Joburg Collapses on Morero’s Watch

Statement by Patrick Atkinson MP – DA Spokesperson on SCOPA:

DA questioning in Parliament today has left Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero buckling under pressure and unable to answer for the dire state of the Metro’s finances under ANC-coalition governance. Today before Parliament it was made clear that residents of Johannesburg have a placeholder Mayor – not a forthright, effective administration.

As this year’s November Local Government Election approaches, the Morero administration is “walking-dead” and voters have the power to end the ANC-sponsored destruction of Johannesburg.

Johannesburg is governed by the ANC, the EFF, the PA and others. These parties all have the stain of failure and destruction on their hands.

Today’s meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCoPA) saw Morero unable to answer the following:

1. Why the ANC-coalition failed to heed the Minister of Finance’s unprecedented warning on its unfunded budget and R10.3bn wage agreement, which the City has no money for. While the ANC seeks to secure an election gimmick, should the Finance Minister withhold Johannesburg’s equitable share at the end of the month (as National Treasury provides approx. 32% of the City’s cashflow), residents and businesses will be left with more blackouts, water losses and worse service delivery.
2. Despite a R220bn infrastructure backlog and the City’s infrastructure spend already being below National Treasury’s baseline, only 49% of the infrastructure budget had been spent as of Q3 2025/26. By the third financial quarter, infrastructure spend should be at least 70%. As City Power and Joburg Water already do not have enough cash on hand to last a single month, this means more water and electricity outages for residents and businesses, which the next administration will need to urgently fix.
3. The City has also written off or ‘regularised’ R24.5bn in irregular, fruitless and wasteful, as well as unauthorised expenditure for 2024/25. In just one financial year, this is more than half of the total figure over five years, at R45.2bn. Rather than urgently approaching law enforcement bodies like the SIU to recover this money, the City has folded its arms and resolved to first go to the Disciplinary Board.

Johannesburg’s next government needs to be the start of a new chapter.

What was revealed in SCOPA today was a dire indictment on the ANC, ActionSA, EFF, PA and others – who have brought Johannesburg to its knees. They should be deeply ashamed of themselves for their record of misgovernance in Johannesburg.

Only under a DA-led majority will there be hope to turn Johannesburg around, with the right financial management, after the November election. The stakes have never been higher.