“The environment that I observed was not a pleasing environment,” Ramaphosa said of a previous visit to Joburg.
President Cyril Ramaphosa met with the Johannesburg Council on Friday after visiting the city last weekend and meeting with the Gauteng provincial executive committee on Thursday.
In Thursday’s meeting, Ramaphosa expressed his disappointment at the state of the city and said service delivery needed to be addressed urgently.
“Sometimes it’s good to be direct and say it as it is; I should say that one or two meetings of the G20 that I attended here [in Johannesburg] were not very pleasing.
“The environment that one observed was not a pleasing environment. I say this so that we can improve immensely,” said Ramaphosa.
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi apologised to the president.
“I committed on behalf of the government that we will not have the situation that the president has come here to find. We have already put together a team. If you check, they have already put up CCTV cameras. We have had a joint meeting with the mayor to deal with this situation. However, we are not dealing with these issues specifically for G20. We need a legacy programme that can be enjoyed by all South Africans.”
