Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero has until this Friday to explain why the National Treasury should not suspend funding transfers to the City of Johannesburg.
Last week, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana issued the metro with a final notice of his intention to halt the transfer of funds, citing growing fiscal challenges.
The Treasury is placing pressure on the City of Johannesburg to address deteriorating financial governance, including R1.2 billion owed to Rand Water and more than R3 billion owed to Eskom.
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Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) CEO Wayne Duvenhage says it is encouraging to see the national government intervening at ministerial level.
Duvenhage says, “We see massive debt rising. And the city of Joburg really shouldn’t be in this precarious position with its finances. It just has been poorly managed. And so it’s good for us to see the minister now putting his foot down and putting the ball into Dada Morero’s court to explain why you think we shouldn’t. Now, obviously, he’s going to give every reason he can. And this is certainly not good for politics…”
“In the past, the politicians have intervened and not allowed the Treasury to take these tough stances. But for the first time, we’re seeing that the politicians are realising that that was part of the problem,” Duvenhage adds.
Dada Morero’s State of the City Address:
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