Half of the residents living in Johannesburg are unhappy about services in the city, the 2021 Quality of Life Survey (QoL) conducted during the second half of the 2021 financial year has revealed.
Residents were unsatisfied with the level of service delivery, lack of employment opportunities and there were perceptions of corruption.
The survey is a partnership between Johannesburg and the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO).
According to the report, the GCRO interviewed 3,545 people.
The report was contained in the council agenda discussed during a two-day meeting where Joburg councillors noted the draft midterm budget for 2022/2023 which will undergo public participation before it is brought back to chambers in May.
The report read: “It should also be noted that out of all municipalities in Gauteng, Johannesburg has the second-best dissatisfaction levels [with] 52% of residents report being dissatisfied and has maintained this position since the last QoL survey.
“The survey demonstrated an overall decline in satisfaction with service delivery which is attributed to an uncertain political environment through changing administrations. Most notably, the recent 2021 local government elections, which saw a change in the Joburg government.
“Changing administrations influence the performance of the city’s administrative bodies to deliver core services. To this effect the QoL 6 report indicated an 11% decline in levels of satisfaction with local government (27%) from 38% in 2017/18. The decline was also substantial when compared to 2015/16 levels.”
According to the report, other notable reasons for high levels of dissatisfaction was the lack of employment creation as well as perceptions of corruption.
“Satisfaction with the costs of municipal services was at 32%and clarity of billing received a meagre 29%. These decreased by 12% and 14% respectively since 2017/18.”
The City of Johannesburg’s overall mean quality of life index scored is 62 out of 100.
“This is a decline of three points from the score of 65 in QoL 2017/18 and are turn to 2013/14 levels; indicating a reversal in the gradual upward trend in development over time which the QoL Index score represents.”
Johannesburg Property Owners and Managers Association (JPOMA) general manager Angela Rivers, who is planning to launch a R21m court application against the city for its billing system, said 50% satisfaction was “generous”.
“The survey is pretty accurate. There's a lot of corruption. The billing system is a mess and it seems like the city is trying to get more money from residents by doing less,” Rivers said.
Over the weekend, JPOMA said it would head to court against the city and its contracted refuse collector, Pikitup.
Rivers said the punitive amount was arrived at by a recalculation of refuse backdated from 2018 on 93 different accounts, which they believed to be invalid and unlawful in terms of municipal bylaws.
She said the back-billed charges continued to grow month-on-month as people came forward.
Rivers accused the city of using strong-arm tactics to force owners into signing admissions of debt or face disconnection of other services unrelated to refuse collection.
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.