The City of Johannesburg has closed out the 2017/18 year, strengthening its financial position over that achieved at the end of the 2016/17 financial year.
The City has been the focus of a number of malicious leaks of misinformation about its financial position, some even alleging the City wouldn’t make its June payroll run. The reality is that the prophets of doom in the ANC benches have cited imminent financial collapse in the City almost from day one. Not only has this not materialised, but the City continues to strengthen its position.
I am pleased to say now, as I did then, that this was untrue and now the City sits in one of the strongest positions it has for some time.
The City has recorded, in its unaudited statements, an 89% expenditure level of its Capital Budget, up from 78% in the 2016/17 financial year. I am pleased with this improvement, whilst insisting that we must push organisational performance further.
In terms of grant funding, the City has excelled achieving 98% expenditure in its expenditure of the Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG). USDG makes up the vast majority of our grant funding, and supports municipalities work in infrastructure development. This is particularly critical given the massive infrastructural backlogs impacting service delivery in Johannesburg.
Of particular note is the performance of the Housing Department, under the Leadership of MMC Dr Meshack van Wyk, which managed to spend 89% of its capital budget and 100% of USDG funding, despite being in a weak position only a few months ago.
Central to achieving our improved performance has been the intensified efforts in revenue optimisation. Since coming into office, we have placed our focus on those who can pay but do not and the massive corruption in the revenue space. These efforts saw revenue levels increase from R32.4 Billion in 2016/17 to R35.2 Billion in 2017/18.
This is the biggest increase recorded in the City in a year that did not include a new general valuations roll. Included in this increase was the achievements of Operation Buya Mthetho which resulted in the collection of R581 million.
Further to this, the City has successfully paid back over R6 Billion in loans which became due in the 2017/18 financial year. Upon entering office, the multi-party government was saddled with debt levels close to the maximum levels prescribed by National Treasury.
While these numbers are subject to the changes arising from the audit process with the Auditor General, there can be no doubt that these changes represent sizeable improvements from 2016/17.
The achievement of these various improvements in the City’s financial position is something which represents the continued drive for performance by the multi-party government.
The notable improvements from the levels achieved in the 2017/18 financial year are promising, but we cannot afford to regard even this to be good enough. It does, however, demonstrate strong upward movement in our performance, demonstrating that we will continue to improve the City’s performance to the benefit of our residents.
The 2017/18 financial year performance provides the City with a solid platform on which to achieve both financial stability and the highest service delivery levels in the City’s history.
Cllr Herman Mashaba
Executive Mayor
City of Joburg
Media enquires:
Luyanda Mfeka
Director: Mayoral Communications
Office of the Executive Mayor
Cell: 076 171 5978
Email: luyandam@joburg.org.za
