Johannesburg - The office of the mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Mpho Phalatse, said the city had cancelled the annual New Year’s Eve celebrations, which bring hundreds of people to the city centre, because of advice from the South African Weather Services (SAWS).
The New Year’s Eve celebrations are normally held in Newtown and would consist of various festivities, which include fireworks displays and musical entertainment. The Star understands that the City of Johannesburg has been battling financially and is redirecting funds to necessary projects.
While the mayor confirmed that the city was experiencing a cash flow mismatch, she said cancelling the New Year’s Eve celebrations had come from good advice from the weather services.
"The City has experienced a cash flow challenge arising from the Council’s refusal to approve the R2 billion loan from DBSA.
A series of interventions have been identified to 1) enhance revenue collection and 2) to curtail unnecessary expenditure. These will bear fruit in the next two months. The multi-party government has been briefed on changing weather patterns, which played a role in the floods that sadly took lives and damaged infrastructure," Phalatse’s office said.
In a statement, Phalatse’s office said the changing weather patterns in the city had resulted in a number of homes being damaged by floods. The city has also seen a number of deaths from drownings and weather-related fatalities. She said the city had asked for some areas to be declared disaster areas because of the floods.
"We have begun the necessary work of ensuring that we have early-warning systems in place. There's also work being done to enforce the City's land-use and building by-laws, as well as public dumping. We’re approaching this projectively and also ensuring that our response is informed and aggressive.
"The City continues to respond, repair the city, and work with all stakeholders," Phalatse’s office said.
The city was in talks with the provincial and national governments to ensure that adequate funds were released for the repair of damage done to homes and infrastructure.
"The City has therefore submitted a request to Province to expedite the process of classifying and declaring a local state of disaster - which clearly demonstrates the degree to which the EM take this matter seriously.
“Current costs are estimated at well over R400 million, and local and provincial spheres of government have been engaged in an exercise of quantifying the full extent of the damage inflicted on property and infrastructure. And we need assistance from our provincial and national spheres of government to respond effectively in terms of supporting families and restoring infrastructure," Phalatse’s office said.
The Star