SOWETAN | Joburgers pay arm and leg for city’s mismanagement

Hard-pressed Joburg ratepayers are bracing for steep tariff increases in municipal rates from July 1 after the city confirmed its increased budget this week.

Electricity tariffs are set to increase by up to 9%, refuse collection by 6.2%, water by 11% and property rates by 3.6%.

These sharp increases will take effect after Joburg finance MMC Loyiso Masuku tabled an increased budget for the metro, which now totals R97.1bn for the 2026/27 financial year.

Masuku admitted the city’s finances were under pressure, with revenue collection severely constrained. But more than the challenges the metro is facing in recouping what is owed by residents for services rendered, there can be no denying that the city is also facing multiple crises.

With service delivery at its lowest ebb in years, the metro has lost the trust of its residents in fulfilling its mandate of providing services needed. Infrastructure has collapsed due to a lack of maintenance, traffic lights are vandalised in broad daylight, and water mains are left leaking and unattended for days.

The cumulative effect of all these is a city battling to run its affairs, with potholes becoming the defining feature of its roads, with constant power outages and the stark reality of water shortages.

The city’s finances have come under sharp scrutiny in recent weeks, with two national ministers having to intervene in its affairs.

First, it was finance minister Enoch Godongwana who called the city’s bluff after it signed a R10bn wage agreement with its employees.

This week, it was electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa’s turn after Eskom threatened to plunge Joburg into darkness due to a ballooning R5.2bn debt.

While this week’s meeting ended with assurances of no drastic steps, the decision to send Eskom technical support staff to the city sends a clear message about the financial mess Joburg finds itself in.

Effectively, the city cannot be trusted to keep to its word in honouring its repayment agreement of the Eskom debt, which has been increasing over the years. Therefore, the solution available was to have Eskom officials babysit the metro to ensure that all revenue collected from electricity supply to customers is not redirected to other needs.

Red flags have been raised previously that revenue collected by Joburg Water and forwarded to the city’s coffers only existed on paper and could not be accounted for. Therefore, the hefty price Joburg residents will be paying come July is partly due to poor financial management and the city’s dysfunction.