Joburgers have noticed how furiously the city administration is working to clean up and fix the pavements and potholes, but no-one is fooled with the sudden surge in activity.
It wasn’t because they suddenly realised that residents of Joburg need improved services and a better city.
It wasn’t because they felt that it is time to get things right. But rather, it was because the G20 Summit takes place in the next few weeks in Jozi and we need to look good when the world watches.
Naturally, Joburgers aren’t complaining because at least some services are taking place, despite it being for another reason besides caring for the residents who pay the rates.
In the process of trying to get the city spick and span, they have made it look worse than it did before.
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Because of the ridiculous outdated and bureaucratic city processes when potholes, water leaks and other repairs are done, a job started doesn’t immediately get complete.
For example, when a water leak is fixed – and that is if it actually does ultimately get fixed – it is simply covered up with soil but not completely closed with tar.
As a result, we see throughout the city repaired leaks protected by a layer of loose sand instead of asphalt which would complete the job.
In the meantime, vehicles drive over the loose sand covering the incomplete work, making the area look unkempt, creating the potential that the fixed problem may become damaged as vehicles drive over it.
So, in their attempt to get the city right aesthetically, the city administration has made it worse than before.
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The time lapse between fixing a problem and completing the job can take months.
By the time leaders from all over the world descend on Johannesburg, they will see a messy, unkempt and unattractive sandy city where traffic is inconvenienced by the very programme that the mayor and his team used to try to fix the problems in the first place.
To add insult to injury, the corruption continues unabated, as feeding at the trough and manipulating systems to benefit the connected continues.
A concrete example of this was a water leak just outside my home which had been there for months, despite reporting it many times. A few weeks ago, and out of the blue, council contractors arrived on a Sunday afternoon at 2pm to attend to the water leak.
They worked for about three hours and then left the site cordoned off with the job clearly unfinished.
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They returned the very next Sunday afternoon to complete the job, covered it with sand so that it could be tarred up eventually.
It is frankly bizarre that that water leak was there for weeks but yet workmen came on two consecutive Sundays.
Clearly this work could have been done during the week but, of course, workmen and contractors get paid double on a Sunday.
The milking and manipulation of systems to benefit those that have contracts with the city is on clear display.
In the end it is us, the ratepayers, who are paying double for a job that could have cost half.
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For residents, this is nothing short of embarrassing when international high-profile visitors will be in the City of Gold that has completely lost its shine.
It is so sad to see that our-once shiny City of Gold on the hill has lost its lustre and is now covered with dust and incomplete work.
This should wake up voters to realise that a change of administration is needed to get the city shining and gleaming again, and that the only person who can make this happen is Helen Zille.
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