Residents of Lehae, south of Johannesburg, have raised serious concerns about the lack of basic services during a Mayoral Imbizo led by Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero. The mayor was accompanied by several members of the mayoral committee.
Residents say Lehae remains underdeveloped, with large parts of the area neglected despite repeated pleas for intervention.
Ntombizosa Ndlovu raised concerns about healthcare access.
“I can see they have built the clinic. I’m not saying it is not important, but the clinic is the most important because our lives are in the hands of doctors,” she said.
Another resident, Jack Mfokeng, complained about the lack of police visibility.
“Please bring police vans here because the only vans that come here arrive to collect bribes,” he said.
Mfokeng also criticised what he described as superficial service delivery improvements.
“I was pained when the library was opened they fixed only where the mayor was going to walk. This shows they don’t take us seriously.”
He added that safety remains a major concern.
“Today Lehae is clean because the MMCs are here. Mayor Morero, crime conditions are worse. We are not safe; we get shot in our houses.”
Mfokeng further highlighted unemployment, particularly among young people.
“This is the most neglected community I have ever known in my entire life. MMCs, the mayor, the Premier — you all ignore the community of Lehae.”
He also raised concerns about the lack of grass cutting in public parks.
Bob Matsewana questioned budget allocations for road maintenance.
“Where did the money for the roads go? I want to know from 2005 or even this year where it is. I’m not talking about potholes.”
Steve Mabasa said Lehae Secondary School opened mid-year and found that 90% of learners had failed.
“That is a shame. We don’t want to send children to school only for them to fail.”
Residents living on the hill also complained about ongoing water shortages.
Morero acknowledged the infrastructure challenges and said road repairs would be undertaken once funding is allocated.
“We have a road network of about 15,000 km in Johannesburg. From here to Durban is about 600 km, so you can see how vast it is.”
He said the urgent water supply issue would be investigated.
“We will check the water supply to determine the cause. Our engineers will investigate and provide feedback. If there is a problem we cannot fix immediately, we will communicate that.”
Morero said street lights would be repaired immediately and that efforts are underway to restore electricity to households that have been without power for extended periods. However, he warned that illegal connections must be stopped to protect infrastructure.
“We will bring six transformers. On the issue of the clinic, we do not currently have the budget. We will need about R90 million, and it has already been drafted into the IDP.”
He also said the issue of the school will be passed to MEC of Education Matome Chiloane.
“We children to pass we cant have 90% failure rate.”
