Executive mayor Amos Masondo spells out his priorities during his 2006 budget speech

DURING his budget speech on 24 May 2006, Executive Mayor Amos Masondo outlined his priorities for his new term of office. These six priorities, said the mayor, also underpinned the City's Growth and Development Strategy. "While the priorities span across a range of City activities, they provide a sense of focus and urgency," Masondo said. They are the City's points of emphasis over the next five years:

Economic growth and job creation
"Our vision is to develop the city's economy such that it plays a role as the key economic hub on the continent, and increasingly becomes a national economic-growth leader by ensuring sustainable-shared growth that benefits all." This would be achieved through sector support programmes, beneficiation programmes, emerging industries support programmes, as well as skills and area development programmes.

Health and community development
Various programmes had been set up to create "a city with a high quality, efficient, accessible and equitable health system for all". Two of these are the Environmental Health Programme, which will ensure high standards of public health in public establishments, and the Communicable Disease Outbreak Response Improvement Programme, which will strengthen surveillance of emerging and re-emerging communicable illnesses and outbreaks in the city. Other programmes tackle early childhood development, women's development, youth development and sports. A social package programme will refine the City's support of indigent households. "We already offer over R550-million in subsidised services to poor and vulnerable households. We believe that this can be better targeted," the mayor said.

Housing and services
The City's aim was "the creation of sustainable settlements where there are a wide range of accommodation opportunities that are of good quality, adequately serviced and well-located, coupled with a backbone of efficient and well-maintained service infrastructure, extended to all". Among the programmes outlined is one tackling informal settlements. The City plans, where possible, to formalise existing informal settlements, upgrading infrastructure. The City also plans to eliminate, over the next five years, all backlogs in access to basic municipal services, including water and sanitation, as well as to ensure the provision of housing for those in need.

Safe, clean and green city
According to this priority, Johannesburg will be "a city where life, property and lifestyles are safe and secure, [where] the external environment is free of pollution and promotes environmental sustainability". Reducing crime and community conflict, and effective road law enforcement are just two of the areas that will be tackled. Other programmes involved are the Disaster Management Programme, aimed at preventing avoidable disasters through information and education; the Biodiversity Protection Programme, aimed at conserving sensitive habitats and biodiversity; and a City greening programme. In addition, Masondo said the City would also set itself tangible targets for its Resource Conservation Programme - to recycle at least 15 percent waste, reduce waste to landfills by 15 percent, divert half of green waste to compost facilities, and ensure highest possible compliance with environmental legislation by 2010.

Well governed and managed city
"This encompasses good governance, spatial integration, urban management and an accessible, safe and affordable transport system." Some programmes to ensure this happens include:

• The Growth Management Programme "to encourage and enforce a compact urban form by minimising demand for investment and services on the urban periphery and optimal utilisation of investment within the urban core, namely, land, infrastructure and capital expenditure";
• The Development Application Improvement Programme;
• The Urban Management Programme, which will focus on areas such as the Johannesburg inner city and the Randburg, Roodepoort and Lenasia CBDs; and
• The Strategic Public Transport Network Infrastructure Programme: "By the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup we aim to see road infrastructure and related furniture in place that really supports public transport. These will be the first public transport priority routes around the City, but not the only ones."

HIV/Aids
The final priority aims "to massively reduce HIV and Aids prevalence/incidence rates and that reduces the impact of HIV and Aids on communities". Various programmes will look at education, prevention strategies, the rollout of anti-retroviral treatment (ART) and community support projects:

• The HIV Prevention Programme will seek to prevent the spread of HIV and Aids through community mobilisation, information and condom provision;
• The Care and ART Support Programme will facilitate the rollout of ARTs, supporting treatment adherence; and
• The HIV and Aids Community Care and Capacity Development Programme will involve expanding Jozi Ihlomile and other community outreach programmes to help people or households in need.