A Soweto property owner has lambasted City of Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero's accelerated service delivery programme as a PR stunt that is not aimed at addressing residents' service delivery challenges.
On Tuesday Morero led a high-impact service delivery programme in Soweto's Region D. The operation was aimed at addressing service delivery issues through collaboration among various city entities, including Johannesburg Water, Johannesburg Roads Agency, Pikitup and Joburg City Parks and Zoo.
They are here just to clean this area and not resolve the problems we are faced with, which might result in this building collapsing
— Vusi Nkhosi, property owner
The programme focuses on fixing potholes, clearing sewer blockages, clearing illegal dumping sites and progress related to Jabulani Reservoir.
But frustrated property owner Vusi Nkhosi, 48, labelled the programme a waste of time. He owns a three-storey building in Jabulani, which is home to a health-care facility where a paediatrician, an optometrist and other medical practitioners operate.
“They are here just to clean this area and not resolve the problems we are faced with, which might result in this building collapsing,” said Nkhosi.
The smell of human waste fills the air and there is a visible sewage leakage on the floor in the building. Behind the building is a dumping site, which, according to Nkhosi, has caused many problems. There is a pipe blockage which has led to sewage spilling around the medical facility.
Nkhosi said the centre has been operating since 2019, and expressed disappointment that City of Johannesburg officials passed his building without checking the premises, even after he had voiced his concerns during a walkabout on Tuesday.
Municipal officials from different City of Joburg entities rolled up their sleeves and were seen cleaning the streets while others were filling potholes which have mushroomed in the busy street that runs through Jabulani Mall and Bheki Mlangeni Hospital. Overgrown trees and grass were also cut.
However, all of that meant very little for the frustrated owner, who said he has had to move the entrance to the building because it was inaccessible due to the running sewage.
He told TimesLIVE he has been trying to get the city to fix the problem for over a year, but his attempts, which include numerous e-mails, have yielded no results.
“I have sent a number of e-mails to no avail. I also sent through pictures to show the damage this problem is causing, but still nothing is done, I don't think they take it seriously.
“As you can see, I told them about this again, and they didn't bother to come and check, they just walked by and told me they will come tomorrow. Their focus is just on the PR they are trying to push and to look as if they are doing something.”
The City of Johannesburg closed down Jabulani Cash and Carry near the three-storey building due to the unavailability of a certificate of compliance.
Morero said the municipality was hard at work to resolve these problems.
“We are willing to upgrade services, there is a lot of work we are doing as a city and we continue to face challenges, we have an infrastructure problem.
“We need to raise capital so we can tackle these issues, especially when it comes to water and sewage that means we need to replace the whole drainage system so this problem does not occur again in Soweto,” Morero said.
TimesLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.