Madam Speaker, Councillors, and Residents of Johannesburg,

Today, we rise not merely to respond to Mayor Dada Morero’s State of the City Address—but to expose the gaping chasm between words and action, between image and reality, between spin and service.

Mayor Morero’s 2025 address was long on nostalgia and short on substance. It painted a picture of optimism that is simply not recognisable to the people living in Johannesburg’s seven regions. While the Mayor celebrated plans and visions, communities across this city continue to suffer—without water, without safety, and without hope.

Let us begin with the Mayor’s own acceptance speech, where he promised “decisive leadership,” “reliable service delivery,” and a Johannesburg that “works for all.” Nearly a year later, that promise rings hollow. He now delivers an address full of high-level targets and bureaucratic jargon, but without any accountability for decaying infrastructure, mushrooming informal settlements, and the daily indignities suffered by residents.

Compare this to Mayor Gwamanda’s 2024 address. While also flawed, Gwamanda at least acknowledged the failures in water delivery and the structural issues behind power outages. He called for urgent reform. Mayor Morero, by contrast, downplayed these issues or attributed them to external forces—ignoring the City’s own mismanagement.

Now let us examine ActionSA’s position. Our Pre-State of the City Address was not a wish list—it was an intervention. We highlighted the silent cries of communities: from Diepsloot’s decades-long darkness, to Orange Farm’s daily water queues, to abandoned projects in Region D, where millions were spent and nothing was delivered.

What did the Mayor say about these? Nothing.

There was no mention of Alexandra—one of the most neglected communities in Johannesburg. The Alexandra Renewal Project, once a beacon of hope, has collapsed under mismanagement. This is not an oversight—it is a betrayal.

The Mayor also conveniently ignored the electricity surcharge—a burden placed on residents already battling inflation and load-shedding. In our communities, this is not merely an inconvenience; it is a crisis. ActionSA has called for this surcharge to be scrapped, yet the Mayor offered no relief.

Let us talk infrastructure. Johannesburg faces a R300 billion backlog. Yet the Mayor’s speech offered no plan to fund or implement large-scale renewal. Water losses remain at 46%. Roads are crumbling. Waste goes uncollected. And still, we are expected to applaud so-called “progress.”

What does ActionSA offer instead?

Solar streetlights in high-crime zones—not in five years, but now.

Community boreholes in informal settlements like Orange Farm.

Refurbished clinics and multipurpose centres.

Local job creation with every infrastructure project.

A crackdown on cadre deployment and corrupt tenders, starting with full transparency.

Where the Mayor speaks of “hope,” we speak of hiring reclaimers to clean up Meadowlands and Region F. Where the ANC executive speaks of “capacity,” we speak of visible law enforcement to tackle hijacked buildings and unsafe spaces.

We also note the Mayor’s failure to propose a single meaningful reform to combat urban decay, even as our city slides further into dysfunction. The people of Johannesburg deserve better than traffic lights that do not work and clinics that do not open.

ActionSA has cautioned the Mayor about recycling his executive. However, the Mayor believes that rotating the executive is the only solution to many of the City’s problems.

We remind the Mayor that both the Lufhereng Mixed-Use Development and the Southern Farms Mega Project cannot be used as benchmarks for the City of Johannesburg. The City must devise aggressive strategies for revenue collection, rather than continuing a posture that empowers those who choose to disregard the rule of law.

ActionSA demands that the City adopt a bold approach to dealing with those intent on turning Johannesburg into a haven for slumlords. The only way to turn the City around is by restoring the Rule of Law.

That said, ActionSA welcomes some of the pronouncements by the Mayor, including the declared war on illegal immigrants and illegal mining.

We also believe that the insourcing of security guards and cleaners must take centre stage in this administration if we are to restore dignity to these critical frontline workers.

We cautiously welcome the declaration of a State of Disaster to combat illegality in the City of Johannesburg. Whether it is a Bomb Squad or a War Room, unless we change our attitude, we will never turn the City around.

In conclusion, the Mayor’s speech was an ode to aspiration—not a blueprint for recovery. It was padded with political nostalgia but devoid of urgency.

Johannesburg is not broken for lack of funding. It is broken because of a lack of leadership.

And that is why, Madam Speaker, we say:

The time for talking is over. Action-backed plans must deliver a City that works for residents.

Thank you.