A group of civil society bodies has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene in the continuing governance crisis in the City of Johannesburg.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), Action for Accountability, Defend Our Democracy, and the Johannesburg Inner City Partnership have jointly written an open letter to the President regarding the deteriorating state of the biggest city in South Africa.
According to BusinessLive, the letter said: ‘The City of Johannesburg is in a deep crisis from which it appears unable [to] and incapable of extricating itself. With each passing day, residents, workers and businesses are confronted with potholed streets, leaking water pipes, overflowing sewers, malfunctioning traffic lights and lawlessness. Tragically, the city is not safe. Lives are lost in fires and gas explosions tear apart streets. The city has seen a gradual state of decline for some time now. The city is facing massive disinvestment by business, which is aggravating the wicked challenges of unemployment, poverty and homelessness.’
The group said the instability in the city was due to erratic coalitions which have governed, in various iterations, since 2016. It also noted that the city’s financial position was weakening rapidly, which had a wide range of knock-on consequences.
The group said that President Ramaphosa could place the city under administration or dissolve the Council, and force fresh elections.