GOOD Speech delivered during the 47th Extra-Ordinary Council Meeting of the City of Johannesburg by Matthew Cook, GOOD National Chairperson and PR Councillor in the City of Johannesburg:
Speaker, The Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan is not simply an administrative document. It is the contract between this City and the residents we serve. It translates our plans, our promises and our budget into measurable commitments and that is precisely why the mid-year review before us today deserves careful scrutiny, because what this report effectively does is revise many of those commitments halfway through the year.
Speaker, there are over 160 proposed changes to performance indicators and targets across departments and municipal entities. That is an extraordinary number of revisions which raises an important question:
Were the targets unrealistic to begin with, or is the City struggling to deliver on what it promised residents?
Speaker, one of the most concerning changes relates to repairs and maintenance spending. The City originally set a target of spending 8% of the value of its infrastructure assets on maintenance. That target has now been reduced to 7.1%. Yet even that revised target is far above the City’s actual performance at mid-year, which stands at just 2.2%. In a city facing collapsing infrastructure, water leaks, potholes and electricity network failures, reducing the maintenance ambition sends the wrong message.
Speaker, we also see troubling signals in housing and electrification programmes. Targets for housing connections are being revised because of contractor payment challenges. In other words, projects are being delayed because contractors are not being paid. Furthermore, the report admits that some electrification projects cannot proceed because the business plan did not allocate the required funding in the first place.
Speaker, there are also worrying changes in performance monitoring itself, for example, the KPI measuring daily passenger ridership on the Rea Vaya BRT system has been removed from the institutional SDBIP. Residents deserve to know why that performance measure is being removed rather than reported on.
Similarly, indicators relating to corruption reduction are also being replaced. At a time when residents demand greater accountability, removing governance indicators sends the wrong signal.
Speaker, Johannesburg residents are experiencing real service delivery challenges every day, they expect this Council not only to approve plans, but to hold the administration accountable for delivering on them.
GOOD understands that adjusting targets may sometimes be necessary but when we see this scale of revisions across the City’s performance framework, it raises deeper concerns about planning, implementation and institutional capacity.
Speaker, the purpose of performance management is not to make targets easier to achieve, it is to ensure that the City improves its delivery to residents. Johannesburg deserves a municipality that sets ambitious targets AND delivers on them.
GOOD Manifesto on Disaster Management: Supporting effective disaster management strategies.
Metal Aphrodite
Boerewors — spicy South African sausage [boor-uh-vors] Meaning ‘farmer’s sausage’, this term describes a savory sausage that was developed by the Afrikaners approximately 200 years ago. Boerewors is usually ‘braaied’ and eaten on a hot dog roll with tomato sauce and mustard. Make sure you roll the ‘r’ when pronouncing this word.
Codeexia
Fun South African Fact: The national animal of South Africa is the Springbok, the only southern African gazelle.