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October 21, 2024

From The City Of Gold To The City Of Gom: Images Reveal Joburg’s 10-Year Decline

These images aim to take viewers on a visual journey through Johannesburg's past, showcasing once-vibrant streets and iconic areas side-by-side with their shocking present-day reality.

[imagesource:x/@jozivsjozi]

Eish, shame, Johannesburg is not looking so lekker these days.

If you don’t see it daily anyway, or if you haven’t been to the once bustling and thriving metropolis to see the decline yourself, the Jozi vs Jozi account on social media platform X bears the city’s woes pretty clearly.

The account aims to take viewers on a visual journey through Johannesburg’s past, showcasing once-vibrant streets and iconic areas side-by-side with their present-day reality. Using Google Maps images, it offers a striking comparison between the city’s former glory and its current state.

After seeing these images, dare we even call the country’s economic hub the City of Gold anymore? The City of Gom seems more apt, seeing how over the past decade the infrastructure has collapsed and the streets are beyond polluted.

As The Citizen notes, residents are often subject to water outages, poor service delivery and unclean streets, on top of their surroundings falling apart around them.

Residents were subjected to water cuts due to power outages at the Eikenhof pump station, while roughly 10,000 Johannesburg residents woke up without water on Sunday, which the City attributed to repairs to a 600mm main water pipe in the area.

A key factor in the city’s decline can be traced to the mismanagement of funds and alleged corruption within the City of Johannesburg.

Home to Africa’s largest stock exchange, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) now faces the need for billions of rands to repair its crumbling infrastructure.

While the City announced that it needs R3 billion per year in order to fix infrastructure, Bloomberg reported that the City needs R221 billion to upgrade and maintain road, power and water networks. This is because the city missed its annual target for water infrastructure investment every year since at least 2008.

Documents reviewed by Bloomberg reveal that “City Power faces urgent demands for upgrades and replacements to guarantee network reliability and safety.” The utility requires at least R44 billion to overhaul its infrastructure, which includes outdated equipment—some of it over 50 years old.

According to the Northcliff Melville Times, City Power’s spokesperson, Isaac Mangena, admitted they don’t have the funds for the necessary upgrades—despite receiving a hefty budget boost from the National Treasury every year, all generously funded by the very customers relying on their service.

“When running at a loss, you can’t do your work properly, can’t do upgrades and carry out essential maintenance. You also start raiding other sources of income and cut back on work that is not essential for that moment,” said Chris Yelland, energy expert and managing director of EE Business Intelligence.

Residents are enduring inhumane conditions, all thanks to the ongoing governance crisis.

Since the ANC lost control of Johannesburg in 2016, the city has been caught in a chaotic whirlwind of unstable coalitions with various political parties. Over nine mayors have come and gone, the most recent being Karabo Gwamanda, who was removed from power amid swirling controversy.

Not only was it revealed that Gwamanda lacks both a university degree and a Matric certificate, but his resignation was branded as a “mutual agreement” between him, his party, and the ANC. To top it off, on Friday, 18 October, Gwamanda turned himself over to the police after a warrant for his arrest—on fraud charges—was reportedly issued in May. Quite the leadership saga for millions of Joburg’s residents.

Dada Morero is getting a second shot as mayor after his brief stint in 2022, following DA’s Mpho Phalatse—whose return cut his tenure short after just one month. In an interview with News24, Morero tempered expectations, warning residents not to anticipate any major improvements for at least the first two years of his term, which is set to run until the next local elections in 2026.

No wonder many of the country’s wealthiest are migrating out of SA or to Cape Town and the Western Cape at large, citing “political instability” as a reason for their move.

The sad sights continue over here.

[source:citizen]

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