De Jager warns that if services are terminated, the city will be forced to shut down its servers.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng has warned that the City of Johannesburg’s failure to pay for its firewall licensing services could cripple essential metro systems and expose residents’ personal data to cyberattacks.
According to DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Infrastructure Development, Nico de Jager, the city has not paid for its firewall licensing since September 2024, despite the system being vital to protecting billing services, emergency communications and sensitive personal information.
“The City of Johannesburg has failed to pay for its firewall licensing services since September 2024. This lapse could potentially affect vital systems in the metro, including billing services, emergency communications, and the protection of residents’ personal information,” said De Jager.
Partial payment and broken promises
De Jager revealed that after almost a year of non-payment, the city quietly paid only 60% of the R19 million owed last month, and promised to settle the remaining 40% in two tranches, 20% on 5 September 2025 and the other 20% in September 2026.
“Despite this commitment, the City failed to pay the service provider on Friday, showing a lack of seriousness in resolving this debt and demonstrating the metro’s dishonesty in handling this situation,” he said.
The contract had included a 30% discount on condition that the amount be paid upfront, but the city breached that agreement.
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Risk of service shutdown and financial losses
De Jager warned that if the service provider terminated its services and disabled the firewall, the city would be forced to shut down its servers to prevent cyberattacks.
“The failure to pay has dire consequences. This would severely affect service delivery to residents and cost the city the estimated R200 million it seeks to collect in daily revenue,” he said.
He added that unless the city secures a deviation to avoid breaching the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA), which prohibits advance payments, it is unlikely the amount will be paid upfront.
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DA demands answers and accountability
De Jager said the DA has submitted questions to MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Jacob Mamabolo, about the firewall deal and the loss of the upfront discount.
“The DA Caucus in Johannesburg will continue to expose every instance of financial recklessness and fight to have contract payments ring-fenced so that essential services like cybersecurity are never compromised again,” he said.
The City of Johannesburg has not responded to The Citizen’s enquiry.
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