The City of Johannesburg will defend its residents against the African National Congress’s (ANC's) most recent "smokescreen for clawing their way back" into the city and continuing their "rampant legacy of corruption", mayor Herman Mashaba said on Sunday.

"The city [has] been given notice of the ANC’s most recent tactic for undermining the will of our residents and forcing their way into the city – challenging our Integrated Development Plan (IDP) for the 2017/18 financial year in yet another frivolous court application," he said.

The city council passed the IDP and budget for the 2017/18 period in May this year. The IDP was the city’s strategic framework for achieving much needed service delivery within the city, and delivering the change residents demanded during the last local government elections.

Johannesburg had the potential to be a city of golden opportunities for all its residents and the IDP was the roadmap for realising that potential.

The ANC’s most recent action was nothing short of an attempt at undermining the residents’ will. It followed the ANC’s motion of no confidence which was nothing more than another baseless attempt to "enrich themselves at the expense of residents".

"The city has every intention of defending our residents against the ANC’s most recent smokescreen for clawing their way back into the city and continuing their rampant legacy of corruption," Mashaba said.

"Time and time again the ANC has shown that it will go to any lengths to get back into power. Indeed, during the IDP public participation process it was the ANC which was responsible for disruption at our public meetings. Despite this, our IDP public participation process was successful," he said.

Through the recent IDP consultations, the city managed to reach over 8 000 residents throughout the city, compared with 3 000 under the ANC. The city also received over 1 000 written submissions and over 2 000 interactions on its social media platforms.

"The IDP represents this administration’s keen desire to get Johannesburg working so as to improve the lived experiences of those residents who, despite their hard work and dedication, still struggle to get ahead in life.

"As the new administration, we are committed to building a working Johannesburg with improved opportunities and services for residents. We will not allow the ANC [to] derail that project," Mashaba said.