Words Are Not Enough

Despite acknowledging Johannesburg’s worsening service crisis, the Mayor’s 2025 State of the City Address address lacked credible plans, timelines, or consequences, leaving residents with more promises and no delivery.

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) and the Johannesburg Community Action Network (JoburgCAN) have reviewed Executive Mayor Dada Morero’s 2025 State of the City Address (SOCA) with deep concern. While the Mayor acknowledged Johannesburg’s growing service delivery crisis, his address offered little more than familiar rhetoric, lacking urgency, accountability, and actionable solutions to reversing Johannesburg’s decline.

“We’ve heard these promises before”, says OUTA Executive Julius Kleynhans. “Meanwhile, the lived reality for residents and businesses in the City continues to deteriorate –  water outages, unreliable electricity supply, uncollected waste, crumbling roads, and traffic chaos. This is systemic failure, not just a service glitch.”

Although the Mayor conceded to widespread failures in core services, OUTA notes the absence of detailed plans, clear timelines, budget allocations, and performance targets to reverse the decline.
“Residents are fed up. Projects stall halfway, billing systems remain broken, and administrative bloat delivers very little. The failure to fix the basics signals a city in paralysis,” Kleynhans adds.

The SOCA also sidestepped the root causes of Johannesburg’s collapse: unstable coalitions, executive turnover, and cadre deployment that favours loyalty over competence. OUTA stresses that the City cannot recover without confronting these structural governance issues.

OUTA calls for:

• A professionalised public service, with appointments based on merit and measurable performance outcomes.
• Independent oversight mechanisms, with regular public reporting on delivery progress.
• Ringfencing of service revenues, ensuring money meant for water, electricity, waste removal, and roads is spent accordingly.
• Transparency in procurement, including public disclosure of tenders and contracts, and real action against corruption.

JoburgCAN Regional Manager Julia Fish says Johannesburg’s residents and businesses are beyond frustrated—and rightly so.

“We don’t need more words. We need action,” says Fish. “Water outages are daily disruptions. Illegal dumping sites are multiplying. Roads are dangerous. Traffic lights don’t work. People are tired of watching their city deteriorate.”

While acknowledging the city’s failings, Fish adds that Mayor Morero’s speech lacked credible timelines and accountability measures.

She said the absence of clear implementation strategies raises concerns about the administration’s capacity to effect meaningful change. “Appealing to residents not to litter or dump illegally is pointless without consistent and visible bylaw enforcement. That’s where the breakdown lies.”

JoburgCAN calls for:

• Transparent and timely public updates on projects, including failures and delays.
• Deep community engagement to ensure solutions reflect the city’s diverse needs.
• Independent evaluation bodies, to assess the impact and efficiency of city programmes.
• Civic oversight in council, with meaningful accountability.

Fish warns that the current Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and draft budget miss critical opportunities for recovery.

“The IDP ignores key turnaround strategies for Joburg Water and City Power. JRA lacks funding to fix our roads. Cuts made in the adjusted budget haven’t been reversed. It’s business as usual while the city burns.”

She notes that although the Mayor emailed President Ramaphosa during his speech, this bypassed formal mechanisms like the Presidential Johannesburg Working Groups, where civil society and business have already been mobilised.

“Johannesburg deserves a city that works. Residents and businesses must make their voices heard before the 12 May deadline for public input on the Budget and IDP,” says Fish. “The time for lip service is over. The only acceptable response now is action.”