OPINION | Put Johannesburg under administration

On one hand, it is heartening to see Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana giving Joburg mayor Dada Morero a two-week deadline to address the city’s escalating financial troubles.

However, if the minister carries out his threat to cut grant funding to the city, matters are only going to get worse for residents and ratepayers.

Yesterday, DA Joburg caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku set out the consequences for a failure to heed the warning.

“Johannesburg’s R89 billion budget is funded through a mix of grants, loans, revenue collection and conditional grants.

“Conditional grants, which form a significant portion of the city’s funding, can only be spent on what they are intended for,” she said.

“If Treasury pulls back or suspends these funds, as the minister warns in his letter, the city’s ability to deliver the little basic services it is currently able to deliver, will collapse entirely.”

Dire Johannesburg finances

The numbers are horrific. Apart from repeated non-compliance with the Municipal Finance Management Act, the metro incurred R1.4 billion in unauthorised expenditure, R22 billion in irregular expenditure, and R705 million in fruitless and wasteful spending.

Let’s put that in plain language: the comrades are looting the city’s coffers. If there is another explanation, we’d like to hear it.

Apart from the lack of service delivery – power, water, roads, traffic lights are all in a state of collapse – the city abuses those residents who do pay by saddling them with outrageous – and frequently incorrect – bills.

All the while, however, those who can afford to pay but don’t – we’re looking at many of you in Soweto, for example – are allowed to get away with it.

We would like to suggest a better option: put Johannesburg under administration, as has been done with other delinquent municipalities around the country.

Then, fire useless politicians like Morero and bring in experts to fix the mess.

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