Who expects zero repercussions for not paying their bills?
Most certainly not City of Joburg ratepayers — but the city’s political leadership seems to think this is the way to go. This culminated in a row with Eskom that reached crisis point this week.
It is mind-boggling that those managing the city contributing the largest share to the country’s GDP believe that budgeting and paying what they owe are mere guidelines to be wilfully ignored.
It is a glaring example of why trust in the ANC government has dwindled to jaw-dropping lows. While Joburg has had eight mayors since the 2021 local election, the city’s well-paid administrators have a strict legal framework to abide by and to guide their work.
Late last week Eskom placed the City of Joburg on notice, alerting it that it would soon cut its power supply due to Joburg’s eye-watering debt to the utility, which stands at R6.9bn.
Municipal debt, which nationally stands at R90bn, poses a stark risk to Eskom’s balance sheet.
Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa revealed on Monday that nonpayment by municipalities has ballooned by R12bn in the past three months alone.
After Eskom’s threat to cut off the city’s supply, Joburg mayor Dada Morero leapt atop his high horse, threatening the power utility with legal action.
The city alleges that there are problems with Eskom’s billing system, and has accused it of inflated bills. It used this as justification for failing to pay Eskom what it had agreed to in an arrangement made with the utility.
Any resident or business in Joburg is aware that failing to pay a utility bill for a single month results in services cut, even if there is a dispute over the amount billed. Once the dispute is settled, the resident or business account is then credited. Yet the city used the dispute with Eskom to justify its failure to honour a prior agreement to make payment.
To make matters worse, this is also the city which has overbilled thousands of residents for years due to its dodgy billing system — a hangover from previous ANC administrations which has never been fully resolved.
Ramokgopa stepped in to mediate the impasse between Eskom and the city this week; it will simply not look good for power cuts to hit the country’s most crucial economic hub so soon after the minister and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration have taken credit for ending load-shedding.
The impact of the potential cuts on businesses and residents in the city would be as harrowing as the rolling blackouts which came to a halt ahead of elections, and have been suspended for more than 200 days.
While Eskom and the city have been slugging it out over who is to blame for the impasse, it is important for residents — and voters — to keep matters in perspective.
The City of Joburg and its inept leadership, both political and administrative, are a failure.
They failed to deal with the billing crisis, to pay their own debtors and to honour agreements they made to do so, culminating in yet another crisis and forcing the national government to step in. Other crises are looming, including water restrictions — again brought about by a failure by the city and its utilities to do their job.
The 2026 local election is a prime opportunity to punish decisively those responsible for the decline of the City of Gold.
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