JOHANNESBURG – The Gauteng government is moving to strengthen coordination across all spheres of government in a bid to improve service delivery and restore public confidence in municipalities ahead of the upcoming local government elections.
Cooperative Governance MEC Jacob Mamabolo has provided an update on the province’s Turnaround Strategy and Smart City programme, which aims to address challenges in Gauteng’s eleven municipalities.
“The reason why we have set up a province-wide turnaround strategy, why we are implementing that and why we are working together in an integrated way,” Mamabolo said. “No single sphere of government working alone, no person working in a corner there inside us will be able to solve the problems that we have.”
Mamabolo expressed confidence in the collaborative approach, adding: “We are supporting each other, we’re handholding each other because when we talk past each other, when we seem to be working in silos, the problems persist. We can’t solve a problem unless we’re working together.”
Officials report that coordinated infrastructure interventions are already stabilizing water supply and reducing service delivery pressures.
“The water supply has stabilized throughout the province including critical areas in Joburg, which is good news,” Mamabolo said. “Municipalities continue to make inroads in fighting illegal connections which has been an accuracy in all municipalities.”
He highlighted ongoing efforts including repairing leak reservoirs, valves, meters, daily restoration of pipes, and leaks in metros, leading to significant savings on water losses from the repairs.
However, aging infrastructure, climate risks, and sinkholes remain major concerns.
Mamabolo noted that a roundtable discussion was held in Mogale City dealing with sinkhole issues, where a report was received indicating more than 5,000 sinkholes in the province. “Working with our partners, which is CSIR, we are actually dealing with issues of classification and declaration of those sinkholes so that we can get assistance from the national government,” he said.
Revitalizing rundown central business districts forms part of Gauteng’s broader smart city vision, aimed at restoring economic activity and confidence in municipalities.
“The province has developed a CBD revitalization strategy and that is also followed by implementation plans, and these implementation plans were developed and agreed to with municipalities,” Mamabolo explained.
He said each of the 10 pilot CBDs identified for revitalization is required to table implementation plans through their councils and eventually identify kickstart projects. Six out of ten have already been approved in Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, and Midvaal municipalities.
Municipalities will increasingly be judged on whether these turnaround plans result in visible improvements for residents ahead of the looming polls.