Unless the council bites this unpalatable bullet, Johannesburg will disappear into a financial sinkhole.
Joburg city councillor Cor Boer (FF Plus) put his finger on the elephant in the room of the metro’s finances: “You cannot save a city from bankruptcy by just borrowing more money.”
He may also have added that you cannot continue as a going concern if you allow your customers to rack up debts you can never recover.
That is where the “City of Gold” finds itself.
According to the African Christian Democratic Party, the city has borrowed R5 billion from financial institutions in the past 12 months to fund infrastructure-related projects.
The party’s Chris Rohlssen says these loans are unnecessary and unsustainable. He said the city should instead strengthen its revenue collection efforts.
Exactly. Residents are getting away with financial murder through the culture of non-payment, which seems to have become the rule rather than the exception when it comes to municipal accounts.
There have been some high-profile, attention-diverting campaigns to cut off non-payers and those who steal electricity, for example.
But the vast number who continue to live as parasites are allowed to continue.
Free services – a good way to garner votes… so we won’t mess with those.
Unless the council bites this unpalatable bullet, Johannesburg will disappear into a financial sinkhole.
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