Joburg’s Wi-Fi plan falters amid litany of woes

Johannesburg’s Metropolitan Tech Company (MTC) is under severe operational strain, relying on just 26 network employees to maintain 1,200km of fibre while struggling under crippling budget constraints, skills shortages and debt.

The City of Johannesburg-owned company, formerly the Metropolitan Trading Company, has been positioned as the city’s main digital infrastructure provider and smart city partner.

Its 2026/27 business plan sets out plans to expand public Wi-Fi, improve digital access and introduce connected technologies across Johannesburg, particularly in underserved communities.

But the same plan says MTC is “currently under-capacitated”, with critical positions vacant because of budget constraints, while an internal skills assessment identified gaps in network operations, business development and performance management.

The staffing breakdown lists only 26 employees in network operations, alongside:

MTC says the unfilled critical posts affect its ability to function optimally and service customers. MTC says more than 60% of the subsidy it receives from the city is used to service its shareholder loan balance, after recording R169m in subsidy revenue, and warns that any reduction in the subsidy could leave it unable to meet expected loan repayments.

Bringing the internet to you and access to the internet is bringing dignity to you, because without the internet you have no access to the outside world. Our children have no connection to learning material.—  Kenny Kunene, Joburg transport MMC

Its budget provides for around R570m in operating expenditure but just R20.7m in capital expenditure in 2026/27. MTC separately acknowledges that insufficient capital budget allocations have affected its ability to maintain existing network infrastructure and equipment, as well as its ability to grow and expand the network, while ageing and dilapidated equipment, power outages and vandalism are among the reasons it has struggled to meet its network availability targets.

The entity describes itself as operating within a “constrained funding environment” shaped by liquidity pressures, intercompany debt and a growing shareholder loan against a depreciating asset base, while maintenance, security, repairs after vandalism and cable theft, and power-related disruptions have reduced its ability to reinvest in network modernisation and expansion.

The plan says “high corruption levels and inefficient bureaucratic processes” are driving up operational costs and deterring potential investors. Questions hang over one of MTC’s most visible smart city services, with the entity recording 1,574,979 connections to the city’s free Wi-Fi network in 2024/25 but setting a target of just 200,000 connections for 2026/27.

The business plan does not explain the sharp difference between the two figures. Those constraints are particularly relevant in Slovo Park, where MTC launched a “smart Wi-Fi” pilot in March. At the launch, transport MMC Kenny Kunene told residents that access to the internet was a human right.

“Bringing the internet to you and access to the internet is bringing dignity to you, because without the internet you have no access to the outside world. Our children have no connection to learning material,” Kunene proclaimed.

I don’t know that they’ve actually completed that entire process of ensuring that the community can connect and that the cameras are actually operational and monitored by the police—  Thato Masiangoako, Socio-Economic Rights Institute of SA

The company described the rollout as successful and said the idea was to provide residents with Wi-Fi accessible from their homes, high-mast lighting and integrated CCTV. MTC says the model will progressively be expanded to other communities, depending on continued budget prioritisation by the city.

Yet the experiences of residents in Slovo Park raise questions about whether the pilot is delivering everything that was promised and whether Johannesburg can expand increasingly sophisticated digital infrastructure while the entity responsible for maintaining it says it lacks sufficient funding and is under-capacitated.

Dan Moalahi, who is part of the Slovo Park Community Development Forum, said the smart masts that had Wi-Fi had “very poor” signal. “You can only use it for a second, and then it is gone,” he said.

Thato Masiangoako, a researcher at the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa, said the smart-mast project had initially been welcomed by Slovo Park residents because of the potential benefits of lighting, CCTV and free Wi-Fi, particularly in a low-income community where connectivity could help schoolchildren and unemployed residents.

“I don’t know that they’ve actually completed that entire process of ensuring that the community can connect and that the cameras are actually operational and monitored by the police,” she said.

The city told parliament’s portfolio committee on human settlements in February that the project was 98% complete, yet some work was still unfinished by the time of the public launch.