Mayor Dada Morero has once again shown that his priorities are not Johannesburg residents. R10 billion that should have gone toward crucial water and roads projects has been diverted to satisfy the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU).
Please see agreement here
This a shocking decision taken while communities queue at water tankers and roads crumble under neglect. This is political expediency at its worst.
Instead of fixing the City’s failing infrastructure, the Mayor chose to protect his political interests by agreeing to a multi-year deal with SAMWU that will see billions in increases for union workers over the next three years. Meanwhile, residents are left to endure leaking pipes, broken reservoirs, and roads in disrepair.
Johannesburg residents deserve water, roads, and functional infrastructure, not a Mayor who prioritises appeasing unions over their needs.
The DA has written to National Treasury, as Morero seems adamant to ignore requests for information, asking for the following:
- A full breakdown of where the R10 billion has been diverted from, and how the City plans to fund this Politically Facilitated Agreement;
- A full investigation into the legality of these decisions;
- A full assessment of the financial risks this opens the City up to; and crucially
- A full investigation into which projects will stall and what serviced will be impacted, because of this agreement.
The details of how this decision will affect service delivery projects across the City is crucial, and the Mayor has been given a chance to answer – now National Treasury must intervene. While the Mayor may attempt to appease SAMWU, it will be much more difficult to appease the residents of Johannesburg as their services stall.
The Mayor has on multiple occasions, even when accounting to Parliament, been unable to answer whether or not the City has redirected R4 billion from Joburg Water, now, this financial blackhole only seems to widen.
How long must our City bleed?
The DA will not rest until Johannesburg’s failing executive is held to account. The G20 is no reason for the Mayor to dig the City into a R10 billion hole, just to keep a union happy.