Kgwadi is a political scientist, journalist, and research fellow at the Middle East Africa Research Institute (MEARI).
The City of Johannesburg (CoJ) is facing significant social, economic, and infrastructural challenges that require a mayor who can halt the city’s decline and pursue a transformative developmental agenda.
The incoming mayor will have to confront deteriorating and ageing infrastructure, rising unemployment, violent crime, poverty and persistent service-delivery failures.
Johannesburg is also among the 69 municipalities affected by the National Treasury’s recent decision to freeze funding due to concerns about financial mismanagement, underscoring the seriousness of the city’s financial and governance challenges.
Johannesburg is a diverse and cosmopolitan city comprising residents from different backgrounds who nevertheless share many common interests and aspirations. These shared interests should provide the foundation for cooperation and collective efforts to improve the city, rather than being undermined by divisive political rhetoric that creates unnecessary tensions and fractures.
