🔥DA'S FULL MIC DROP REPLY TO MORERO'S JOHANNESBURG'S STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS

Indexed: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]Deputy Executive Mayor, fellow councilors, and most importantly, the residents of Johannesburg, good afternoon.

[00:00:09]We gather today not merely to respond to the mayor's speech, but to respond to the lived reality of the people of Johannesburg.

[00:00:20]Yesterday, we went to church to listen to the mayor's farewell speech that was littered with untruths, Madam Speaker.

[00:00:30]A state of the city address, Mr. Mayor, should be an honest account of where our city stands.

[00:00:38]It should tell residents the truth about the conditions of their roads, their water supply, the electricity network, their finances, their safety, and their future.

[00:00:51]It should not be an exercise in political theater.

[00:00:56]It should not be a celebration of slogans while community waits in the dark, taps run dry, refuse piles up, and businesses lose confidence.

[00:01:09]Today, on behalf of the Democratic Alliance, I rise to respond with honesty, with facts, and with a clear alternative.

[00:01:18]Because Johannesburg does not need more excuses, Mr. Mayor.

[00:01:23]Johannesburg does not need more recycled promises. Johannesburg does not need another speech about foundations while the walls are crumbling around its residents.

[00:01:35]Johannesburg needs a government that works, Miss Madam Speaker.

[00:01:41]And there is a choice before this city as we look towards 2026 local government elections. More decline and a failing coalition of chaos, or a DA-led government that restores basic services, stabilizes the finances, rebuild infrastructure, attract investments, and put residents first.

[00:02:04]Mr. Mayor, you chose to compare Johannesburg with Cape Town.

[00:02:12]That was a huge mistake, Mr. Mayor.

[00:02:15]You relied on a selective quarter-on-quarter unemployment comparison and hoped that Johannesburg residents would not look at the full picture, Mr. Mayor.

[00:02:27]So, let's look at the full picture.

[00:02:30]According to the latest Stats SA Quarterly Labour Services Survey, Cape Town's unemployment rate declined year-on-year from 21.9% to 21.4%, Mr. Mayor.

[00:02:49]>> [applause] >> Johannesburg's unemployment rate increased from 34.3% to 34.7%, Mr. Mayor.

[00:03:00]But even that is not the most important picture or the figure.

[00:03:05]The real test is whether a city can massage an unemployment rate.

[00:03:12]The real test is whether a city is creating jobs.

[00:03:17]And on that test, Mr. Mayor, the contrast is very clear.

[00:03:22]Year-on-year, Cape Town gained 35,000 employed people.

[00:03:29]Johannesburg lost 40,000 employed people.

[00:03:35]That's the truth, Mr. Mayor, that you did not tell the residents of Johannesburg. Because in Cape Town, unemployment fell while more people entered employment.

[00:03:48]>> [applause] >> In Johannesburg, Madam Speaker, the number of unemployed people barely moved. Not because people found work, Mr. Mayor, but because too many people have stopped looking for jobs.

[00:04:02]That is not success.

[00:04:04]That is not resilience. That is not a foundation for the future of Johannesburg.

[00:04:10]That is a story of a city where opportunities are shrinking, where confidence is collapsing, where residents are being pushed out of the economy. Mr. Mayor, Cape Town is a city where more people are finding jobs.

[00:04:27]Johannesburg is becoming a city where people, too many people, are giving up looking for work.

[00:04:34]That is the difference between hope and despair.

[00:04:38]That is the difference between a government that enables growth and a government that explained why it has declined.

[00:04:47]And if this is the success you are proud of, Mr. Mayor, then Johannesburg residents have every reason to demand a different government in 2026.

[00:04:59]Mr. Mayor, you then asked whether whether residents can trust health care services in Johannesburg, and your answer was yes.

[00:05:10]But your evidence was not the condition of our clinics.

[00:05:14]It was not the waiting times at hospitals.

[00:05:17]It was not the number of canceled surgeries. It was not whether patients can access clean water, working toilets, medicines, doctors, nurses, and emergency care at our clinics.

[00:05:30]The evidence was that fewer people in Johannesburg are on private medical aid than in Cape Town.

[00:05:38]Mr. Mayor, that is not a vote of confidence in public health care.

[00:05:44]Mr. Mayor, that is a measure affordability.

[00:05:49]A pensioner waiting in a queue from before sunrise has not cast a vote of confidence. A mother sitting with a sick child in an overcrowded clinic has not endorsed the system.

[00:06:02]A family that cannot afford private health care has not praised government.

[00:06:07]They have been left with no alternative but to go to a government clinic.

[00:06:12]And when we look at what is happening in Johannesburg health facilities, Mr. Mayor, the picture is not one of confidence. It is one of a crisis.

[00:06:22]At Malvern Clinic in east of Johannesburg, patients again suffered low water supply in January 2026.

[00:06:29]Despite earlier earlier promises by yourself that a JoJo tank would be connected to internal pipes. Staff were forced in a clinic to use bucket toilets. Toilets were closed and infection risk increased.

[00:06:46]This came after the same clinic had already gone 6 weeks without pipe water in 2025 while serving around 5,000 patients in a month.

[00:06:57]Mr. Manner Mr. Mayor, how can a clinic protect public health when it cannot flush the toilets at the clinic?

[00:07:05]How can nurses uphold hygiene standards when there is no running water?

[00:07:10]How can residents trust the system where the most basic requirements of health care are treated as an option?

[00:07:19]Mr. Mayor, you also spoke about reclaiming the city.

[00:07:23]You spoke about lawlessness, bylaw enforcement, and making Johannesburg safer.

[00:07:29]But once again, Mr. Mayor, the words in your speech do not match the conduct of the government delivering it.

[00:07:38]Because while residents are asking for law and order, this executive has been fighting fires inside its own executive in the mayoral committee.

[00:07:47]One MMC allegedly faces criminal charges over less discharge of a firearm in a public space. Another have been arrested in connection with allegations of kidnapping, assault and pointing a firearm at a child, which was later withdrawn due to ANC leadership intervention.

[00:08:06]A third has faced media scrutiny over alleged construction mafia links and alleged facilitation fee payments.

[00:08:14]Allegations that are very serious enough to form part of a Hawks investigation, Madam Speaker. Mr. Mayor, this is not how a government restores trust.

[00:08:26]We need to be confident that when you go out to enforce bylaws, that your own executive follow the same rules, and that all of us can trust you.

[00:08:38]Madam Speaker, how can the resident trust the mayor that presides over these kind of allegations?

[00:08:46]That creates the perception that MMCs are above the law.

[00:08:51]So, when the mayor speaks about a safer Joburg, residents are entitled to ask a simple question, who is expected to obey the law?

[00:09:01]Only the residents? Only small businesses? Only informal traders? Or does accountability also apply to the people sitting around the mayor's table?

[00:09:13]Because a city that wants to fight crime must first have a government that is serious about fighting crime among themselves.

[00:09:23]And on the test, Mr. Mayor, this government unfortunately is failing.

[00:09:28]Yesterday, the mayor talked about disposing of non-strategic assets with vacant land valued at 3.2 billion.

[00:09:38]Mr. Mayor, the city cannot just look at selling its own crown jewels.

[00:09:44]It must consider leveraging such assets by more affordable and profitable constructive means while still retaining the assets.

[00:09:56]Madam Speaker, yesterday the mayor assured the people of Johannesburg that the city's finances are under control.

[00:10:04]But the city's balance sheet tells a very different story.

[00:10:09]The AFD, France's national development bank, declined further financing, Mr. Mayor, to the city in its current funding cycle after concerns over Joburg's compliance with the conditions of the previous 2.5 billion rand loan.

[00:10:28]That is what loss of confidence look like, Mr. Mayor.

[00:10:32]Then the Johannesburg Stock Exchange suspended the trading in the city's listed debt instruments after Johannesburg failed to meet its annual reporting decline.

[00:10:44]That is what financial misgovernance or failed governance look like.

[00:10:51]Then Eskom warned that Johannesburg's electricity supply could be restricted because City Power owes it billions of rands.

[00:11:01]That is what a broken municipal entity looks like, Mr. Mayor.

[00:11:06]Then National Treasury warned that Johannesburg is in severe financial distress with concerns over liquidity, governance, compliance, rising debt, unpaid creditors, and commitments the city may not be able to sustain. And this council has seen the last Section 71 report in December.

[00:11:29]That is what a financial crisis looks like, Mr. Mayor.

[00:11:33]Madam Speaker, so when the mayor tells residents that the foundation is solid, the evidence, unfortunately, says otherwise.

[00:11:44]A financially stable city does not lose the confidence of development financiers.

[00:11:50]A financially stable city does not replace paying residents and put them at risk because city power cannot settle its Eskom account. A financially stable city, Mr. Mayor, does not have its debt debt instruments suspended by the JSE.

[00:12:14]This is not sound financial management, Mr. Mayor.

[00:12:18]This is a government running from crisis to crisis, from one unpaid creditor to the next, from one missed deadline to the next, from one warning letter, Mr. Mayor, to the next.

[00:12:31]And residents are paying for all of this.

[00:12:34]They pay through higher tariffs, which you are about to introduce next week.

[00:12:39]They pay through unreliable electricity.

[00:12:42]They pay through delayed repairs. They pay through collapsing infrastructure.

[00:12:48]They pay through city that collects more, owes more, borrows more, and delivers less.

[00:12:57]Mr. Mayor, Johannesburg cannot build a future on one financial crisis after the other. The lender lenders can see the crisis. The JSE can see the crisis.

[00:13:08]Eskom can see the crisis. National Treasury can see the crisis. Residents can see the crisis. The only people who still refuse to see the crisis, Mr. Mayor, is you and your executive, who's responsible for it.

[00:13:25]>> [applause] >> And yet, after all of this, Mr. Mayor, you still marked your own homework and gave yourself and this government 82.3%, Mr. Mayor.

[00:13:41]Mr. Mayor, Johannesburg residents are also marking the same paper.

[00:13:47]And they are not finding a distinction, unfortunately.

[00:13:50]They are finding debt, decay, delays, and denial.

[00:13:56]The marks of a government that has lost control of a city that they were elected to serve.

[00:14:04]But Johannesburg is not crumbling because its people have failed. The residents have not failed.

[00:14:12]It is crumbling because this government, Mr. Mayor, your government has failed.

[00:14:17]Residents have done their part. They pay their bills, they build businesses, they report faults, they wait for repairs, even though it takes 7 days or 12 days, they store water, they sit in traffic, they go over potholes, they buy generators and solar panels and still get charged for the solar panels.

[00:14:40]They keep the city alive while this government lets it decay.

[00:14:47]Less reliability, Mr. Mayor, less safety, less accountability, and less dignity for the residents of Joburg.

[00:14:57]Mr. Mayor, you spoke about water, but you forgot to tell the residents that the Brixton Reservoir construction was put on hold due to non-payment for quite some time.

[00:15:11]And only when the DA PRESSURE WITH OUR MAYORAL CANDIDATE, Helen Zille, that construction resumed.

[00:15:20]>> [applause] >> Mr. Mayor, you failed to reassure the businesses in Selby when they will have constant water supply.

[00:15:33]These businesses are at risk of closing and 4,000 people could be losing their jobs.

[00:15:41]Residents of Johannesburg, it does not have to be this way.

[00:15:48]The DA does not accept this.

[00:15:52]We are offering a Johannesburg, and you as the residents, a clean break.

[00:15:58]A city that works, run by a government that cares.

[00:16:04]A DA government will stop the rot, fix what is broken, and rebuild Johannesburg into a city its residents can once again be proud of.

[00:16:17]We will start with the basics, reliable water and electricity.

[00:16:22]We will end corruption and the wasting of public money.

[00:16:28]We will ring-fence revenue for essential services, so money paid for water, electricity, and refuse go back into water, electricity, and refuse, not into waste, corruption, and political mismanagement.

[00:16:47]We will fix the roads, Mr. Mayor.

[00:16:50]The DA will fix the roads.

[00:16:54]We will fix the potholes within 72 hours, Mr. Mayor.

[00:17:00]We will fix the traffic lights, and it will work.

[00:17:06]Road markings will be repainted, Mr. Mayor.

[00:17:09]>> [applause] >> Major intersections will be protected with modern technology, Mr. Mayor, and lawlessness on our roads will be confronted.

[00:17:20]>> [applause] >> Mr. Mayor, you have to sit up and listen for this one.

[00:17:26]We will attract 200,000 new jobs in Johannesburg.

[00:17:33]Because jobs, Mr. Mayor, does not come from snow slogans. It comes from creating an environment where jobs can be created.

[00:17:43]Jobs come from business.

[00:17:46]When businesses have confidence in the city of Joburg. When the lights stay on, Mr. Mayor. When the water flows. When roads work. When billing is fair. When public spaces are safe, Mr. Mayor. And when the city is a partner, not an obstacle with red tape.

[00:18:08]>> [applause] >> Mr. Mayor, we will restore law and order.

[00:18:13]We will reclaim hijacked buildings.

[00:18:16]Not only in an election year and in the Joburg CBD.

[00:18:21]We will stop land invasions. Make public spaces safer, Mr. Mayor.

[00:18:27]>> [applause] >> And take corruption head on.

[00:18:30]We will not just manage corruption and small and young and skeletons. We will take it head on. We will not explain it.

[00:18:38]We will not redeploy it. We will end it, Mr. Mayor.

[00:18:43]>> [applause] >> We will build a professional modern government.

[00:18:49]Johannesburg does not need more empty promises, Mr. Mayor.

[00:18:54]It needs engineers. It needs planners.

[00:18:58]It needs financial managers, project managers, and competent public servants who do who can do the job, not cater deployment.

[00:19:10]Good governance will be rewarded, Mr. Mayor. We have very good officials in the city and good governance will definitely be rewarded.

[00:19:20]Poor performance will have consequences.

[00:19:23]Billing will be fixed. Systems will be simplified for our residents so they don't have to go from pillar to post and be told they have to be in this region when they're supposed to be in another region to report simple things.

[00:19:39]That is the choice that residents have in 2026.

[00:19:44]The government that gives itself 82.3% while the city falls apart, Mr. Mayor, or a DA government that will be judged by results.

[00:19:59]>> [applause] >> A government of excuses or a government of delivery.

[00:20:06]A standard that normalizes collapse or a government that restores standard, Mr. Mayor.

[00:20:14]Johannesburg has waited long enough.

[00:20:17]In conclusion, Madam Speaker, the DA is ready.

[00:20:23]We believe in Johannesburg.

[00:20:26]>> [applause] >> And together we will get Johannesburg working, Mr. Mayor.

[00:20:33]Working with Helen Zille as mayor on 5 November 2026. Thank you very much.