Despite his misgivings about the state of Johannesburg, President Cyril Ramaphosa has applauded the level of safety in the Central Business District.
Ramaphosa said he recently drove through the CBD felt safe with seeing Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department officers at every turn.
One evening, travelling from Soweto, I wandered into the city late at night (0:57) with my protectors, obviously.“ And as we drove through the city, I must say I was hugely impressed by the safety sense that I felt in the city be cause JMPD was all over the city. I stopped counting how many vehicles there were and how many officers there were in the various streets of the city. That was most impressive, give yourselves a round of applause,” said Ramaphosa in his opening address to the 2nd day of a cabinet oversight meeting ahead of the G-20 summit in the country’s most populous city.
Ramaphosa however expressed concern about the dirtiness of the city and said work needed to start immediately to clean it up.
“However, while you are at it, I found the city filthy. The city was not clean. There was rubbish all over the show.“ I got out of the car and even spoke to police officers, and I said to them when this city looks torn and they agreed it then infused in me a view and a determination that we’ve got to do something to turn this city around because it does not belong where it is and what it looks like,” said Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa said among others the City of Joburg must expropriate abondoned buildings and turn them into affordable housing to accommodate millions of people who live in cramped spaces in the inner city.
The President also called for urgent repairs of the city’s street lights.