Nie Cele
Joburg number one citizen and Executive Mayor, Kabelo Gwamanda believes that financial stability of the municipality is steadly shaping up.
Gwamanda made this pronouncement during his State of the City address last week.
“Above all, I take great pride in revealing that our city and all its entities have achieved an unqualified audit opinion. This underscores our unwavering commitment to transparency and prudent financial stewardship. It is a powerful affirmation of the effectiveness of our internal systems and the robustness of our control mechanisms given the permacrisis we inherited from the Multi-Party government.
“Although we face budget constraints and resource limitations, our dedication to delivering quality services remains unwavering. We have placed the needs of our residents at the forefront of our efforts by tirelessly working towards improving their quality of life and providing equal access to essential services whilst prioritizing cost efficiency. A prominent achievement is that almost all informal settlements (97%) have now received basic services across all service delivery areas.
“It is compulsory for all of us to recognize the importance of our individual contributions to the collective well-being of our City. Every rand paid towards municipal services is an investment in the future of Johannesburg – a future characterized by resilience, prosperity and boundless opportunity.”
Furthermore, Mayor encouraged councillors to be desirable models.
“We cannot criticize and complain about services in the City and also be the first to default on our payments and acknowledgement of debt arrangements. We must pay and be exemplary in our commitment to pay for services.
“The City has adopted an intensive revenue collection and enhancement initiative to assist us recoup revenue outstanding to the City, whilst assisting our ratepayers with queries and disputes. We have also taken a hard-line against the scourge of illegality, where defaulting ratepayers illegally reconnect themselves despite our actions to recover monies owed to the City.
“The City has rebased its budget as a prudent response to a strained revenue base and as a responsible action to ensure we deliver on our commitments whilst maintaining stringent fiscal discipline and governance. We are pleased to assure residents that their City remains financially stable and is committed to delivering on its mandate and promises,” Mayor concluded.
