We Need to Change The Law – President Cyril Rampahosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the fire that ravaged a dilapidated building in Johannesburg this week was a “wake-up” call and that the government must do more to provide adequate services to citizens.

“This has given us a wake-up call. I have said our cities and municipalities must now pay attention to how people live,” Ramaphosa said at the ANC’s manifesto engagement with the media in Sandton on Saturday.

He said there needs to be a complete overhaul of laws and regulations that impeded processes such as providing adequate housing.

“We do encourage people to live in the inner city so that we densify the city but they must do it in accordance with the law.”

He had instructed ministers to examine how laws could be changed to allow the government to act faster without violating people’s rights.

“The restrictions on development placed on us as the government are detrimental to development and progress. Red tape and restrictions impede us from doing right by our people. I have directed ministers and various people to get us to start looking at the unnecessary laws that would, if not changed, violate people’s rights.

“So people’s rights need to be respected, but those rules, protocols and laws that we have a put in place need to be reviewed because they impede us.”

When asked about housing provision thrust into the spotlight because of the deadly fire, the president repeated earlier messages from city government officials and ministers who attended the scene in Marshalltown this week.

The president said he had been told that municipal officials had attempted to deal with dilapidated buildings but were impeded by court orders from non-profit organisations, and this is why they could not swiftly deal with hijacked buildings.

Shock, grief and heartbreak set in after a deadly fire ripped through a five-storey building in Johannesburg.

He walked back on trying to blame NGOs for numerous court interdicts when the government attempted to deal with hijacked buildings.

The president said he did not believe NGOs were the problem, and the government wanted to cooperate with the organisations.

His statements contradict what Johannesburg politicians have said about the fire that had left at least 76 people dead by Saturday.

Ramaphosa said:

We do not see NGOs as the problem. They play a very critical role in the body politics of this country, and we want to cooperate on the issue of housing. We are already working with them, and where there are weaknesses, we have to address those.

Ramaphosa was giving a glimpse of the ANC’s elections manifesto review, which takes place on Sunday.

This review aims to convince voters that the party had made promises in 2019 and was actively working at achieving them ahead of the 2024 elections.

The ANC leader made surprising points during his brief address, saying the party had yet to achieve the bulk of its promises in its 2019 manifesto but was actively working to achieve it.

He also pushed back on why he insisted on blaming apartheid for many of the country’s problems.

“What we inherited in 1994 and where we are today, progress has been made. What should be clear is that in 1994, that shadow of apartheid has continued to cast its shadow on everything we have tried to do. What this democratic government has tried to do is undo the damage caused by apartheid,” Ramaphosa.