WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2009-01-22 Time: 11:00:08 Posted By: Jan
By Bonile Ngqiyaza
Johannesburg residents continue to receive declining service from the City of Johannesburg, according to the Democratic Alliance.
The DA’s annual “report card” on the senior council management has shown a decline in overall performance last year compared with the previous year.
The DA said it had compiled its eighth political assessment of senior council management since 2001, based on interaction with 59 of its councillors, ward committee members and residents’ associations with the council’s office-bearers.
Executive mayor Amos Masondo, whose score slid down from an F to a G last year, is excoriated in the report for “his compulsion with political upmanship, rather than with performance and accountability”.
But the mayor’s spokesperson disputed the DA assertion, saying both the city’s short- and long-term international credit ratings had improved, and now stood at AA(43)+ and F1 short term (both considered good), “which means our financial position is very strong and positive”.
She said this was all as a result of work done by the senior managers.
At a media briefing at the DA offices in Parktown, the leader of the DA caucus, Victor Penning, said Masondo’s management style had led to a “couldn’t-care-less” attitude among senior officials, who regularly failed to acknowledge or react to issues raised by councillors.
Council Speaker Nkele Ntingane scored a D in 2008, as opposed to the C(43)+ she got for 2007, because, according to Penning, she had “on occasions made rulings that indicate a clear political bias in favour of the ANC”. This had lowered her rating.
Parks Tau, the councillor responsible for finance and economic development, slipped from 2007’s C to a D(43)+ for 2008, mainly because of the “catastrophic implementation of the (Municipal Property Rates Act)”, which came into operation on July 1 last year, Penning said.
Penning cited what he termed a “billing shambles”, and Tau’s “reluctance to call management and employees to task when they have underperformed”, as reasons for what he said was the department’s “continual floundering”.
Community development head Nandi Mayathula-Khoza was among the extremely few not to receive a roasting from Penning and the DA.
“Councillor Mayathula-Khoza has performed consistently and is generally well liked and appears dedicated to improving the lot of the less fortunate city dwellers. Her personality suits her portfolio, and she is generally approachable,” the DA commented.
The highest performer, corporate services and administration head Christine Walters, who received a B for both 2007 and last year, endeared herself through her work ethic, approachability and service delivery.
Another councillor for whom Penning had good words was Prema Naidoo, head of the environment portfolio.
He was praised for embracing a portfolio about which he had known little when appointed, and which seemed peripheral to the council. Naidoo got a C for 2008, up from a D.
Some of those awarded Ds were infrastructure and services head Ros Greeff and head of development planning and management Ruby Mathang, who both slid down from Cs. Comments on their performances were not flattering.
Greeff’s rating “was certainly compromised by last year’s electricity crisis and by City Power (and Eskom’s failure) to supply electricity to new developments”, according to Penning.
The “huge backlogs and the lack of effectiveness and efficiency in applying the norms required” in the development planning and management portfolio affected Mathang’s assessment, according to the DA report card.
Mathang’s department’s “failure to enforce standards and the city’s by-laws” had badly affected development and maintenance.
Among those who performed abysmally in the opposition’s assessment was Tho-mas Phakathi, responsible for safety, who attained an F this year, a slight shift down from last year’s E(43)+.
Housing’s Strike Ralegoma plunged two symbols to an F, mainly because of keeping waiting lists and allocation procedures secret.
Penning stated that a “lack of management and maintenance of rental stock (bedevilling) his department” had lowered Ralegoma’s marks.
Transport department head Rehana Mosajee also dropped two places to obtain an F, due to the Johannesburg Roads Agency’s bad performance – particularly in the repair and maintenance of roads.
The DA was dissatisfied that Mosajee had gone out of her way to discourage interaction between councillors and her officials, something the party felt did nothing to enhance service delivery.
The Joburg metro police department’s Chris Ngcobo received the second-lowest score, an F-, for the second year running.
This was due to the metro police’s “invisibility” at crucial spots in the city, “poor management, and gross lack of accountability and lack of by-law enforcement”.
The worst performer was the city’s call centre, which got a G. The best performers continued to be the Civic Theatre and the Joburg Zoo, while the Johannesburg Development Agency was “on the rise”.
There was great hope for the Joburg Fresh Produce Market under CEO Kgosi Ramokgopa, who scored a C, and the Joburg Tourism Company under new CEO Lindiwe Mahlangu.