‘Take the residents of Johannesburg seriously!’ warn protesters
Residents of Joburg are fed up with the decay of their communities and the unresponsiveness of their municipalities.
On Saturday, July 27, a melting pot of residents across Johannesburg gathered outside Johannesburg Metropolitan Centre calling for the resignation of Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda.
United under the umbrella movement, ‘Joburg Crisis Alliance’, foundations like the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation and the Organization Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), came together to air their grievances with the city and local municipalities. .
Specifically, residents are frustrated with the poor infrastructure and lack of service delivery experienced in their areas, citing experiences of consistent water shortages, power outages and increased levels of crime.
“We don’t have streetlights; we don’t have robots in our street. People are being mugged and robbed, and children have been kidnapped. When we call the police, they don’t come with immediate effect, they come after two, three hours!” claims Riselle Davids, a resident of Ennerdale.
Citizens are further calling for the scrapping of the recent R230 tariff that has been implemented for prepaid electricity users. The tariff was implemented at the beginning of July as a service-and-capacity charge and is effective on all prepaid electricity users regardless of how much electricity they use.
“Some of our elderly people cannot afford the water and electricity bill [as is], it’s so much. The new prepaid meter [tariffs], we don’t want it!” said Davids.
Citizens were protesting poor service delivery under the moniker the Joburg Crisis Alliance. Photo: Kabir Jugram
With these issues in mind, the Joburg Crisis Alliance is demanding for mayor Gwamanda and his council to resign due to their unresponsiveness to citizens’ concerns regarding the decline in their living conditions. Beyond that, they implore ward councillors to start engaging with their communities.
“What we absolutely need is a plan of action, an urgent turnaround plan, around water, electricity, housing and safety in this city. If they [mayoral committee] cannot step up to that challenge, they must go. The mayor must step down with his entire mayoral committee, and that council must provide for us leadership that is accountable to them and the residents” says Tessa Dooms, a member of the Joburg Crisis Alliance and co-ordinator of Saturday’s protest.
Speaker of the City of Johannesburg, Margaret Arnolds was present to receive the memorandum, being welcomed by constant jeers. ‘Where’s the mayor?’ mocked numerous protestors in the crowd.
“I am here today to receive the memorandum and say that I will come back within 14-30 days or speak to the authors of the memorandum as to their demands” says Arnolds to a disgruntled audience.
The alliance shall wait for response from the mayor’s office and determine their course of action from there.
FEATURED IMAGE: Residents of Joburg unit to protest a lack of service delivery. Photo: Kabir Jugram
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