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Joburg mayor Dada Morero says the metro will work with Eskom and the national government to resolve the city’s growing electricity debt crisis.
The mayor’s statement comes amid mounting pressure over the municipality’s reported R5.2bn debt owed to the power utility.
Delivering his state of the city address on Wednesday, Morero acknowledged fears surrounding Eskom’s latest notices to municipalities and said the city was taking the matter seriously. “This challenge is not only affecting the City of Johannesburg but several municipalities across the country,” he said.
“We will not fight Eskom. We will work with the minister of electricity and energy, and Salga (SA local government association) to resolve this challenge.”
Electricity and energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa is expected to meet city leadership next week to discuss the Eskom debt and its threats to plunge Johannesburg into darkness over the arrears.
“Over and above turnaround plans, we are calling upon institutions like the National Treasury, Public Protector and the Special Investigating Unit to investigate the finances of the city,” Morero said.
In 2019 we inherited a broke city. Fact, not fiction. For us, this meant rebuilding financial systems and putting in place controls
— Dada Morero, Joburg mayor
He admitted Johannesburg’s infrastructure and utility pressures remained severe, revealing that the city’s combined infrastructure backlog now exceeded R220bn.
“Our infrastructure challenges are delaying our growth. Water mains failure is the highest in all metros. Non-revenue water losses are at 44.7%. Electricity losses are at 27.1%,” he said.
“The budget speech will allocate resources. Alone, we will not win this battle of backlogs.”
Morero said the city inherited a financially distressed administration in 2019 and had since worked to rebuild internal controls and stabilise municipal finances.
“We opened our books and demonstrated to the world that Johannesburg is experiencing financial challenges. Managing this task was not easy. In 2019 we inherited a broke city. Fact, not fiction. For us, this meant rebuilding financial systems and putting in place controls.”
Morero said the city had since adopted a fully funded R89.4bn budget for the 2025/26 financial year, with projected operational revenue of R84.8bn and an expected operational surplus of R4.1bn.
“As part of our immediate steps to stabilise our finances, the city will dispose of its non-strategic assets. This will include the sale of the vacant land portion of our debtor’s book. The vacant land debtors’ book is currently valued at R3.2bn,” he said.
Political instability may have tested our foundation. We must not tire but remain on the course. Our labour market is showing resilience, momentum and the capacity to absorb more people into work
— Morero
Morero said Johannesburg was finalising a funding deal with Germany’s KfW bank for a €200m (R3.8bn) loan to support energy-related projects under City Power’s infrastructure programme.
He added that the city and City Power were finalising the contract, and the loan was expected to be disbursed before the end of June.
“This reform agenda will assist the city to improve governance, financial sustainability, operational efficiency and accountability within entities that have historically operated under significant fiscal and infrastructure pressure.”
The mayor said the city was also seeking external oversight into its finances in an effort to restore accountability and public confidence.
Morero repeatedly framed Johannesburg as a city recovering despite political instability and financial strain, insisting the metro remained the country’s economic engine. “Political instability may have tested our foundation. We must not tire but remain on the course. Our labour market is showing resilience, momentum and the capacity to absorb more people into work.
“We remain the heartbeat of South Africa and Africa’s economy. We have not collapsed, and it means we are doing something right,” he said.
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