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Residents of South Africa’s richest metro will feel the pinch when Johannesburg’s electricity tariffs increase by 12.7%, water by 7.7% and rates by 3.8% as of 1 July. The city’s finance MMC, Dada Morero, announced these increases on Tuesday when tabling an R83.1-billion budget – up from the previous financial year’s R80.9-billion.
Morero’s 36-page budget was tabled under the theme “An inclusive budget that leaves no one behind”.
The city, with a population of more than six million, faces myriad challenges including tight fiscal pressures, crumbling infrastructure, service delivery and revenue collection problems and the provision of electricity and potable water.
“We understand our challenges, that the city is struggling to raise its revenue capacity that needs to be supported by continuous investment in refurbishing and replacing infrastructure that maximally responds to the needs of our residents…
“To systematically address these challenges, difficult choices and trade-offs had to be made to ensure that the budget priorities and investments in the city’s IDP [integrated development plan] programmes drive revenue improvement, curb leakages, whilst being mindful of the developmental needs in Johannesburg,” Morero said.
In February, Daily Maverick reported that all three Gauteng metros – Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane – were in deep trouble after National Treasury announced its intention to deprive them of a combined R1.83-billion in development allocation grants because of underperformance.
Click here to read the full article on the Daily Maverick website.