Introduction

Six Key Strategic Priorities have been identified by the Mayoral Committee for the City of Johannesburg. These are as follows:

• Economic development and job creation
• By-law enforcement and crime prevention
• Service delivery excellence
• Good governance/customer care/Batho Pele
• Inner City, and
• HIV/Aids.

6.1 Economic development and job creation

Initiatives:

• Decrease input costs and exploit economies of agglomeration
• Invest in economic infrastructure
• Implement precipitatory projects
• Align all Council activities to economic growth strategy
• Build entrepreneurship and small business
• Stimulate entry-level employment
• Reduce poverty and inequality
• Tourism Development Strategy
• Skills development programmes/partnerships
• Black Economic Empowerment programmes
• Economic Development Strategy for the City
• Employment of local labour in projects

6.2 By-law enforcement and crime prevention

Initiatives:

• Preventative policing and patrolling of high-risk areas
• Establish an information management system to share crime data between SAPS, local government and private security industry to set up deterrent actions in high risk areas
• Security for public places/firms eg. CCTV and anti-fraud technology
• Signs warning pedestrians, tourists of risk areas
• Effective street lighting in high risk areas
• Private security partnerships and partnerships with business in key commercial crime areas
• Safer schools project
• Social crime prevention through family and community programmes for high risk areas (Early Childhood Development, post-natal parent visits, drug prevention campaigns, life skills training, etc)
• Training for police, including customer care
• Community Policing Forum partnerships
• Research and implement preventative best practices

6.3 Service delivery excellence

Initiatives:

• Increased access to water, sanitation, electricity and waste removal
• Provide a free portion of basic services
• Maintenance and upgrading, including asset replacement of infrastructure
• Expand user base and volume
• Effective billing
• Reduce losses
• Ensure environmental sustainability of service delivery
• Address the housing backlogs

6.4 Good governance / customer care / Batho Pele

Initiatives:

• Establishment of People's Centres
• Ensure a risk-free environmental friendly, healthy and safe working environment for employees and ratepayers
• Training of employees and councillors
• Educational campaigns in respect of by-laws and council policies
• Client satisfaction monitoring by all departments
• Increase accessibility of Council buildings and facilities
• Community consultation and participation in Council activities/programmes
• Setting up of committees to be involved in Council initiatives, eg social development action committees in regions, city parks, public liaison forums
• Performance monitoring and reporting
• Transparent local government

6.5 Inner city

Initiatives:

• Upgrade buildings through Better Buildings Programme
• Increase number of social housing and transitional housing units
• Increase number of middle-income housing units
• Service delivery co-ordination
• Relocate taxis to off-street taxi ranks
• Roll out of informal trade markets programme and restricted areas
• Improve by-law enforcement through MPS
• Extend coverage of City Improvement Districts (CIDs) and Close Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV)
• Community Education Programmes
• Lead projects, eg Hillbrow, Berea, Joubert Park
• Business retention and recruitment activities
• Support growth of creative industries and cultural tourism
• Implement key urban renewal projects
• Events and campaigns

6.6 HIV/Aids

Initiatives:

• Increase understanding of HIV/Aids
• Condom distribution to high risk groups
• Reduce incidence of new infections
• Increase contraceptive coverage rate
• Ensure a high level of health awareness
• Focus targeted safe-sex messages to high risk groups and the general population
• Develop a HIV/Aids strategy