City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality
The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality (Zulu: UMasipala weDolobhakazi laseGoli) is a metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, the largest city in South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in order to expedite services for the city. Zulu is the most spoken home language at 23.4% followed by English at 20.1%.
Johannesburg
130
1,645 km2 (635 sq mi)
4,434,827
2,700/km2 (7,000/sq mi)
76.4%
5.6%
4.9%
12.3%
23.4%
20.1%
9.6%
7.7%
39.2%
JHB
Johannesburg is a divided city: the poor mostly live in the southern suburbs or on the peripheries of the far north, and the middle- and upper class live largely in the suburbs of the central and north. As of 2012, unemployment is near 25% and most young people are out of work.[3] Around 20% of the city lives in abject poverty in informal settlements that lack proper roads, electricity, or any other kind of direct municipal service.
Service provision[edit]
The city management team head office is the Metro Centre Complex in Braamfontein, which is responsible for overall administration, financial control, supply of services, and collection of revenues. The fire department and ambulances, the metropolitan police and traffic control, museums, art galleries, libraries and heritage sites are all controlled by separate departments.
Some of the key city service functions are supplied by separate, self-contained entities, each run on business lines with its own CEO.
There are 10 utilities, including electricity which is run by City Power Johannesburg, water and sanitation which is run by Johannesburg Water, and solid waste management, also known as Pikitup. Utilities are registered companies, run on business lines. They must be self-funding, receiving no annual grants from the city. They provide billable services direct to individual households.
Agencies include Johannesburg Roads Agency, City Parks and Johannesburg Development Agency. Each of these performs a service to the public at large – there are no direct charges to individual consumers. These are also structured as separate companies, but they are reliant on the council for funding.
The zoo, Civic Theatre, bus service, fresh produce market and property company each compete in the open market to "sell" their wares to individual consumers who choose to pay for their services. These departments have been "corporatised" into separate businesses, run by new managements on performance contracts, and tasked to cut their subsidy levels by R100-million in the next five years.