President Cyril Ramaphosa says he was not impressed with the state of Johannesburg when he attended a G20 meeting in the city, however, he has afforded the province another chance to prove themselves at the final G20 summit in November.

South Africa is heading the presidency of the G20 this year with most meetings taking place in Gauteng.

Ramaphosa addressed a gathering of Cabinet and Gauteng Members of Executive Council (MECs) at the Johannesburg City Council in Braamfontein on Thursday.

This was part of his oversight visit to the province to assess the progress in service delivery.

“To be direct and tell it how it is, I should say one or two G20 meetings that I attended here were not very pleasing. The environment that one observed was not a pleasing environment,” he said.

Ramaphosa warned Gauteng that they should not regret making it the host of the meeting.

But he said there was room for improvement and to showcase Gauteng’s work.

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“As South Africans, we are proud people, and let us get that pride that we have, self-pride, lift us so that we do present a G20 that will wow people so that when people look at what we offer and present, they must just say wow, this is how South Africans do it,” he said.

Driving to the Nasrec Expo Centre in Soweto two weeks ago, municipal workers could be seen cutting grass, trimming trees, and also removing garbage from the streets.

There was police presence on the highways and also on roads around the area. This is where the G20 foreign ministers meeting was held.

Ramaphosa addressed the gathering amid the ongoing crisis in the province.

Gauteng municipalities are plagued by crumbling infrastructure, including pothole-riddled roads, malfunctioning traffic lights, crime, a water crisis, poor service delivery, and financial mismanagement.

Little has been done to address the leaking sewer systems, uncollected waste, water throttling, and power cuts that have become a constant reality for locals across the province.

This is the fourth engagement that the Cabinet has had with the leadership of a province.

kamogelo.moichela@iol.co.za

IOL Politics