New Johannesburg mayor Geoff Makhubo said at his first media briefing that his administration ‘must go back to basics such as fixing roads, grass cutting, repairing potholes, traffic lights and general maintenance’.
He added: ‘Hostels and informal settlements require serious attention. To achieve all these things, partnerships are critical.
‘The inner cities of Randburg, Roodepoort, Midrand, Lenasia and Johannesburg require serious attention. The City must urgently arrest the uncontrolled land invasions that have mushroomed especially in the north and south of Johannesburg.’
With a little more than a year to the next local government elections, Makhubo said his administration would have to ‘hit the ground running’.
‘Service delivery has almost ground to a halt and the finances of the City are not in a good state. Unfortunately, time is not on our side. Eighteen months is not a long time. So, we must get down to work immediately. The people of Johannesburg deserve services.’
The African National Congress’s Makhubo, elected mayor on Wednesday, has included other parties in his mayor team. They are the Patriotic Front, the African Independent Congress, Cope and the Inkatha Freedom Party.
[Picture: By Michael Denne, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8467507]