EFF Joburg responds to Budget Speech
The only Diphethogo in this budget speech is that it was tabled by MMC Ngobeni- (auti ya kasi) than MMC Daggada- (auti ya Born in Alexandra) but the more things remain the same.
There only change is that of the firing and hiring in the Mayoral committee and not the real change in the life of our people.
We just wondering who the next MMC to go? Let us all wait for the press conference and media statement from the Mayor, you will be convinced that I am sangoma but this term will not end without another MMC being fired.
Comrade Councilor Makhubo- ke yona koppie dice kaMjiba.
Badlala kaJozi I would like to take this opportunity by passing a message from the EFF in noting the sad news of the passing away of Fighter Siphiwe Mapuolo from ward 114 who passed away on the 24th May 2018 at Zandspruit Clinic after a short sickness. Also the passing away of Fighter Mary Mashinini son Jacob Ntate Mooka from ward 81 and Fighter Phumulani Nkomo from Ward 51 in Zola.
They passed on without dignity, black people still don’t have their land back. I am mentioning this because Fighter Simphiwe Mapuolos family can’t even afford R1900.00 to buy him a piece of land in Lions Park cemetery where they can bury him in dignity.
A black person will forever be humiliated until the end of time in South Africa hence the EFF call for the expropriation of land without compensation for equal redistribution.
May the soul of our gallant fighters rest in revolutionary peace and we will carry on the spear until we achieve economic freedom in our lifetime. Our engagement of this budget speech, MMC it is rich with lots of tariff increment, uyakhuphula uyakhuphula awudlali ubuya ngokuzolala, you just remind us of one Magician who has left us with the Gigabite Legacy. He increased tax by 1% then he vanished back to Home Affairs.
We are going to reject these proposed increments of tariffs.
This budget comes at a backdrop of our leadership receiving a renewed mandate from 123 solid branches representing over 91% of the wards in Johannesburg. Only the mighty EFF can host 5 successful Regional Peoples Assemblies without a drop of blood or a loss of life to demonstrate our level of maturity and unity in waging war against Capitalism.
Our response to your speech MMC is powered by an unflinching vote of confidence our Chairperson and his collective received over the weekend in the RPA.
Amongst Resolutions adopted by our highly successful Regional People’s Assembly is to be resolute in swaying the City to the left.
Swaying the City to the left means according to the resolutions of our successful people assembly we must accelerate the insourcing of service delivery, build capacity City, accelerate the expropriation of land and abandoned buildings in the City, provide free water, electricity and municipal services to families earning less than R10 000 per month, building mining and beneficiation capacity in the City, establishing industrial zones to boost job creation, constructing a City led student town characterized by City sponsored student accommodation, electrification of townships and informal settlements, reversing apartheid spatial planning patterns by providing service stands in Kelvin, Lombardy and other historically white apartheid ivory towers, providing 24 hour clinic services, building community centered libraries, a coherent black economic development strategy which encapsulates formalizing the food market and taxi industries, infrastructure development, building safe economies and creating a clean City! EFF notes the Job Seekers Database as proposed by the City and calls on its mandate to include it being developed into an incubation that will recruit and train resources that will be distributed to insourced road-works, building, refuse removal, grass cutting, security, and cleaning services. EFF notes the electrification and provision of water to informal settlements and call on the city to provide a concrete plan that commits this administration to electrify and provide water to all homes by 2021.
To this end, EFF calls on the City to accelerate the portioning of the expropriated land in Kelvin.
It has been over 18 months since this Council passed the EFF sponsored motion of expropriating that land.
Our patience is running dry on this issue, if no progress is made on this matter, we might move in and do your job of providing settlement to our people. Speaker, the apportioning of Kelvin’s 3 Million square meter into 600 square meter serviced stand, can house 5000 families.
We give the City a month to provide us with a project plan on the Kelvin Land.
How are you going to ensure that the 152 000 people on the housing waiting list are given houses when you fail to expropriate land? EFF notes the City’s view on the expropriation of abandoned buildings, and to this end call on the City to mandate JoshCo to refurbish the buildings and convert them to affordable housing and student accommodation. We believe that a better-managed JoshCo with focused leadership, headed by a CEO who doesn’t behave as if he’s a law unto himself can drive the rejuvenation of Joburg. Speaker, the MMC has indicated that R120 million has been budgeted for the 2018/2019 financial year to provide 200 serviced sites onto which beneficiaries can be settled with full ownership.
The people of ward 20 in Naledi have identified land in Protea Glen Ext 16 Ward 135 and what was the Citys response to poor people? It responded by unleashing JMPD with Teargas and rubber bullets, black on black violence, we are not giving our people hope.
It can’t be that we have almost 190 informal settlements in Jozi-Mjiba Johannesburg.
MMC Meshack Van Wyk, my predikant, there is no time for settling into your new job but you need to hit the ground running.
I don’t know why the Mayor continues to deploy short people into this office of housing, clearly Councilor Dan Bovu, your boots are too big to filled. Speaker, the EFF vehemently, unreservedly, unapologetically and ferociously rejects the proposed increases in water, electricity, sewerage, sanitation and refuse removal increases.
If the City wants to close the gap of withheld funding by the national government, the focus should be on an accentuated focus into tracking businesses that evade paying for services.
Recently the Mayor announced the recouping of millions from ABSA, that was brilliant work done and the City must focus on that. Currently as things stand the poor are funding the rich and businesses.
We call on the creation of a non-bribe taking rates evasion busting unit tasked with visiting every business premise in Joburg including Luthuli House and recoup monies robbed from the poor. Speaker, the City must look into self-funding initiatives. Amongst the initiatives we propose are;
· The recapture of Lenseria Airport from the current franchised arrangement. The Airport can boost the city’s revenue and bring vibrancy to the economy.
· Recapture ICT infrastructure, which includes fibre distribution and rent to business.
· Recapture and resuscitate Egoli Gas to compete with electricity generation.
· Establish the Joburg Mining Company to take over abandoned mines and spearhead the mineral beneficiation program.
We note Diphethogo in principle and as a cause. We however call on it to be contextualized against the immediate need to improve our people’s lives.
This administration is approaching two years in office and growing too slow in changing lives.
The Mayor must be courageous and confront the sabotage waged by inherited bureaucracy. Issued by:
Silumko Mabona
EFF Joburg Regional Secretary
