NOBUNTU HLAZO-WEBSTER | Johannesburg cannot afford another five years of drift

There comes a point in the decline of an institution when isolated failures stop looking like accidents and begin to reveal a larger pattern. The mask begins to slip, and the extent of the crisis is clearly visible. It gives me not an ounce of joy to sayJohannesburghas reached that point.

Every week brings another revelation. The city is running dangerously short of money, as the sitting mayor told Johannesburg residents last month. Municipal debt continues to mount.

Service providers warn of non-payment. Questions continue to emerge about the city’s financial obligations, including the latest concerns surrounding Telkom and outstanding municipal debt. Residents are left wondering what fresh crisis tomorrow’s headlines will bring.

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This is no longer a city suffering from temporary setbacks. It is a city experiencing institutional failure. The warning signs have been visible for years.Auditor-general reportshave repeatedly exposed weak financial controls.

Infrastructure has deteriorated as roads crumble while water pipes burst beneath them. Electricity substations fail with alarming regularity. Billing systems remain dysfunctional.

Businesses invest elsewhere while residents increasingly purchase privately what government once promised to provide: security, electricity, water, refuse removal and reliable internet. The tragedy is not only that Johannesburg is failing. It is that South Africa’s greatest economic engine is failing.

The place of hope, of possibility. Johannesburg contributes close to a sixth of South Africa’s GDP. It is home to the country’s financial services industry, its largest stock exchange, its most important logistics corridors and thousands of entrepreneurs whose businesses create opportunity far beyond the city’s borders. When Johannesburg slows down, South Africa slows down.

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