By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Al Jama-ah councillor Thapelo Amad has officially been sworn in as the transitional mayor of City of Johannesburg.
Amad was voted in on Friday after the DA’s Mpho Phalatse was removed via a motion of no confidence.
The new mayor said it was “no secret” they had inherited “a city under massive financial strain”, adding that financial stability needed to be prioritised.
He said the focus would be on collecting revenue.
He would urgently be revisiting the R2 billion loan the DA wanted from the Development Bank of SA.
The DA twice brought a motion to obtain the loan – but, on both occasions, the opposition voted against it.
In a briefing on Friday, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi explained the loan was denied because the DA-led coalition had said there was no financial crisis.
Opposition parties denied the loan on the basis that, if the former mayor said there was no financial crisis, then she did not need the loan.
Next on the mayor’s list was the electricity crisis.
Amad said that, if the previous government’s plan was beneficial, then the new leadership would continue the plan.
“Energy security is one of the key priorities. We need to fix ageing infrastructure, including roads which have become dangerous due to potholes. We also need to fix drains which have led to flooding.
“We need to ensure refuse removal and find innovative ways to conserve water as we fix the water infrastructure.
“As my colleague, Margaret [Arnolds] would say, the grass is as long as she is tall – and it must be cut, so criminals cannot hide in it. We need to fix the street lights. It’s totally unacceptable that traffic lights are not working for longer than two days when we are not load shedding.”
He said he would engage with law enforcement to ensure there was a level of order and cleanliness.
He said authorities would be engaged to drive out illegal immigrants, which he said were associated with drug dealing and hijacking buildings. And, he added, street vendors would not be harassed by law enforcement.
Present at his swearing-in ceremony was the ambassadors of Qatar, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, as well as Ganief Hendricks, the leader of Al Jama-ah.