The mayor of Johannesburg‚ Herman Mashaba‚ has warned that the metro police and other security forces will not be allowed to harass motorists about e-tolls in the country’s economic hub.
Mashaba made the announcement during his inaugural council speech in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
Masha said, “In our city there will be no co-operation between JMPD and Sanral on e-tolls and I have received a commitment from the JMPD that there will be no harassment of our motorists about outstanding e-toll payments.”
The Mayor has promised motorists they can stop looking over their shoulders over e-toll payments.
Mashaba is also focusing on cleaning up the city’s finances, vowing to crack down on city officials who cost the city R5bn in fruitless and irregular expenditure in the last financial year.
“We will conduct a forensic audit, targeting expenditure and tenders that have raised suspicion. Hear me and hear me well, there will be no slaps on the wrists, there will be no quiet departures or golden handshakes. Those found guilty of corruption and fraud will go directly to jail,” he said.
Mashaba announced serious changes in the city which included ensuring that the Johannesburg Metro Police Department did its work and did not take bribes.
He said new mobile stations would be deployed in various parts of the city to ensure a quick response and access to communities.
The Mayor also said the city will not be spending money on lavish parties and self-promotion, and Johannesburg’s political leadership should be ashamed that it had spent more than R156m on marketing and advertising.
Other changes to be implemented by Mashaba’s administration include:
- A review of the boards of city entities to ensure maximum performance and clean governance.
- A skills audit to ensure employees have the skills needed for their jobs. “The days of cadre deployment are over‚” Mashaba said.
- Longer working hours for Pikitup to make sure the city centre is clean.
- Shift changes for the Johannesburg metro police department to ensure by-laws are enforced.
- Cutting the response time for burst pipes and leakages to two hours after they are reported.
- Dropping the bicycle lanes programme to focus resources on other pressing needs. “When every road is tarred in the city‚ then we can look at bicycle lanes again‚” Mashaba said
- Unused mines in Langlaagte being converted into a tourist attraction;
- Extending the working hours of local clinics and resourcing them;
- Improving the response by emergency services;
- Hosting a ‘billing Indaba’ to deal with revenue collection and billing problems;
- Assigning the finance MMC to compile a report on how the city can use in-sourcing instead of outsourcing services to prevent exploitation of workers; and
- Meeting with the business community to pave a new era to revive the city centre and its surroundings.
Read Mashaba’s full speech here
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