Johannesburg — President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed dissatisfaction with the state of Johannesburg during his visit to Gauteng, emphasising the need for urgent intervention to address the province’s challenges.
Speaking during his address on Thursday, Ramaphosa backed Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s call to tackle key issues outlined in the State of the Province Address (SOPA), stressing the importance of addressing governance failures, financial mismanagement, crumbling infrastructure, crime, and unreliable service delivery.
“There are recurring problems across Gauteng. Some of these include governance failures, financial mismanagement, crumbling infrastructure, crime and lawlessness and unreliable service delivery,” he said,
He underscored Gauteng’s critical role in South Africa’s economic success, highlighting Johannesburg as the financial hub, Tshwane as the administrative centre, and Ekurhuleni as an industrial and manufacturing powerhouse.
“Gauteng’s plans to accelerate and strengthen township economic development, agro-processing and SMME development can accelerate economic growth and create thousands of jobs,” Ramaphosa said.
He emphasised the need to enhance service delivery and ensure sustainable economic growth to improve the lives of all residents in the province.
President @CyrilRamaphosa at the City of Johannesburg Council Chamber for a meeting between the National Executive and the Provincial Executive of Gauteng aimed at enhancing intergovernmental coordination and improving service delivery in line with #7thAdministration priorities. pic.twitter.com/AeXDMAnZrn
Ramaphosa also stated his disappointment over the decayed state of the City of Johannesburg and said there was plenty of room for improvement.
“Sometimes it’s good to be direct and say it as it is; I should say that one or two meetings of the G20 that I attended here were not very pleasing. The environment that one observed was not a pleasing environment. I say this so that we can improve immensely,” he said.
The president wanted to prove that Johannesburg and Gauteng were the right choices to host the G20 Summit.
“This year, we have the opportunity here in Gauteng to host the G20. The G20 will manifest itself in almost 130 meetings, with some taking place in Gauteng, either in Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and perhaps in Sedibeng also,” he said.
“As these meetings happen, it is the opportunity for Gauteng to gear up and demonstrate we did not make a mistake when we chose Gauteng to be the host of the G20,” he added.
“You need to show we were correct in identifying Gauteng and particularly Johannesburg to be the host and in fact it should be seen a Gauteng opportuntiy. This is because as people come here, they land at OR Tambo [airport], go through Ekurhuleni, Tshwane and then come for meetings in Johannesburg, so in the end, it is a Gauteng G20. It therefore requires that Gauteng showcase itself to the world, whose eyes will be focused on Gauteng.”
According to the p
resident, when his cabinet attends global gatherings of a similar nature, they are impressed by the state of other cities, which should prompt his country to want to perform well.
“Johannesburg and Gauteng must be at its best in terms of the physical and environmental presentation and the built-up environment where the meetings are going to take place,” he added.
“I say so because when we go to other locales around the world to hold meetings, we find those places are in tip-top [condition and position] where those countries can showcase what they can offer. That doesn’t end there, there is an opportunity for tourism to flow.”
