Gauteng Premier, Panyaza Lesufi has acknowledged that most of the areas in the province including the two big cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria are in a bad state.
He addressed the Provincial Legislature yesterday during the first day of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s oversight visit to the province.
Lesufi says the provincial government alone cannot be able to fix all the problems Gauteng is facing.
He added that it is embarrassing that the province’s big cities have lost value due to escalating crime and vandalism of essential infrastructure.
Lesufi says, “We need help. I won’t say Hillbrow, Berea is the best, it is worse, it is bad. It’s embarrassing, but we are ready to intervene. We have a plan.”
“ I mean we have got about 18 companies that are ready to invest, but they say fix XYZ, we got institutions that are saying we are ready to come to the CBD, but we got national departments that are not even aware that they own some of the buildings themselves.”
“It became clear when the minister indicated that aspect. So, we need a collective effort to deal with these things. There is a trust deficit. South Africans are no longer trusting us. They no longer believe us. Our action must speak louder than words. Rather than promises, promises, promises. Everyone is tired of that,” he adds.
Johannesburg City Council
President, Cyril Ramaphosa will wrap up his visit to the Gauteng government with a meeting of members of the Johannesburg City Council this morning.
Accompanied by several cabinet ministers and their deputies as well as some Director-Generals, he met the Gauteng Executive yesterday.
In the meeting, the Ramaphosa expressed his displeasure at the state of the dilapidation of the province and the city.
He encouraged the province to work closely with the private sector to ensure innovative ways of funding key infrastructure projects, including working with metros in providing incentives to crowd in private sector participation.
Ramapho says, “The economic success of Gauteng is integral to the economic success of South Africa. Johannesburg is the financial capital of Africa, home to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the headquarters of numerous multinational corporations. It is a city of commerce, investment and economic dynamism.”
VIDEO | Ramaphosa unhappy with the state of Gauteng:
