City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality

City of Johannesburg
Metropolitan municipality

Seal
Location in Gauteng
Location in Gauteng
Coordinates: 26°10′S 28°0′E / 26.167°S 28.000°ECoordinates: 26°10′S 28°0′E / 26.167°S 28.000°E
Country South Africa
Province Gauteng
Seat Johannesburg
Wards 130
Government[1]
  Type Municipal council
  Mayor Parks Tau (ANC)
Area
  Total 1,645 km2 (635 sq mi)
Population (2011)[2]
  Total 4,434,827
  Density 2,700/km2 (7,000/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)[2]
  Black African 76.4%
  Coloured 5.6%
  Indian/Asian 4.9%
  White 12.3%
First languages (2011)[3]
  Zulu 23.4%
  English 20.1%
  Sotho 9.6%
  Tswana 7.7%
  Other 39.2%
Time zone SAST (UTC+2)
Municipal code JHB

The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in order to expedite services for the city.

Johannesburg is a divided city: the poor mostly live in the southern suburbs or on the peripheries of the far north, and the middle class live largely in the suburbs of the central and north. Unemployment is near 46% and most young people are out of work.[4] Around 20% of the city lives in abject poverty in informal settlements that lack proper roads, electricity, or any other kind of direct municipal service. Another 40% live in inadequate housing with insufficient municipal housing.

History

During the apartheid era, Johannesburg was divided into 11 local authorities, seven of which were white and four black or coloured. The white authorities were 90% self-sufficient from property tax and other local taxes, and spent Rand 600 (USD $93) per person, while the black authorities were only ten percent self-sufficient, spending Rand 100 (USD $15) per person.

The first post-apartheid City Council was created in 1995. The council adopted the slogan "One City, One Taxpayer" in order to highlight its primary goal of addressing inequal tax revenue distribution. To this end, revenue from wealthy, traditionally white areas would help pay for services needed in poorer, black areas. The City Council was divided into four regions, each with a substantially autonomous local regional authority that was to be overseen by a central metropolitan council. Furthermore, the municipal boundaries were expanded to include wealthy satellite towns like Sandton and Randburg, poorer neighbouring townships such as Soweto and Alexandra, and informal settlements like Orange Farm. The four councils or Metropolitan Local Councils (MLCs) were the Northern MLCl, Southern MLC, Eastern MLC and Western MLC (sometimes referred to as Metropolitan Substructures), under a central metropolitan council.[5] This arrangement ended in 2000.[6]

In 1999, Johannesburg appointed a city manager in order to reshape the city's ailing financial situation. The manager, together with the Municipal Council, drew up a blueprint called "Igoli 2002". This was a three-year plan that called upon the government to sell non-core assets, restructure certain utilities, and required that all others become self-sufficient. The plan took the city from near insolvency to an operating surplus of Rand 153 million (USD 23.6 million).

The plan was fiercely contested by trade unions, who argued that it would result in job losses and tariff increases. The core of Igoli 2002 was to restructure Metro Gas, Rand Airport, and some sports stadiums as stand-alone corporate entitites. The city bus service, the Johannesburg Zoo, the Civic Theatre, the Fresh Produce Market, and the city's property holdings were turned into corporations with the city as the single shareholder. Each was run as a business, with management hired on performance contracts.

In 2010/11 the municipality faced a qualified audit from the Auditor-General following a large number of billing issues, as the result of the flawed implementation of a SAP system.[7][4] The city's call centre also experienced a crisis at the same time, with staff refusing to work.[8][9]

Geography

The municipality covers an area of 1,645 square kilometres (635 sq mi), stretching from Orange Farm in the south to Midrand in the north.

Main places

The 2011 census divided the municipality into the following main places:

Place Code Population Area (km2)
Alexandra 798014 179,624 6.91
Chartwell 798011 1,728 9.07
City of Johannesburg (non-urban) 798002 9,933 289.84
Dainfern 798012 6,601 4.08
Diepsloot 798003 138,329 12.00
Drie Ziek 798035 35,622 7.53
Ebony Park 798007 22,309 1.63
Ennerdale 798033 71,815 21.33
Farmall 798017 1,051 5.01
Itsoseng 798021 5,243 0.58
Ivory Park 798006 184,383 9.21
Johannesburg 798015 957,441 334.81
Kaalfontein 798005 46,147 4.96
Kagiso 798024 5,182 0.57
Kanana Park 798039 21,005 6.82
Lakeside 798037 23,503 3.78
Lanseria 798019 4,788 1.83
Lawley 798038 33,136 6.09
Lehae 798029 13,380 3.50
Lenasia 798028 89,714 20.28
Lenasia South 798032 37,110 13.98
Lucky 7 798020 0 0.11
Malatjie 798001 2,321 0.18
Mayibuye 798009 22,178 1.16
Midrand 798004 87,387 152.87
Millgate Farm 798018 172 0.88
Orange Farm 798034 76,767 12.16
Poortjie 798040 11,153 2.43
Rabie Ridge 798008 41,204 3.33
Randburg 798016 337,053 167.98
Randfontein 798027 0 9.19
Rietfontein 798023 196 2.17
Roodepoort 798022 326,416 161.50
Sandton 798013 222,415 143.54
Soweto 798026 1,271,628 200.03
Stretford 798036 61,141 7.38
Tshepisong 798025 53,260 6.56
Vlakfontein 798031 27,291 4.63
Zakariyya Park 798030 6,200 1.96
Zevenfontein 798010 0 3.11

Politics

The municipal council consists of 260 members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. 130 are elected by first-past-the-post voting in 130 wards, while the remaining 130 are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received. In the election of 18 May 2011 the African National Congress (ANC) won a majority of 153 seats on the council.

The following table shows the results of the 2011 election.[10][11]

Party Votes Seats
Ward List Total % Ward List Total
African National Congress 626,026 646,328 1,272,354 58.6 84 69 153
Democratic Alliance 377,799 374,505 752,304 34.6 45 45 90
Inkatha Freedom Party 17,933 17,557 35,490 1.6 1 3 4
Congress of the People 12,936 12,099 25,035 1.2 0 3 3
National Freedom Party 8,022 8,984 17,006 0.8 0 2 2
Independent 10,019 10,019 0.5 0 0
African People's Convention 4,223 5,747 9,970 0.5 0 1 1
African Christian Democratic Party 4,800 4,385 9,185 0.4 0 1 1
Pan Africanist Congress 4,655 3,838 8,493 0.4 0 1 1
Freedom Front Plus 2,956 2,477 5,433 0.3 0 1 1
United Democratic Movement 2,665 2,357 5,022 0.2 0 1 1
Al Jama-ah 2,027 2,962 4,989 0.2 0 1 1
Azanian People's Organisation 2,629 2,173 4,802 0.2 0 1 1
Operation Khanyisa Movement 1,666 2,757 4,423 0.2 0 1 1
Christian Democratic Party 1,136 999 2,135 0.1 0 0 0
African Christian Alliance 1,241 770 2,011 0.1 0 0 0
Black Consciousness Party 775 654 1,429 0.1 0 0 0
South African Progressive Civic Organisation 665 531 1,196 0.1 0 0 0
The Socialist Party of Azania 190 311 501 0.0 0 0 0
Christian Front 157 324 481 0.0 0 0 0
Liberal Democratic Party 31 236 267 0.0 0 0 0
United Residents Front 112 130 242 0.0 0 0 0
Total 1,082,663 1,090,124 2,172,787 100.0 130 130 260
Spoilt votes 15,803 11,724 27,527

City structure

Each province determines the structure of local government in its region. Gauteng province, run by the African National Congress, has opted for an executive mayor system. The new Johannesburg system is more efficient than before, with clearer lines of responsibility and less duplication of functions.

The newly unified city is ruled by Johannesburg's first executive mayor, as previously the mayor was a largely ceremonial position. Amos Mosondo was chosen to be the first executive mayor by the ANC's national executive office. The mayor takes ultimate responsibility for the city and leads a 10-person City Council.

The city management team implements decisions taken by the City Council and monitors the performance of the various branches of the city government. The group's head office is the Metro Centre Complex in Braamfontein, which is responsible for overall administration, financial control, supply of services, and collection of revenues. The fire department and ambulances, the metropolitan police and traffic control, museums, art galleries, and heritage sites are all controlled by separate departments within the central administration.

Some of the key city service functions are supplied by separate, self-contained entities, each run on business lines with its own CEO, each entering into service contracts with the administrative core. They are:

There are 10 utilities, including electricity which is run by City Power Johannesburg, water and sanitation which is run by Johannesburg Water, and solid waste management, also known as Pikitup. Utilities are registered companies, run on business lines. They must be self-funding, receiving no annual grants from the city. They provide billable services direct to individual households.

Agencies include Johannesburg Roads, City Parks and Johannesburg Development Agency. Each of these performs a service to the public at large – there are no direct charges to individual consumers. These are also structured as separate companies, but they are reliant on the council for funding.

The zoo, Civic Theatre, bus service, fresh produce market and property company each compete in the open market to "sell" their wares to individual consumers who choose to pay for their services. These departments have been "corporatised" into separate businesses, run by new managements on performance contracts, and tasked to cut their subsidy levels by R100-million in the next five years.

Regions

New Administrative Regions
(2006-)
Region A
  • Diepsloot
  • Kya Sand
Region B
Region C
Region D
  • Doornkop
  • Soweto
  • Dobsonville
  • Protea Glen
Region E
Region F
Region G

The administration of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality was decentralised initially into 11 regions (largely unrelated to the 11 former apartheid administrations). These new regions were subsequently reduced in number to 7 regions in 2006.[12] Each region is operationally responsible for the delivery of health care, housing, sports and recreation, libraries, social development, and other local community-based services.

City councillors

As of the May 2011 municipal elections, there are now 260 City Councillors in Johannesburg. The Councillors are divided into two kinds: (1) Ward Councillors: those who have won office in one of Johannesburg's 130 electoral wards; and (2) Those who are elected by Proportional Representation (PR) on the basis of party lists.

Ward Councillors have more local responsibilities, including setting up Ward Committees in their wards to raise local issues, commenting on town planning and other local matters in their ward, and liaising with local ratepayers' and residents' associations. PR Councillors are usually allocated to more political tasks within their party structures and within the City.

See also

References

  1. "Contact list: Executive Mayors". Government Communication & Information System. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Table: Census 2011 by district council, gender, age in 5 year groups and population group". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
  3. "Table: Census 2011 by district council, gender, language and population group". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Smith, David (12 July 2013). "Johannesburg rebuked over 'world-class city' advert". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  5. http://www.capsa-events.co.za/capsa04/Documents/064.pdf
  6. Chantelle Benjamin And Sarah Hudleston. "Billing crisis could result in qualified audit for Joburg". BusinessDay. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
  7. Mawson, Nicola (1 February 2011). "Joburg call centre collapses". ITWeb. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
  8. Gia Nicolaides (24 June 2009). "Joburg connect staff admit they are on a go-slow". Eyewitness News. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
  9. "Results Summary – All Ballots: Johannesburg" (PDF). Independent Electoral Commission. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  10. "Seat Calculation Detail: Johannesburg" (PDF). Independent Electoral Commission. Retrieved 24 November 2013.

External links