City of Joburg revenue up 8% to R42 billion

·29 Jan 2016

Johannesburg Executive Mayor Parks Tau said that 2014/15 was a bumper year for the City of Johannesburg after he tabled his report on the city in a council sitting on Thursday.

Member of the Mayoral Committee for Finance Councillor Geoffrey Makhubo said that positive feedback from ratings agencies, investors and Johannesburg residents confirmed and demonstrated that the City was delivering on its promises.

Group chief financial officer Reggie Boqo said the city’s 2014-2015 revenue increased by 8% to R42 billion. The bulk of the money came from service charges including water, electricity and refuse removal.

Total expenditure, which represented a 12% increase, was R37.8 billion and the City had R4.9 billion in its cash reserves.

The City received an unqualified audit opinion from the Auditor-General.

For the 12 months under review, the City achieved a surplus of R3.9 billion, despite the bleak global economic outlook.

Johannesburg increased its capital spending by 38% to R10.1 billion, created 51,977 job opportunities under the Extended Public Works Programme and installed 61,871 electricity smart meters.

Makhubo added that the City resurfaced 675.6km of roads, rolled out 100 Wi-Fi hotspots in clinics, libraries and theatres.

“The fact that we’ve received favourable ratings from two major agencies, Fitch and Moody’s, is good news for the residents of Johannesburg. It means we can get access to credit at good rates to continue our work of rolling out infrastructure throughout the city,” said the MMC.

The City said that it reduced crime by 22% as a result of an intelligent crime-prevention surveillance system monitored by the Johannesburg Metro Police Department and South African Police Service.

The state-of-the-art system boasts software that tracks car registration plates and crime trends so law enforcement agencies could be deployed to hotspots.