Johannesburg owed R400m in unpaid rates and taxes
National and provincial governments owe the City of Johannesburg R400m in unpaid rates and taxes, the city’s finance MMC Julie Suddaby revealed in her R77.3bn budget yesterday.
The city is struggling with debt, and while it has collected R300m from national and provincial government debtors in five months, tariffs go far beyond the current consumer inflation rate of 5.9%.
Electricity tariffs will increase by 7.47%, water and sanitation costs by 9.75% and refuse removal by 5% as of 1 July.
Electricity and water outages are regular occurrences in Johannesburg, while the inner-city and surrounds are often a tip of uncollected garbage, reports Daily Maverick.
Power cuts are the biggest beef of the city’s 6m residents, and electricity infrastructure will get a R1.2bn budget for the year.
The multi-party government, which took office in November 2021, inherited a broken city, said Sudabby.
Semigration, remote working and Covid-19 took a scythe to the city and revenue collection dipped to its lowest-ever levels.
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