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Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba on Wednesday delivered his second state of the city address, announcing multibillion-rand backlogs, progress in awarding title deeds, and new projects to create employment.
Mashaba highlighted the city's progress in maintaining the roads and infrastructure, improving service delivery and creating opportunities for investment.
But have there been any significant changes and improvements to the city since last year, when Mashaba delivered his first state of the city address weeks after being elected? A close comparison of his speech on Wednesday, compared to the one he delivered a year ago, shows both improvement and deterioration.
Roads
Last year, Mashaba announced that there was a R5.8-billion backlog in repairs and maintenance of road infrastructure in the city. He "declared war" on potholes and said he would provide an additional R88-million in funding to the Johannesburg Roads Agency.
This year, the backlog has grown to R11.8-billion.
"The 100,000 potholes in our city arise from a shocking R11.8-billion backlog in our road network. In 2017, over 3,900 kilometres of our roads had fallen into the classification of poor or very poor conditions," he said.

To date, we have converted over 50 kilometres of gravel roads in informal settlements to tarred roads. #JoburgSOCA18pic.twitter.com/UX24ctO6Lw
— Herman Mashaba (@HermanMashaba) May 2, 2018

Electricity
Mashaba said more than 27 percent of Johannesburg's bulk transformers now operate beyond their useful lifespan, ranging from 48 to 91 years old. The electrical infrastructure backlog now sits at R17-billion, down from R69-billion last year.
Water
In the 2016/2017 financial year, the city lost 107-billion litres of water through its dilapidated water network. Mashaba announced that there were 371 leaks per kilometre of water pipes in Johannesburg.
The city has since refurbished 37 kilometres of water pipes.
Investment and job opportunities
Mashaba announced that the city's project to roll out small, medium and micro-enterprise (SMME) hubs last year was "disastrous".
"They provided little value, services were outsourced, and nobody seemed concerned that businesses did not grow and employ more people. They were used as a box-ticking exercise," he said.
The city has now opted to launch "Opportunity Centres", which will focus on various services including registering companies on the city's supplier database and training to improve the ability of SMMEs to tender for city projects.

I am happy to announce that, since taking office, we have delivered 5,145 title deeds to the residents of Johannesburg, giving over 5,200 of our poorest residents the dignity of home ownership. #JoburgSoca18pic.twitter.com/E3lzUiWzwC
— Herman Mashaba (@HermanMashaba) May 2, 2018

Housing
Last year, Mashaba announced in the state of the city address that his administration had to date awarded 2,800 title deeds since it took office. He said an additional 1,100 title deeds were in the process of finalisation.
Twelve months since then, the total number of title deeds handed out now stands at 5,145.
Mashaba said there are also plans to use the city's 500 derelict buildings to provide quality low-cost housing opportunities — 12 of those properties have already been released.

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