Ramaphosa defends clean-up of Johannesburg ahead of G20 Leaders' Summit

President Cyril Ramaphosa has defended the clean-up of Johannesburg ahead of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in just over two weeks’ time, saying it will set a benchmark for future service delivery.

Answering questions in the National Assembly on Thursday afternoon, Ramaphosa again expressed his displeasure about the performance of local government.

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But he said rather than question the motivation for fixing up the city’s surrounds, political parties should help to prepare for the global visitors.

President Ramaphosa said it was only natural to spruce up ahead of visitors’ arrival, and that it was obvious that India had done the same when it hosted the G20 in 2023.

But the Democratic Alliance (DA)'s Ryan Smith told the president it was a shame that the G20 Summit has prompted the beautification of Johannesburg when residents have had to endure poor service delivery for years.

Ramaphosa agreed that the City of Gold was in a poor state.

"Our local government situation is not pleasing at all. We must all admit that. But rather than navel gaze and pointing fingers, I call on all of us to stand up and do something."

He said that the G20 clean-up should set the standard for continued service delivery, not only in Johannesburg.

"We don’t want to fall back and go back to what Johannesburg was, and I do believe that we are going to use this as a benchmark."

Following recent visits to Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia, Ramaphosa said that he was impressed by how clean their capital cities were.

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