6 September 2012
The South African Communist Party in Linda Jabane District (Greater Johannesburg) together with SANCO and COSATU in Greater Johannesburg Region, today, 06 September 2012, led a successful service delivery march to the offices of the Mayor of the City of Johannesburg.
The march, attended by more than 1,000 people, was aimed at highlighting lack of service delivery in poor working class communities across Greater Johannesburg, particularly informal settlements in the south.
The Young Communist League of South Africa in the District joined the march together with progressive forces from the MKVA.
A joint memorandum was handed over to an employee in the office of the Mayor as the Mayor and his Committee were not available to receive the memorandum.
Amongst the key demands raised in the memorandum are:
Unilateralism and dictatorship in the implementation and management of the City’s Growth and Development Strategy (GDS) 2040. The three components of the ANC-led alliance (SACP, COSATU, SANCO) have noted with dismay the usage of the social media (such as facebook and twitter) as well as the mainstream media as the main tool of consultation thereby excluding the majority of the working class communities in the City. We noted that the alliance as well was not sufficiently taken into confidence in this regard, with the exception of a handful of meetings camouflaged as preparatory meetings as well as a summit. We further noted with dissatisfaction the tendering system that the City of Johannesburg is practicing with regards to its Parking system, Outsourcing of Council services, and most importantly continuous utilization of labour brokers.
The lack of Delivery of Basic Services to the people of the City of Johannesburg in the provisioning of water supply, refuse removal, electricity and gas supply, municipal health services, municipal roads and storm water drainage, street lighting, municipal parks and recreation, were some of the focal points of the memorandum. Furthermore, we noted the negative impact that privatisation of municipal entities has on the rendering of basic services to communities. The memorandum therefore demands the urgent de-privatisation of all Municipal entities.
Over and above, we note with concern the lack of consultation on the management of the City. We are hopeful that the City will take these demands to heart in the spirit of making the lives of our people better.
Issued by:
Mandlakhe Radebe
SACP District Secretary
082 294 2429