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The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Johannesburg condemns the shocking reality that City officials are currently unable to issue fines for by-law non-compliance, effectively suspending law enforcement across Johannesburg.

During an integrated oversight visit in Ward 74 this week, the DA witnessed officials issuing only non-compliance notices even in cases where serious and repeat contraventions clearly warranted immediate fines. Several non-compliant businesses that should have faced severe penalties were merely warned, not sanctioned.

Officials on the ground openly expressed their frustration at being unable to properly enforce municipal by-laws. This enforcement paralysis is not limited to speed cameras, as widely reported in the media, but now extends across multiple City departments due to the City’s failure to pay service providers.

The result is a City with no fines, no camera enforcement, and no real consequences for wrongdoing. Until these payment issues are resolved, Johannesburg is effectively operating without enforcement mechanisms creating fertile ground for disorder, illegal operations, and blatant disregard for the law.

This situation is actively enabling lawlessness across the city and undermining honest businesses and law-abiding residents who continue to comply and pay for services.

The DA has written to the City Manager to demand urgent clarity on why residents are being subjected to this growing lawlessness. This simply because the City has failed to meet its financial obligations to suppliers, while, at the same time, City officials are being arrested on allegations of being found with bundles of cash in their homes.

Johannesburg residents deserve a DA government that enforces by-laws properly, pays suppliers on time, and governs in the best interests of residents not a coalition that normalises chaos, rewards failure, and allows lawlessness to thrive. The DA remains committed to restoring order, accountability, and effective governance in Johannesburg.

Issued by Cllr Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku - DA Johannesburg Caucus Leader