The G20 Summit Shame: Why Does Jozi Only Clean Up for Visitors?

Spring is on its way, and I’ve noticed Johannesburg has been giving herself a bit of a spruce up. I sincerely hope it’s not just because the G20 summit is just around the corner.

If you’re going to fix the city, you’ve got to wash behind your ears—not just the bits that are immediately on display for our international visitors. This frenzy of sweeping and cleaning is a serious wake-up call for the City of Johannesburg. We shouldn’t need a major global event to maintain our home; we need to do this every single day of the week.

The Pride and the Shame of Johannesburg

I am super proud of Johannesburg. I’m proud to call it my home, and I’m proud to call my blog after it—JoziStyle. My radio work on Radio Today serves the greater Johannesburg community, in addition to South Africa and the globe. My social media handles are JoziStyle. It’s not an understatement when I say I love this city.

But I must admit, whenever I travel, I am always dazzled by how clean other cities are.

I remember a couple of times back in the early 2010s, I used to go to Cape Town. I’d hop into a taxi and tell the driver, “Wow, your city looks amazing! Are you expecting company?” This was during the time of the FIFA World Cup and other major events. And all the taxi drivers had one word: Zille.

Apparently, Helen Zille managed to clean that city so spick and span you would have sworn they were expecting visitors.

Johannesburg? I hang my head in shame.

Our city has become filthy, disgusting, dirty, decrepit, run down, and broken. Crime is rampant. There’s nothing that we can actually be genuinely proud of in terms of urban maintenance.

JoziStyle Opinion: If You Can Do It For Visitors, Do It For Citizens

So, I’m glad we’re having the G20 summit. I am glad to see that Johannesburg is dusting a few cobwebs out of the way. It’s high time. But here’s the kicker: if you can do it for visitors, you can do it for citizens, too. We, the people who pay the rates and taxes and live here, deserve that level of consistency and care.

This sudden burst of energy to fix potholes and tidy up the central business district shouldn’t be an event-driven anomaly; it should be the bare minimum standard. We need the same consistent, daily effort that sees other world-class cities thriving.

Frankly, we have the resources and the capacity. We just need the consistent will to maintain, not frantically prepare.

---

Spring Cleaning: Sprucing Up Our Lives

As we head into spring, this serves as a great metaphor for our own lives. If the city can get a sudden burst of energy to spruce itself up, so can we.

Speaking of sprucing ourselves up, I’ve been thinking about what that means in a broader, lifestyle sense. Beyond just cleaning out the wardrobe, a great way to “tidy up” our habits is to start thinking smarter about consumption, especially when it comes to food.

I’m very interested in upcycling food. It’s about being discerning and resourceful, making the most of what you have, and contributing to less waste—which is perhaps something the city could also learn a lesson or two from!

---

Comment: Are you proud of the state of our city?

Follow JoziStyle online and listen to us on air.