Zille warns Joburg is 'effectively bankrupt'
The DA’s mayoral candidate for Johannesburg, Helen Zille, says the city is effectively bankrupt.
This after Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana revealed in a letter to Mayor Dada Morero that the metro owes creditors 25 billion rand while holding only four billion rand in cash, leaving a shortfall of more than 21 billion rand.
Godongwana also warned Morero that state funding to the city will be halted unless a R10.3 billion wage agreement is scrapped.
According to the minister, the two-year agreement with the South African Municipal Workers Union was signed illegally.
Zille told the media that the dire financial position is at the heart of failing service delivery, including persistent power and water outages.
“ The minister's letter also bluntly states that the city has violated the laws governing municipal finances, and that these illegal actions have the potential to destroy the sustainability of the City of Johannesburg beyond this term of office, as well as the negative impact on the national economy at large.”
ActionSA also raised an alarm, saying Johannesburg residents are already experiencing the consequences of financial instability through collapsing infrastructure, unreliable service delivery, mounting governance failures, and declining public confidence in the city’s ability to manage its finances responsibly.
This, while RISE Mzansi accused the administration of playing politics and cutting corners to everyone’s demise.
“As a result, the city’s six million residents, the city’s employees, and the broader business community will continue to suffer from unsafe streets, leaking pipes, uncollected refuse and crumbling roads,” said RISE Mzansi Chief Organiser Makashule Gana.
