We will reclaim the city precinct by precinct, vows Joburg mayor Morero

From open manholes to clogged drainage systems and rubbish dumped at roadsides, Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero on Tuesday received firsthand experience of the poor state of the inner city.

Morero undertook an early-morning walkabout to identify problems in the inner city with the aim of fast-tracking service delivery. The walk started at 6am in the Doornfontein area and ended in the CBD.

Along the route and where possible, problems including unclogging drains and extracting water covering streets were fixed on the spot while the mayor and some members of his executives and the city manager walked around the inner city. They also assessed the state of some dilapidated buildings.

Members of his executive who joined him included MMC of development planning Eunice Mgcina, MMC of corporate and shared services Loyiso Masuku, MMC of economic development Nomoya Mnisi, city manager Floyd Brink and COO Tebogo Makola.

“We had an opportunity to see the best and worst parts of the city. There is the worst of the worst, but this has given us an opportunity to understand why the best happened and how it happened and what are the lessons so we can take them further,” said Morero.

“We are not going to reclaim the city at once; we will reclaim it precinct by precinct. We have to bring efforts between ourselves and the private sector.”

Buildings that are not in good shape will be taken over by the state should their owners not adhere to deadlines given to fix them, he said.

“We must get all the property owners we have identified today and say, 'This is what we require you to do within this period or by law we are required to expropriate without compensation.' We don’t have to compensate for public good. We can [expropriate] without any form of compensation.”

The ANC is racing against time to regain the trust of Johannesburg residents ahead of the 2026 local government elections. The party risks losing more of its municipalities if service delivery does not improve in areas where it leads, as the DA and other parties are smelling blood after the ANC's dismal performance in this year's national and provincial elections. The ANC lost the three biggest metros in Gauteng but managed to regain three provinces by forming coalitions with smaller parties to unseat the DA. 

According to Morero, walkabouts will be regular as he focuses on revitalising the city.

“We are going to do this thing on a monthly basis. We are going to go to the worst areas in Hillbrow so we understand what it mean for us to reclaim the city,” he said.

Mgcina said the walkabout was important as they got to experience the daily lived experience of many Johannesburg residents.

“In the inner city there are a lot of businesses. You would expect the area to be quite clean, to be able to walk around and free of crime. Our intention in the department we are leading is to make sure we allow development to happen,” she said.

Masuku said as much as it was the city’s responsibility to ensure areas are clean and safe, residents have an important role to play, especially when it comes to the fight against littering.

“What is important is for those staying in the areas to take ownership. There’s a dustbin, so I must use it. I must not litter. If there’s a water fault, I must report it,” she said. “It starts with ownership of your spaces. We have many buildings that can be turned into proper apartments for young people and for student accommodation.”

Mnisi said all departments in the city have specific roles to play to bring to life Morero’s vision to revitalise the city and take it back to its glory days as a leading African city. She said the city will have to quickly address water leakages as this is one of the contributing factors to supply issues faced by the city. 

“We have quite a lot of water running on roads and when we engaged with ward councillors we realised in most instances it’s where you have illegal taxi ranks and they use the water to wash their vehicles,” she said.

“The first thing we need to do is an aggressive programme of action from Joburg Water to respond. But that will not be a permanent solution. We need to have a monitoring unit within Joburg Water to make sure we don’t experience that in the city.”

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