Johannesburg residents are so concerned about the running of the city they have banded together to stop the rot in the country's economic hub.

Under the banner of the Johannesburg Crisis Alliance, they met for a third time at the end of November in Mayfair to discuss the issues and potential solutions.

Many residents at the meeting were infrastructure experts who have worked in both the private and public sectors and have intimate knowledge of the city's issues and how to fix them.

They are offering their services for free to help mitigate the many crises.

The alliance was convened by the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), Action for Accountability, Defend our Democracy, and the Johannesburg Inner City Partnership.

Since its inception in July, many more organisations have joined the call to save the city.

In recent years, the city has been plagued by issues with electricity infrastructure – in addition to load shedding, water outages, and pothole-riddled roads.

Coalition chaos in the city's leadership has prevented the repair of vital infrastructure as the revolving door of government sees a new executive mayor, on average, every six months.

On 25 November, the alliance, chaired by the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation's executive director, Neeshan Balton, discussed the role of the provincial and national government and their requirement to step in and intervene if there is a failure in the city's financial management.

The meeting sought to find ways to fix the city.

Alliance members spoke about litigation over the failure of provincial and national governments to intervene in the crisis.

After the previous meeting on 7 October, the alliance sent a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa asking for a transitional forum to be established where the government, business, and civil society could deliberate on the process needed to fix the city.

The letter stated: "We … call on … President Cyril Ramaphosa to save South Africa's pre-eminent city from terminal decline.

"We call on the president to bring the coalition chaos in the CoJ [City of Johannesburg] to an immediate end by any legislative means possible.

"These could include placing the municipality under administration, altering the executive model, or dissolving the council.

"The residents of the city hold it within their power to force a fresh election to replenish the council and send out a strong message that the interests of the people cannot be undermined by party politics."

At the November meeting, Balton said the president had yet to respond.

But the alliance received a note to say the e-mail had made its way to the correct office.

Parliament apparently has a new service that vets e-mails and has prevented the e-mail from reaching the right leaders.

On 9 November, Deputy President Paul Mashatile said in a Q&A session in the National Assembly he "had seen a lot of news stories about Johannesburg" and would "immediately intervene".

This followed a question by the DA, who asked if Mashatile would support the party's call to dissolve the Johannesburg council after the "merry-go-round of motions of no confidence".

He said he found "intervention very helpful when we go to the ground to see the challenges".

"If there's a need to change people, it will be done.

"I'm as concerned as you are about Johannesburg - I'm worried - Johannesburg is supposed to be the shining star.

"We used to call it the Best African City [former executive mayor Parks Tau said Joburg would be a world-class African city]. We will go and intervene. We have to get Johannesburg right."

The alliance discussed the response in the meeting.

The director at the Gauteng City Region Observatory and leading alliance member, Rashid Seedat, said Mashatile was mandated to act and must be held to account for inaction if he did not.

He added the Democratic Alliance (DA) did not ask Mashatile when he would come to the city to "get Johannesburg right".

The meeting ended with a comment from Outa's Julius Kleynhans, who said citizens needed to ensure individuals in the council, who do not perform, were held to account.

"We cannot pay tax and expect an outcome from the City anymore. We need to embrace the alliance. It is now time for action," he added.

Meanwhile, the Johannesburg Water Crisis Committee, an offshoot of the alliance, protested at the latest ordinary sitting of council four days later.

Around 10 members of the non-governmental organization (NGO), established as a mouthpiece for the city's residents struggling without water, went to the Constance Connie Bapela Council Chamber to speak to Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda who snubbed an earlier meeting to play golf.

This after a water protest on 31 October where the committee handed Gwamanda a memorandum of demands - chief among them was a call for a public meeting within 14 days to present a credible plan for tackling the water crisis.

But, according to the committee, the mayor failed to meet the deadline for addressing the city's water challenges.

The committee, led by Farah Domingo, came to the chamber to hand over their memorandum again.

Gwamanda responded he thought their request had already been resolved.

He tried to avoid meeting the protesters on Wednesday but was eventually forced to do so by councillors in the chamber.

Domingo spoke to Gwamanda under the trees outside the council.

She told him the committee had a list of scientists, engineers and water experts who wanted to help the city - free of charge - if they were allowed to do so.

"We just need an opportunity," Domingo said.

A day later, the DA failed in its motion to dissolve the council.