For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Lumkile Nkomfe.

Making headlines: Joburg mayor outlines measures to mitigate city’s challenges; Hawks head says significant inroads in apprehensions in high-profile cases; And, ActionSA says DA’s motions against CoJ mayor, speaker an opportunistic ploy

Joburg mayor outlines measures to mitigate city’s challenges

Executive mayor in the City of Johannesburg Dada Morero has acknowledged that the city is in a “crisis”, with “extreme actions” required to mitigate this.

Delivering the State of the City Address yesterday, he said the city was facing complex challenges, ranging from financial instability to decaying infrastructure and a service delivery backlog, which required collaboration and collective solutions.

One of these is the city’s turnaround plan, which Morero revealed on the day and presented electronically to President Cyril Ramaphosa for consideration.

Delivering a turnaround plan was the first part of the Presidential Support Package extended to the city.

Pivotal to this plan would be the establishment of a “bomb squad”, expected to be operational by June, and tasked with removing constraints that impact “creating the Joburg we want to see”, Morero said.

Moreover, he said the city was immediately adding an economic workstream within the package to help it reach the goal of an average of 3% GDP growth over five years.

It is also declaring a State of Disaster for crime and lawlessness from July.

Hawks head says significant inroads in apprehensions in high-profile cases

Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation head Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya announced today that the organisation, also known as the Hawks, has made significant inroads in apprehending individuals involved in high-profile cases, as he presented progress made in the fourth quarter of the 2024/2025 financial year.

He noted the arrest of uMkhonto weSizwe member Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla owing to the Durban Crimes Against the State unit of the Serious Organised Crime Investigation, following the unrest that brought the country to a standstill in 2021.

Lebeya also cited eight corruption cases, in which senior government officials were implicated.

He said in the last quarter, 656 suspects were secured before the various courts in the country, and of these arrests, 450, or 74%, are South Africans, while 15, or 26% of those arrested, are foreign nationals.

And, ActionSA says DA’s motions against CoJ mayor, speaker an opportunistic ploy

ActionSA Gauteng Provincial Chairperson Funzi Ngobeni views the Democratic Alliance’s motions of no confidence against City of Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero and Council Speaker Nobuhle Mthembu as an “opportunistic ploy aimed at exploiting a city already in deep crisis”.

Yesterday, the DA announced that it has submitted the motions, citing that under the current leadership, basic services were crumbling, and communities were being neglected.

Ngobeni said there is no denying the deep governance crisis that has gripped the City of Johannesburg, pointing to the failing basic services and crumbling infrastructure.

However, he believes that the DA’s motion is not a “sincere effort” to restore sound governance, but rather a “cheap ploy,” to deepen instability.

Ngobeni further accused the DA of political grandstanding and said his party would scrutinise the DA’s motions to determine whether they genuinely serve the public interest.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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