By now, most voters have made up their minds about how to turn Johannesburg around, and who is most capable of doing so.
The record is clear. And so is the choice.
When polls open next Wednesday, the greatest risk to progress will be apathy and complacency.
When those who are committed to change don’t vote, they let others decide their future.
The City remains trapped under the government that so many residents want replaced.
Democracy is not only about expressing anger. It is about exercising judgement.
It is not petitions or marches that bring about change. Real change happens at the ballot box. Only the voters can deliver it.
Much needs to change in this bustling metropolitan city: the finances, the billing, the water supply, the electricity network, the roads and the quality of the administration. But few things reveal the collapse of government more than the water crisis, and the crime and grime that has taken over.
Crime, grime, and infrastructure breakdown determine whether people can use their own city. And the ongoing water crisis at homes, schools, and businesses is making the city unsafe and unliveable.
The crime that grips Johannesburg forces a commuter to calculate every step of their day: is it safe to do something as simple as walking home on a public street?
It is the small business owner wondering whether the next person through the door will demand protection money, or pull a gun on them. It is the cable theft destroying infrastructure that thousands depend on, cutting power as thousands wake up to get ready for work. It is the building hijackers who collect rent while residents live in squalor, danger, and filth.
On top of that is the decay and grime that leave much of Joburg unsafe. The rubbish that heaps into uncollected piles along roads and between structures. The endless flow of sewage through streets, homes and businesses. The blocked drains that turn heavy rain into flooding.
Sewage in the taps
This week, the crumbling sewage infrastructure leaked into the clean water supply in Bezuidenhout’s Valley. On top of water throttling, reservoir failures, broken pumps, broken pipes and leaks, and dysfunctional water treatment, sewage is now directly entering Johannesburg’s tap water. The urgency of addressing this could not be greater, and it’s truly at the “last chance” moment.
Across this beautiful city, streets have become places to hurry through; people are checking over their shoulders; parks have become places that parents tell their children to avoid. Darkness falls, and lights never illuminate. Businesses close earlier and customers stop coming. Pedestrians dodge broken roads, rivers of sewage, and get home to find no running water.
What we see in Johannesburg is that people with resources can buy some protection from these failures, as they pay for security, backup generators and private maintenance, and buy bottled water when they can. But for the vast neglected majority of residents there is no money, no way, to escape the city’s failure.
That is why a clean and safe city, with reliable running water, is among the most practical things a government can deliver for poorer residents, and it is what I want to do for Johannesburg. You should get the services you pay for, without paying for a private alternative. But I am certain this decline can be reversed.
In Cape Town, water flows; it’s clean and reliable. That hasn’t happened by chance, but by good governance design.
In that city, the voters chose a reliable governing party with a track record of delivery. So in just one year that Metro has replaced 88.7km of drinking-water pipes – well above the 50km they targeted and budgeted for. They didn’t sit and bemoan the backlog, they went beyond their own targets to improve the pipes, and prevent leaks. Cape Town also replaced 104km of sewer pipes in one year, meaning that together 193km of new pipes were laid by the government in one year. That is 193 000 metres of pipes.
If you laid those end-to-end, Cape Town has laid new pipes in one year that would go twice the distance into Space. And that is just one particular year of good governance.
Getting water flowing
Joburg can do the same. If we give capable people clear responsibilities, deploy resources where they are needed, measure performance, and act when the work is not done, we can get tap water flowing again and clean up the grime and fight crime.
We will not do any of this through media stunts. Pipes must be replaced. Pumps and machinery that pressure water to your taps must be replaced. Reservoirs must be functional.
Rubbish must be collected reliably. Law enforcement must be consistent.
Criminal networks must face consequences. Ending corruption and securing delivery means consequences are inescapable. No delays, no excuses, no long suspensions, no buddy-buddy: harsh consequences.
I said Johannesburg needs its Madlanga moment, and I am serious about that.
Johannesburg can be turned around by restoring services and standards in the city, so that businesses can invest and families can plan a future.
There must be leadership of the city’s people to direct the city’s enforcement powers so that basic obligations are met.
All of this turns on good governance. You cannot get good governance unless you vote for it. You have to vote; there is no other way.
The change that Joburg needs depends on everyone understanding what staying home on Wednesday puts at risk. The incumbents are desperate to cling to power, and they only need the slightest edge.
That small edge is what makes abstention so consequential, because anyone ready to change Joburg who stays home does not bear the result alone – they will share the consequences with the rest of the city
If you want Joburg to work, now is the time. We don’t have another five years to wait.
No election result is inevitable, and neither victory nor defeat has happened yet, because both depend on what voters do.
The reality is that Wednesday needs arrangements and a plan to vote, with time set aside, and the people around you who want change need to do the same. It is an obligation, but a most powerful responsibility.
Do not leave the rest of this city with the consequences of you staying home instead of voting.