Why can't Joburg get their shit together?

It feels like since forever that the citizen's of Africa's greatest metropolis, Johannesburg, have whinged and whined about the dismal state of their city.

If it's not the crime, it's the shocking municipal mismanagement that needs to be endured.

The thing is though, Joburg is home to South Africa's biggest and most powerful companies, millions of driven and capable people and generates a higher proportion of the country's wealth than anywhere else.

So why is it, after all of this time, that the city can't seem to get its affairs in order?

Why do the citizens just put up with the rot?

Joburgers have never struck me as passive people, but when it comes to the administration of their city they just seem to accept whatever slop is dished out.

Posting pictures of what you don't want isn't magically going to manifest anything but more of the same. This approach hasn't shifted the outcome since the 90s, so don't expect it to somehow produce a different result now.

If the 'as it will be' future of your city is dire, then get busy getting clear about what it is that you do want, and accept only that preferred picture as the end result.

Who is it that is benefitting from the decay?

Identify who / what it is that is perpetuating the creation of 'what's not wanted' and purposefully weaken their connection to influence and power.

That's an obvious first step.

Surely there are more people who want the city to function well than the number that want it to fail? So simply use the power of the majority to fix it.

It's blindly assumed that the solution is a political one, but that mechanism includes forces at play beyond just the proper functioning of the city itself.

Turning once again to that lever as a presumed fix will more than likely produce a yet another disappointing result as it has done so many times in the past. It doesn't take a lot of deep insight to clearly see that history will repeat itself. A political solution is clearly not the right choice.

What's needed is some free and creative thinking.

What's needed is some boldness to accept that, possibly, the solution lies outside of the normal collection of tools.

• Instead of turning to blame, what else might be available that could shift the thinking of the city?
• Outside of traditional political channels, how else might citizens create the conditions under which the kind of city that is wanted might have a better chance of coming about?
• How might people organise themselves to affect the positive change in behaviour that is needed?
• What does a city moving forward together look like?
• What does a shared vision for the future of the city look like?
• What opportunities does a properly functioning Johannesburg offer those who live and work there?
• What does South Africa look like with a Johannesburg that is producing huge amount of societal value?
• What will it be like to live in a Joburg that is the envy of the world?

All the citizens of Johannesburg themselves will need to take responsibility for the collective future of their city.

And South Africa needs Joburg to become the city that it potentially could be.