expenditure on excessive advertising over the past few months amounts to blatant ANC electioneering using tax payer’s money. I have requested the Public Protector to urgently investigate this abuse of resources.

The DA is offering a practical vision to create tens of thousands of jobs, eliminate corruption, increase spending on priority public infrastructure, fix the Pikitup and City Power utilities, and, especially, to make sure that quality services reaches every resident in Johannesburg.

The people of Johannesburg have an important decision to make on 3 August. 

They must choose between five more years of soaring unemployment and the abuse of tax payers’ money or be active participants and recipients in a new vision under a DA government.

Working together, we can bring about the change this city needs.

Working together, we can make Johannesburg a city of golden opportunities.

Issued by Nkele Molapo, Media Officer, 6 July 2016