Gauteng govt confident City of Joburg will host successful G20 Summit

JOHANNESBURG - The Gauteng government said it was confident that the City of Johannesburg would host a successful G20 leaders summit in November, as the troubled municipality prepares for the massive meeting of global leaders.

The comments come after the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Joburg again raised concerns about the city not being ready for the global event, which takes place in less than three months.

Heads of states and diplomats from across the world are expected to descend on South Africa for the summit, with Johannesburg the host city for the main event. 

At a media briefing in Midrand on Sunday, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi released a state of readiness report for the City of Johannesburg and other municipalities that will also be hosting some G20 side events.

Lesufi said the report tracked the progress of issues that need to be fixed and how far each municipality was at resolving them. 

"The M2 between Midrand and Sandton, it was a dark city. The main road, the lights are there now. If you come from OR Tambo on the R24, the lights are back. If you check the grass cutting, we are almost at 70%. My only limitatation, and I have emphasised it to the mayors, I don’t want to do this for G20, im doing it for the citizens of Gauteng. It's just that we are hosting this important event but we must go beyond G20 and sustain this."