Johannesburg Mayor Dr. Mpho Phalatse on Monday said she was keen on partnerships with the private sector to make the city safer, more secure, caring, business-friendly, inclusive, and well-run.
Speaking at the Marlboro Community Centre during the launch of the City’s #AReSebetseng campaign, the mayor made clear her intentions to make Johannesburg a smart city.
“While A Re Sebesteng/Let’s Work has previously been focused on communities working with the City to keep our parks and streets clean, we are today launching phase 1 of the campaign through region-by-region blitzes, which will see teams from City departments attending to their areas of focus,” said Dr. Phalatse.
The mayor said teams in Johannesburg will fill potholes, cut grass, repair broken traffic lights, fix leaking pipes, and a crackdown on illegal dumping “to name but a few” operations.
“We are serious about building a well-run City,” said Dr. Phalatse.
“In the coming weeks, we will be launching phase 2 of A Re Sebesteng through an awareness campaign targeted at schools and communities across the City.
“This will be the element of the campaign that will call upon the residents of Johannesburg to be active citizens by keeping their
environment clean and introducing a culture of reducing, reusing, and recycling waste.”
The mayor said “as we build” a well-run, clean, and safe City over the next five years, the multi-party government will engage in several partnerships with the private sector.
The makeup of these partnerships will find their genesis at the Jozi Energy Indaba in March, followed by a Business
Collaboration Conference in June, the details of which will be announced soon.
She said her administration was intent on working with the private sector because a well-run Johannesburg is a business-friendly city that can create much-needed jobs.
“We must dismiss the idea that a choice needs to be made between government or business, especially when our interests
for Johannesburg align,” said Dr. Phalatse.
One such partnership that is already underway and bearing fruit, and which we will recommit to later this month, is the City’s joint effort to deal with the pothole problem.
She said the City has partnered with insurance companies Dial Direct and Discovery Insure through the Pothole Patrol initiative to fix potholes across Johannesburg.
“We are embarking on this campaign because local government is collaborative work that requires all stakeholders – the City, residents, and business – to play their part because the reality is that the City’s administration cannot build a well-run Johannesburg on its own,” said Dr. Phalatse.
