OUTSIDE view
FERIAL HAFFAJEE: Potholes. Traffic lights. City Power. Jozi remains a mess
Joburg makes a joke of the DA’s unique selling position that it’s a party of good governance
In August 2016, the DA won Johannesburg on the promise of better governance and efficiency. Herman Mashaba was plucked from his life as an entrepreneur to run the city on business principles, the first significant business leader to become a politician. Later, Cyril Ramaphosa would become president of the country. By "business principles", I took the party to mean that Johannesburg would be better run and that would stimulate growth and productivity. As it accounts for such a large percentage of national GDP, it is not a big stretch to see how an efficiently run Johannesburg could make for a better South Africa. Two years on, and evidence of success is sparse. As a hard-working and productive citizen, I expected this promise of better governance to be expressed as fewer potholes, call centres where agents answer the phones quickly and politely, fewer outages and traffic lights that work. In a country of such gross wealth inequality, deep poverty and disabling joblessness, you can be...
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