CITY FINANCES: Joburg by numbers: The figures behind Parliament’s grilling of SA’s biggest metro (opens original article in a new tab)

Johannesburg faces significant financial and governance challenges, including low infrastructure maintenance spending, substantial utility losses, and ongoing irregular expenditure investigations, despite some progress in resolving audit findings and reducing irregular expenditure.

• Johannesburg spent 1% of its budget on infrastructure maintenance, below the 8% benchmark.
• The city lost R8.5-billion through water and electricity losses and has R7.6-billion in irregular expenditure under investigation.
• The Auditor-General reported 527 findings in 2024/25, up from 472 the previous year.