The City of Johannesburg could soon have control over the operations of City Power, Joburg Water and Pikitup. This was announced by the city’s mayor Herman Mashaba on Sunday.

Mashaba said it was challenging for the city to be “responsible and accountable to its residents for fast-tracking service delivery when it does not have complete control over the entities that implement delivery”.

This is because the managing directors and chief operating officers of entities such as Joburg Water and Pikitup report to an exclusive board of directors.

Mashaba said it was absurd that while the city is the sole shareholder of these entities, all operate under the Company’s Act and are “semi-autonomous of the city”.

He said he hoped all these entities would be reintegrated into the structures of the city within the next year and a half.

Report approved

On Thursday last week, the city council approved a report which proposed introducing a process to reintegrate municipal-owned entities including the electricity, waste and water entities.

Mashaba said the report contained the details of the process that should be undertaken to reintegrate these entities. This includes how to conduct feasibility studies, how to incorporate public consultation and how to establish task teams.

Mashaba reiterated that through this process, no jobs would be lost and that this reintegration would help save the city money as the salaries of non-executive board members for these entities cost around R18m a year.