Note to Editors: Please find an English soundbite by Cllr Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku here
Please find pictures from the oversight here, here, here and here
After a DA oversight visit today to assess the progress at Lilian Ngoyi Street (formerly Bree Street) where an underground explosion there 16 months ago destroyed the road, the DA can report that progress so far is absolutely zero. No work on repairing this vital corridor is being done or has been done for quite some time.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) believes that this is an absolute disgrace, and a shocking failure by the City of Johannesburg’s ANC-ActionSA-EFF-PA Coalition.
We have already written to the Special Investigations Unit to investigate the contractor whose contract was terminated, but we will now also write to National Treasury regarding the very possible violations of the Municipal Finance Management Act that took place when the contract was awarded.
More worryingly though, is the fact that the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) pleads poverty when faced with questions around this failure, but they have money to fight for their bloated VIP protection costs in court. The City has completely lost its way on what really matters, and what its real purpose is. It is not an employment and perks agency for its governing elite.
While the city wants us to believe that money has been spent on residents, its clear that services, maintenance, repairs and upgrades have essentially stalled around the City.
Lillian Ngoyi Street, as an example, looks like a warzone.
With very little happening on site, we struggle to see how the city will be able to repair the street by June 2026 as they have reported. We noticed JRA officials on site, but no construction activity is taking place, with the massive hole still laying bare, and proudly turning it into the Johannesburg CBD’s very own fresh water attraction. It is flooded, with pooled water, which is its own health risk waiting to happen.
Members of Gauteng Provincial Legislature will be taking this issue up urgently with the Gauteng MEC of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, because clearly the CoJ has failed on this project.