Join WaterCAN’s Call for Joburg to Rewrite the Water Budget

Sign WaterCAN’s petition calling on the City of Joburg to table an amended budget on 30 January with more funding for water and sanitation infrastructure

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WaterCAN calls on the City of Johannesburg to table an adjustment budget which increases the capital spending on water and sanitation infrastructure from R1.221bn to R3bn for 2024/25 and to R3bn for 2025/26.

The adjustment budget is due to be tabled at the council’s first meeting of the year on 30 January. This should then be available for public comment.

WaterCAN, an initiative of OUTA, is running a petition calling on the City to rewrite the budget and calling on active citizens to sign this petition.

“Water is the most essential service which the municipality provides, but Joburg fails to fund this adequately. We want the City to prioritise upgrading and maintaining water infrastructure,” says Dr Ferrial Adam, WaterCAN Executive Manager.

“Access to water is a constitutional right.”

The problem

Joburg’s water and sanitation infrastructure is falling apart due to aging infrastructure and inadequate maintenance, and there are insufficient funds for new infrastructure to expand and improve the system. Millions of litres of water are wasted daily due to infrastructure failures – Joburg loses 47% of all the treated water it buys to theft and leaks.

Water cuts have become common in Joburg, with some areas suffering cuts for weeks at a time. Johannesburg is at risk of a water disaster that threatens public health, economic stability and the environment. Underserved communities are disproportionately affected by unreliable supply.

The 2024/25 budget

The City has budgeted on the expectation of collecting R10.632 billion from customers for water services plus R7.246 billion for sanitation services during 2024/25, a total revenue of R17.878 billion and intended to cover all its operational expenditure budget of R17.658 billion. The capital expenditure budget is separate, and includes grant funding from national government. The utility’s billing and collections are managed centrally by the City of Joburg which, over the years, has retained control of any annual surplus.

What we want

  • The City should increase the Joburg Water capex budget to R3bn for 2024/25 and R3bn for 2025/26.
  • The City should prioritise upgrading and maintaining water infrastructure, and ringfence the revenue from the water and sanitation services for use for those services.
  • See our petition (here) for more information.

Finding the money

Providing water and sanitation is a core service.

The City will have to reprioritise spending to provide more funds for this.

We offer some suggestions:

  • The City should provide a more detailed breakdown of spending, so residents can see what they are paying for and, through the public participation process, indicate which items should be cut.
  • The City Manager’s office budgets R26.278 million for capital spending and R1.916bn for operational spending for 2024/25. Cut this. This spending is not justified in such a badly managed municipality. This office spends nearly R1bn on staff salaries, but also uses contractors at another R334m. “Operational costs” are R614m, which does not provide sufficient detail.
  • Group Finance costs about R6bn a year. Why is this so much, particularly when the City’s revenue collection is so poor? Cut this.
  • The Speaker and council get R5.575m over three years for “Tools of Trade” (ie computers) for the 270 councillors, including R2.4m in 2024/25. This is an average of R20 648 per councillor. They received R3m for this in 2023/24, R3m in 2022/23 and R1.6m in 2021/22. Thus since the 2021 local government election, Joburg has spent R10m on computers for 270 councillors, an average of R37 000 each. This seems unnecessarily expensive and should be cut.
  • The joint Municipal Entities accounts costs about R2bn a year. What is this for, if billing and administration is centralised in Group Finance? Cut this. In particular, cut the costs of entity boards.
  • Human Settlements receives R1.240bn for capital spending. It may be more sensible to move some of this funding into providing water and sanitation solutions for informal settlements, rather than trying to fund housing.
  • The City has indicated that it intends renting additional offices, due to the damage to the existing offices. We want to see these costs clearly listed in the budget, as we question this expense: the building should not have been allowed to deteriorate to the extent that it did, and City officials should use existing City buildings and offices, not rent additional space.

 

About WaterCAN:

WaterCAN is a dedicated environmental organisation committed to preserving and protecting South Africa’s water resources. With a mission to promote responsible water management and raise awareness about water quality, the organisation empowers communities to become proactive stewards of their local water sources. If you would like to support our work, kindly Donate Here.