Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda condemned calls by residents for a rates and taxes boycott, saying he views it as a strategy to collapse the municipality.
Gwamanda said the calls for a boycott are a political ploy to undermine an administration amid service delivery problems across the city.
He was addressing the media on Friday after Johannesburg residents spent days without water due to an outage at Rand Water's Eikenhof pump station on Sunday.
“It is a politically-motivated approach to undermine black leadership, to be blunt about it,” he said.
Gwamanda said when residents are frustrated their first course of action is to boycott payment for services. .
“By you taking away the financial sustainability of the municipality, not only are you undermining the administration but you are collapsing government in its entirety from a local government point of view,” he said.
Gwamanda said regardless of the service delivery challenges that any municipalities might be encountering, he believed there was a need for constructive engagement and dialogue.
“A trust deficit between government and residents does not constitute a rate boycott, does not constitute the ultimate collapse of government,” he said.
“You cannot resort to the extreme as a measure for you to raise frustration. You need to come up with constructive solutions that can be mutually beneficial to the future of the municipality, not just the current administration, but also ensure you contribute effectively to the governing of that municipality.
“So I reject it [the rates boycott] unconditionally,” he said.
The mayor denied he was “a no-show” when the water outages hit parts of the city from Sunday but said he was undertaking official engagements.
“I think I had a mayoral committee marathon for the past 48 hours where I had three mayoral committees sittings consecutively. I have to chair every one of them,” he said.
He added he wouldn't always want the media present when conducting his oversights so that he could constructively interrogate and interact with technicians and officials on a level that would not put them in the spotlight.
“They are working tirelessly and I can only imagine the level of abuse they encounter. I am also one of the first respondents, residents have my direct line, and they escalate issues to me daily that I respond to daily.
“Whether it is in my official capacity or it is me escalating issues on behalf of residents, I am always hands-on in the role I am supposed to play. It is just unfortunate that I do not always invite the media,” he said.
Last month, eNCA reported that residents and businesses who were fed up with constant power outages in Johannesburg north were threatening to embark on a rates boycott.
TimesLIVE
Joburg mayor Gwamanda condemns calls for rates boycott amid water crisis
Journalist
Image: Gallo Images/Papi Morake
Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda condemned calls by residents for a rates and taxes boycott, saying he views it as a strategy to collapse the municipality.
Gwamanda said the calls for a boycott are a political ploy to undermine an administration amid service delivery problems across the city.
He was addressing the media on Friday after Johannesburg residents spent days without water due to an outage at Rand Water's Eikenhof pump station on Sunday.
“It is a politically-motivated approach to undermine black leadership, to be blunt about it,” he said.
Gwamanda said when residents are frustrated their first course of action is to boycott payment for services. .
“By you taking away the financial sustainability of the municipality, not only are you undermining the administration but you are collapsing government in its entirety from a local government point of view,” he said.
Gwamanda said regardless of the service delivery challenges that any municipalities might be encountering, he believed there was a need for constructive engagement and dialogue.
“A trust deficit between government and residents does not constitute a rate boycott, does not constitute the ultimate collapse of government,” he said.
“You cannot resort to the extreme as a measure for you to raise frustration. You need to come up with constructive solutions that can be mutually beneficial to the future of the municipality, not just the current administration, but also ensure you contribute effectively to the governing of that municipality.
“So I reject it [the rates boycott] unconditionally,” he said.
The mayor denied he was “a no-show” when the water outages hit parts of the city from Sunday but said he was undertaking official engagements.
“I think I had a mayoral committee marathon for the past 48 hours where I had three mayoral committees sittings consecutively. I have to chair every one of them,” he said.
He added he wouldn't always want the media present when conducting his oversights so that he could constructively interrogate and interact with technicians and officials on a level that would not put them in the spotlight.
“They are working tirelessly and I can only imagine the level of abuse they encounter. I am also one of the first respondents, residents have my direct line, and they escalate issues to me daily that I respond to daily.
“Whether it is in my official capacity or it is me escalating issues on behalf of residents, I am always hands-on in the role I am supposed to play. It is just unfortunate that I do not always invite the media,” he said.
Last month, eNCA reported that residents and businesses who were fed up with constant power outages in Johannesburg north were threatening to embark on a rates boycott.
TimesLIVE
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