Helen Zille warns Johannesburg voters city is collapsing under debt and corruption

Democratic Alliance (DA) Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille says the City of Johannesburg is effectively bankrupt after Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana warned against a controversial R10.3 billion wage agreement with municipal workers.

Godongwana reportedly told Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero to halt the deal, citing poor governance, weak financial management and violations of legislative and procurement requirements.

Speaking on 702, Zille said the financial crisis in Johannesburg was worse than she expected.

“I knew it was bad, but until I saw the minister of finance’s letter, I didn’t know quite how bad,” she said.

‘The city can no longer sustain itself’

Zille claimed Johannesburg could no longer sustainably provide services, maintain infrastructure or meet its financial obligations.

“It owes creditors R21 billion more than it’s got. In any context that has to be bankruptcy,” she said.

She added that the city would likely have faced liquidation if it were a private company.

“The only reason Joburg is not liquidated is that there has to be a municipal authority.”

Her comments come as concerns grow over the city’s finances, infrastructure failures and service delivery problems affecting Johannesburg residents.

Wage deal under fire

The South African Municipal Workers’ Union has reportedly rejected calls to stop the R10.3 billion wage agreement.

Zille argued the city could not afford it.

“The R10.3 billion is more than the entire annual capital budget of the City of Joburg,” she said.

She warned that funding the agreement could further damage infrastructure spending and worsen service delivery.

“Where is that money going to come from unless the infrastructure maintenance budget is slashed even more?”

Corruption claims

Zille blamed Johannesburg’s financial problems on years of corruption, theft and mismanagement.

“This is the result of cumulative looting, theft, corruption [and] mismanagement that we’ve been seeing through the years,” she said.

She described corruption inside the city as “systemic”, “syndicated”, and “entrenched”.

Zille also urged Johannesburg voters to pay attention ahead of the next local government elections.

“The voters are going to have to take note of this.”

Plans to fix Johannesburg

Zille said her focus would be on reforming municipal entities rather than scrapping them entirely.

She said she would rely on forensic auditors, work with the Auditor-General and engage National Treasury to tackle corruption and stabilise the city’s finances.

“I’m going to have a fantastic team of people,” she said.

Zille also warned that poor residents would suffer the most if the city continued to decline.

“The poor have nothing. They depend on a capable state for water, for electricity, for every single basic service.”