As 2024 comes to a close, Johannesburg residents have grown accustomed to chasing roaming water tankers with buckets due to persistent water shortages.
Despite repeated mayoral changes since 2016, intended to improve residents' lives, the city continues to grapple with deteriorating service delivery.
Crime, lawlessness, and hijacked buildings plague the city, exemplified by the fire at the Usindiso building in Marshalltown on 31 August.
The blaze, which gutted the property in the early hours, claimed at least 77 lives. Currently, more than 50 buildings in the city are reportedly hijacked, compounding concerns about urban governance.
Johannesburg has seen nine mayors from different political parties over the past eight years. However, infrastructure degradation, frequent water and power outages, declining business retention, poor financial controls, and weak internal planning have caused a steady decline in the city’s functionality.
Efforts to reverse the decline, including financial injections and loans, have yet to yield visible improvements.
Recently Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero pledged during a media briefing to ensure residents have water before Christmas.
Dr Kagiso "TK" Pooe, a public policy specialist at the Wits School of Governance, told IOL that frequent leadership changes have contributed to the city's challenges.
“A few portfolios have suffered from consistent focus and leadership,” he said. Pooe argued that the city's core failure lies in its inability to provide consistent service delivery.
“Ultimately, failure to provide consistent and adequate leadership on these issues means the City of Johannesburg has compromised its ability to address service delivery and grow the economic prowess of the region,” he added.
Dr Thokozani Chilenga-Butao, a lecturer in political studies at Wits University, also emphasised leadership instability as the root issue. Speaking to IOL, she noted that coalition governance in the city has hindered progress, with political parties often failing to agree on who should lead.
“This shows that the coalition in local government is not working,” she said. Chilenga-Butao stressed that without strong leadership, service delivery falls to technical experts, who may lack the political mandate to drive meaningful change.
Johanna Madiba, a Johannesburg resident, echoed these sentiments, lamenting the lack of commitment from successive leaders.
“If today you are in and tomorrow you are out, what commitments can you make? That’s why there is a lack of service delivery, and you see garbage everywhere,” she said.
Mayor Morero, however, remains optimistic, promising to restore the city to its former glory, albeit gradually.
IOL Politics