The race to save Johannesburg: Who has the best plan to rescue the city?

The hands jostling for control of the levers of power are in a race against time to polish South Africa’s economic crown jewel.  

Government has set itself a November deadline to whip the city into presentable shape as Johannesburg hosts the G20 summit next summer.

The intervening nine months could also double as the first leg of the campaign tour before next year’s local government elections.

Presidential working group

Incumbent mayor Dada Morero and his various departments have already been hard at work cleaning the city, layer by dirt-covered layer.

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To emphasise the urgency of the task, President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the Johannesburg council chamber in early March and announced the formation of a presidential working group committee.

“This would bring in all levels of government and the expertise of our stakeholders to accelerate service delivery, stabilise the city’s finances and operations, and enable economic growth and job creation,” stated Ramaphosa in council.

From the opposition benches, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has questioned the effectiveness of the task team to secure tangible results, believing factionalism, a cadre deployment network, and political interests at local and provincial level are stumbling block

“President Cyril Ramaphosa, a ratepayer of Johannesburg, seems to have discovered what other residents have witnessed for some time. Such was his level of shock that he pronounced a need for intervention,” stated the DA.

Dissolve municipal boards

The party has since released a 17-page document detailing its plan to improve matters, most importantly outlining the legal platform from which its plan can be launched.

The DA’s plan requires the assistance of national government and sections 100 and 139 of the Constitution — something Ramaphosa has initiated with the presidential working group.

The DA note how each aspect of mismanagement is interlinked through failures at two or more of Johannesburg’s 14 compartmentalised management structures.

As well the review of these entities’ business practices and operational functions, the DA suggests dissolving and re-establishing the the boards of the entities with an updated set of goals.

“The city’s management has failed profoundly. The task team’s end goal should be to replace the dysfunctional management team currently in place with a new team.

“It makes no sense for any persons involved in the city’s collapse to be allowed to simply return to their roles once the fix is in place,” states the DA’s plan.

Are entities efficient?

The party stopped short of calling for the entities to be dissolved entirely and absorbed under one municipal umbrella, as is the case in Cape Town, Tshwane, eThekwini and elsewhere.

Instead, they say reviewing the core functions of each entity and laying the groundwork for public-private partnerships would be preferable.

“Bringing everything in-house is not easy; in certain instances, a business case would determine that it is not wise. But what is easy is dissolving the boards, and this should be done immediately,” stated the DA.

Civil society groups are also touted to be part of the working group and Outa’s Wayne Duvenage agreed with dissolving the boards and dissolving the entities.

“When they were formed, the intention was to have expertise on the boards providing good oversight, but this hasn’t happened, and they have now been removed from executive power,” Duvenage told The Citizen.

“Bringing all the entities under one body would cut out the additional layers and costs that have become unnecessary,” Duvenage added.

New players incoming

Local government elections in 2026 will provide the opportunity for another reset, and new players who have already secured seats in the National Assembly will have their sights set on the City of Gold.

Rise Mzansi and Build One South Africa (Bosa) will enter the 2026 race and have ideas on how to propel Johannesburg forward.

“As a starting point, Rise Mzansi advocates for placing dysfunctional municipalities in major economic nodes under administration until they meet basic Auditor-General standards and are on a sustainable path to recovery,” Rise Mzansi spokesperson Mabine Seabe told The Citizen.

“Every household and business has an address in a municipality, indicating the importance of the local sphere of government for people’s daily lives and the economic prosperity of the country and its people,” he added.

Municipal professionalisation

Bosa said they had begun their own government streamlining exercises by probing ministers about the entities, agencies and institutions covered by each ministry, including salaries and staff compliments.

“Bosa believes that every government-linked agency and board should be professionalised and depoliticised. That is how you get the best people for the job in the seat,” Bosas Ayanda Allie told The Citizen.

The DA fears Ramaphosa could stack his presidential working group with figures sympathetic to the incumbents.

They maintain that parties in the government of national unity (GNU) should be allowed to play a role, establishing the combined rescue force they envision.

“The task team becomes the de facto city management where parties bind themselves to an agreement that triggers various consequences to councillors that fail to comply,” the DA’s plan added.

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