HERMAN MASHABA | Johannesburg needs delivery, not bureaucracy

Johannesburg does not suffer from a lack of plans, policies, strategies or structures. It suffers from a lack of delivery.

For too long, residents have been forced to endure collapsing infrastructure, unreliable water and electricity supply, deteriorating roads, sewage spills, increasing lawlessness and declining service delivery.

Yet despite this decline, the City of Johannesburg has become increasingly burdened by layers of bureaucracy that consume resources while delivering little value to residents.

This is why ActionSA has committed itself to conducting a comprehensive institutional review of the City of Johannesburg.

The purpose of this review is simple: determine whether the current municipal structure serves residents or merely serves itself. One of the most important questions we will ask is whether Johannesburg’s municipal entities continue to justify their existence.

Over the years, entities such as City Power, Johannesburg Water, Pikitup and others were created with the intention of improving efficiency and service delivery. However, experience has shown that these entities often create additional layers of administration, duplicate management structures, weaken accountability and cost money.

Residents do not care which entity is responsible for fixing a burst pipe or restoring electricity. They simply want services delivered efficiently and professionally.

Instead of streamlining service delivery, many entities have become expensive bureaucratic structures with boards, executives and administrative costs that place a financial burden on ratepayers.

In many instances, the city effectively pays twice for management structures. On the one hand, residents fund the city’s administration. On the other, they fund the executive teams and boards of multiple municipal entities.

The result is a fragmented system where accountability becomes difficult to enforce, and responsibility is constantly shifted between departments and entities. ActionSA believes Johannesburg must return to a simpler and more accountable governance model.

The Municipal Systems Act already provides for Section 56 managers who report directly to the city manager. These senior managers are fully capable of overseeing critical service delivery functions without the need for additional boards and layers of governance.

By bringing services back under direct municipal management, accountability becomes clearer. Residents know who is responsible. The city manager knows who is accountable. The executive mayor can exercise proper oversight. Most importantly, service delivery can become more responsive and less bureaucratic.

The dangers of the current system became painfully clear during my tenure as executive mayor. One of the most troubling examples involved the Eldorado Park Substation project.

Approximately R66m had been paid towards the project dating back to 2015. However, when inspections were conducted, very little work had been completed despite the significant expenditure of public funds.

This prompted a forensic investigation. The findings revealed serious irregularities and blatant corruption. Senior officials were implicated, disciplinary processes were initiated and officials were ultimately dismissed. Yet what followed exposed a deeper governance problem.

After the evidence was presented to the relevant leadership structures, the matter was escalated to the board responsible for oversight. Despite the seriousness of the findings, the board ultimately concluded that there had been no wrongdoing.

This created a situation where clear evidence of failures and misconduct was effectively neutralised by a governance structure that should have been protecting the interests of residents. It was a deeply frustrating experience and highlighted one of the biggest weaknesses of the entity model.

When boards become disconnected from residents and insulated from accountability, they can undermine efforts to root out corruption and enforce consequences. The reality is that Johannesburg cannot afford governance structures that protect systems rather than residents.

ActionSA’s approach is therefore straightforward. We will conduct a full institutional review within 18 months. We will evaluate every municipal entity against one standard: does it improve service delivery and provide value for money?

Where entities are found to be unnecessary, duplicative or financially burdensome, we will move to collapse them and integrate their functions directly into the city administration. The objective is not to change for the sake of change. The objective is to build a city government that is leaner, more accountable and more effective.

This approach aligns directly with Operation Fix Joburg, our recovery plan to restore Johannesburg’s infrastructure, eliminate corruption, restore law and order, revive economic growth and deliver dignity to every resident. Johannesburg’s crisis is not the result of a lack of resources.

It is the result of poor governance, weak accountability and a culture that prioritises structures over service delivery.

We cannot continue funding unnecessary bureaucracy while residents go without water, electricity and functioning infrastructure. Every rand spent on administration is a rand that cannot be spent fixing roads, replacing pipes, repairing substations or improving public safety.

Johannesburg does not need more structures. Johannesburg needs results.

• Mashaba is president of ActionSA