• The Mayor of Johannesburg Kabelo Gwamanda says that residents should keep paying their municipal fees if they want to continue receiving services.
• This as the Johannesburg City Council approves a plan to shift some of the city’s budget towards Pikitup, Joburg Water, and City Power.
• The comments come as residents across Johannesburg face a water shortage.

As Johannesburg deals with a widespread water shortage and an overworked power utility, the executive mayor of the city Kabelo Gwamanda says that key services entities such as City Power, Joburg Water, and refuse collector Pikitup need more money, and that residents should keep paying their levies and rates.

The Joburg mayor asserts in a media statement published by the municipality that it is because of “unfavourable economic conditions, escalating costs, job losses, and loadshedding affecting revenue generation” that these services have detoriarated in the last several years.

“Highlighting the impact of loadshedding on revenue collection, Mayor Gwamanda noted a significant shortfall in electricity billing compared to budgeted expectations, necessitating a decrease in citywide expenditures,” the statement reads.

“To mitigate financial strains and improve service delivery, the City plans to fast-track partnerships with Independent Power Producers for stable electricity supply, implement smart technologies for load management, and enhance water sustainability through waste-water treatment projects.

According to the statement, the Council of Johannesburg has approved certain budget adjustments aimed at “prioritising critical services, enhancing revenue collection, and addressing economic challenges impacting the city.” The approval of the plan came on 8th March and was passed by a majority vote.

Somehow 39 of Johannesburg council members voted against the idea, despite the obvious mounting challenges the city, the wealthiest in Africa, is facing, including poor road maintenance, faltering electrical infrastructure, water shortages, and rampant vandalism.

Gwamanda has urged residents to keep paying for municipal services to “ensure uninterrupted service provision.” The Joburg mayor spent the weekend at a reggae festival amid the ongoing water woes.

There are areas in Johannesburg without water for two weeks now after a flash-over at the Eikenhoff sub-station cut power supply to a key Rand Water pumping station, ceasing the pumps. Reservoirs in Linden, Blairgowrie, Kensington, as well as areas like Yeoville, Parktown, Glen Vista and others are still experiencing water supply challenges as of earlier this week.

Earlier this month, Finance MMC for Gauteng Jacob Mamabolo announced that the province will have a budget of R165.8 billion for 2024 and 2025. In particular, the province has a budget of R37.2 billion for the delivery and maintenance of public infrastructure. A percentage of this budget will seemingly be geared towards improving Johannesburg’s key utilities in the near future.

It is believed that over 4 000 pipes will burst every month in Johannesburg. Every day will see 140 burst pipes along Johannesburg roads. Meanwhile City Power said that it is dealing with widespread occurances of “sabotage” across the city, with over 1 000 incidents of vandalism of power infrastructure recorded in the latter half of 2023 alone.

The company says that most vandals simply destroy public property for the sake of it.

With residents taking to social media to air their greivances with the state of Johannebsurg’s government, and some claiming that they are seeing less service delivery despite increasing fees, time will tell how long the current administration of the city lasts until the next motion of no confidence.

[Image – Photo by tebogo losaba on Unsplash]