CoJ waiting on Ramaphosa to finalise appointments to Presidential Working Group

JOHANNESBURG - The City of Joburg is still waiting on President Cyril Ramaphosa to finalise appointments to the Presidential Working Group tasked with rescuing the city from its declining state.

Earlier in March, Ramaphosa announced the establishment of the structure following concerns about the poor state of the metro.

The Presidential Working Group will bring in governance experts, veteran politicians and other key figures to help improve service delivery in the country’s economic hub.

Joburg Mayor Dada Morero held a media briefing on Wednesday, where he gave an update on the structure.

Although the president has yet to provide the City of Johannesburg with the list of individuals appointed to the Presidential Working Group, the city has completed its own structure that will collaborate with the president's team.

Joburg’s acting city manager, Tshepo Makola, said the city’s working group would begin its operations this week, comprising leaders from the city's most crucial entities.

However, Makola emphasised that the city’s structure would only be fully operational once the Presidency finalized the Presidential Working Group, allowing them to work together in addressing the city’s challenges.

"We’ve allocated the executives as per the eight working groups. We allocated senior executives in all of those working groups and the work will start of Friday."

The Presidential Working Group is expected clean up the metro before the G20 summit at the end of the year.