Speeches on the state of the state are inevitably wanting. We yearn for leadership in uncertain times and want inspiration, the feeling that life, the city, is not falling apart. Leaders need to convey the sense that we don’t live in a completely corrupted society, that the future is in trustworthy hands. But that’s not enough. We need concrete proof that things are changing: numbers, initiatives, project announcements; fancy rhetoric does not run a government. So we get packaged promises, but these updates are rarely new. After all, it is the state of the city/province/nation, not prizegiving day or an episode of Oprah’s Favourite Things. In the balance, the speeches often amount to little, especially when a growing trust deficit means many people are unlikely to believe the claims.

On Wednesday, Joburg Mayor Parks Tau delivered a proud speech. Like Gauteng Premier David Makhura, he seems to know that preaching mantras like “a good story to tell” divide rather than unite citizens. Instead, the mayor acknowledged and appeared solemn about the city’s problems. Then he outlined targets to overcome them. The line he repeated throughout the speech comes from Thabo Mbeki: “We must ensure that today is better than yesterday and that tomorrow will be better than today.”

Facing recent issues of xenophobia, load shedding, and public transport catastrophies, on top of poverty and unemployment, Tau appealed to the best of the city, the feeling that it’s going somewhere, is a good place to be. Using Mbeki’s statement, he touched the Paulo Coelho in us, knowing that improvement is a process requiring day-by-day work and patient commitment. Last year, Tau, who has been mayor since 2011, also tried to inspire, touching on 20 years of democracy and the Freedom Charter. But this address was more targeted, less laden with detail, and had a coherent theme. It was an election speech, with the 2016 local government elections only a year away.

The mayor outlined plans on key youth issues. On unemployment he said the new Vulindlela eJozi programme, which he said would screen, assess and advise youth, would break down barriers for job opportunities for 200,000 youth by 2016. The wording was vague and the jaded “job opportunities” phrase was the best he offered. Tau said it will provide advisory services and numeracy, literacy and digital training. It will supplement the Jozi@Work programme, which the mayor repeatedly emphasised is a hand up, not a handout (while many are still wondering what it actually is) and the Harambee Youth Accelerator.

Tau went big on aims to improve internet access and digital skills. In a city of 4.8 million people, probably the most important to not just the country’s but the continent’s economy, over 50 percent of people do not have regular internet access. “Digital access is becoming as much an equity issue in our society as access to water and electricity,” said the mayor. There are strategic partnerships with the University of Johannesburg and Wits on digital initiatives and the City sees a few thousand jobs coming from their programmes. Braamfontein will see blanket access to wi-fi, which will help students, both in their studies and while posting drunk selfies on Instagram.

Touching on xenophobia, Tau sent out a message to foreigners: “We stand with you, as our brothers and sisters. Our home is your home. We speak with the authority of the vast majority of decent Joburgers who are repulsed and saddened by the racist, xenophobic and Afrophobic actions taken by a selfish minority of criminals.”

The other topical issue is load shedding. Tau said Joburg is finding innovative solutions to the crisis. Organic waste will be diverted to bio-digesters for fuel and energy, smart meters are being rolled out, and the Kelvin power station is providing 200 megawatts, about seven percent of the city’s needs. Tau said the range of initiatives can reduce power from the grid by 25 percent, potentially avoiding load shedding in City Power areas.

After the address, leader of the Johannesburg DA Caucus Vasco da Gama said Tau’s speech had a “nice theme” but did not address the real issues; it was about elections. For Da Gama the key issues are providing proper services rather than “grand schemes” and “temporary jobs”. Every month the City fails to collect R200 million in collections, said Da Gama, and 3,600 jobs across the municipality’s structures remain vacant. He said the City has no forward planning. When asked about the Joburg 2040: Growth and Development Strategy, Da Gama said there is a plan, “but I think they are completely out of kilter with that plan”. As an example, he referred to the Helen Joseph Women’s Hostel in Alexandra. In his speech last year, Tau announced it would be refurbished, yet it remains in a dire condition. Da Gama also said the Kelvin power station should have been used to reach its 600 megawatt potential much earlier.

“We must ensure that today is better than yesterday and that tomorrow will be better than today.” Tau re-jigged Mbeki’s quote throughout his presentation. Such framing is a “shrewd and clever approach,” said Wits Professor Susan Booysen, author of Regeneration of Political Power. It tells voters to expect some progress, but not a miracle. Essentially, it offers hope that given enough time and the right circumstances, things will be better. She said it’s a key ANC strategy “to make sure that people continue to see the liberation process is not complete”.

Might it help avoid the scandals of the national leadership, particularly President Jacob Zuma? Elections in South Africa have a tendency to focus on the same themes as the ANC closes ranks and focuses on its struggle links, said Booysen. Yet results in local elections often deviate, slightly, from the national and provincial vote, with communities more likely to punish the incumbent. “Local politics are more tangible,” she added. The issues are closer and so are those responsible.

As we head towards the 2016 municipal elections, the question is whether the call for young voters to recognise slow but steady improvement will resonate. First, of course, the ANC will have to convince voters that amongst the scandals and failures, which get more airtime, there have been improvements. Second, it will have to convince them it’s the party to continue the trend.

The problem is that while Tau, and surely his colleagues, call for moderate and realistic expectations, many voters believed in a miracle that has not come true. Both the DA and Economic Freedom Fighters will campaign on more radical agendas, right and left. As far as annual speeches go, Tau was impressive, but will the promise of gradual improvement be enough to temper the anger of voters who want much more, much faster? DM

Photo: Parks Tau, Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, speaks during the workshop ‘Learning from Leading Cities’ at the Annual Meeting 2014 of the World Economic Forum at the congress centre in Davos, January 23, 2014. (WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM/swiss-image.ch/Photo Jolanda Flubacher)