Johannesburg – Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba on Thursday announced that for the first time the City’s housing list has been completed, which has the details of 79 000 people and dates back to 1996.
While addressing stakeholders and residents in Fordsburg on his achievements in the first 100 days in office, the mayor said he fast tracking the allocation of houses and the issuing of title deeds.
“Around 2 000 title deeds have been handed to residence since the admission of the coalition government,” said Mashaba, a Democratic Alliance (DA) member who was elected mayor in August. He took over from the African National Congress’ (ANC) Parks Tau.
Mashaba said that as part of a “10 point plan” his administration will identify and complete houses that have not been properly finished. He also said the housing list will be transparent.
Taking a swipe at his predecessors, Mashaba said the ANC government had spent R153 million in two years on self-promoting advertising and R193 million in three years on travel. “The previous administration was out of touch with its people. It tried to run when it never walked.”
Mashaba added: “I’m disadvantage to have inherited the budget by the previous administration that was handed two months before the elections. We can’t make amendments ’till February 2017. Unfortunately people want change now”.
He said the unemployment rate during the previous administration was above 30%, which he said would “take centuries to reverse”.
Mashaba said since taking office his administration has been inundated with reports of corruption and nepotism in various departments of the City.
However, the ANC has complained that it’s members were being “purged” from their jobs in the City and that projects it initiated were being terminated.
Mashaba, who has in the past promised to stop “vanity projects”, said it was necessary for his administration to work with the private sector in order to tackle the City’s multiple problems.
“With only R10 billion set aside annually for capital expenditure, and a R170 billion funding gap for capital infrastructure over the next 10 years, we need to work with the private sector,” Mashaba said.
African News Agency