Joburg’s R80.9b belt-tightening budget lays solid foundation for the future
City Power was allocated an operational budget of R23.7b and a three-year capital budget of R4.3b.
One of the objectives of the 2023/24 budget in the City of Johannesburg was to restore the city’s financial position and ensure residents received the services they deserved.
The MMC for Finance in the City of Johannesburg, Dada Morero, delivered the 2023/24 budget speech in the Constance Bapela Council Chamber on June 13.
This speech had the theme: “Let us make the impossible possible by making Joburg a centre for economic growth and development”.
Morero vividly painted the city’s dire financial state by highlighting its unaffordable levels of debt and water and electricity losses. He said the city needed at least R4.3b monthly to fund its operations and deliver services to survive. Unfortunately, there was no R4.3b to achieve that.
“At a financial level, we inherited a city that was in arrears with supplier payments, had no cash in the bank, was not servicing its long-term debt, had low levels of operating and capital budget, had a deficit of R 291m, and had wastage caused by fraud in housing, water, non-essentials and bad management,” said Morero.
The budget for 2023/2024 is about R80.9b. Its operational expenditure sits at R73.3b, while capital expenditure stands at R7.6b for 2023/24, with a three-year capital budget of R24.4b.
The capital budget spreads across the medium term. An operational expenditure budget of R45b this financial year was allocated to the sustainable services cluster.
Morero said he was confident the finances would be rebuilt.
“We will rebuild the finances of this city by following stringent financial principles and present our city as an investment-attractive destination and partner to our financial institutions and the broader investor base of the country and beyond.
“We assure our people that our ‘belt-tightening’ approach in this budget will provide a solid foundation for the future, and the city will be well-positioned to counter the economic downturn and provide improved protection to our most vulnerable.”
