{"id":821603,"date":"2025-04-22T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T10:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=821603"},"modified":"2025-04-22T17:51:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T15:51:53","slug":"south-africas-most-important-city-collapsing-in-front-of-everyones-eyes-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/821603\/south-africas-most-important-city-collapsing-in-front-of-everyones-eyes-2\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa’s most important city collapsing in front of everyone’s eyes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The City of Johannesburg faces severe challenges, including water outages, traffic light problems, electricity blackouts, infrastructure collapse, and billing chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solly Msimanga, leader of the opposition in the Gauteng Legislature and DA Gauteng leader, said Johannesburg\u2019s collapse is palpable and tragic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johannesburg is the wealthiest city in South Africa and the country\u2019s economic hub. Its collapse is disastrous for the local economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the last few years, Johannesburg\u2019s water infrastructure and management collapsed, causing persistent and crippling water shortages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city has a significant infrastructure backlog, which will cost billions to address. It does not have the money to resolve this issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It must upgrade or replace water and sanitation pipes to compensate for the city\u2019s growing population and ageing infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johannesburg also battles with water infrastructure vandalism, caused by a lack of adequate security and protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Rand Water report revealed that 47% of all treated water is lost due to leaks, poor maintenance, and neglected infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rand Water has been forced to over-abstract from the Vaal Dam, exceeding its licensed limit by 453 million cubic metres annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The primary cause is a lack of water infrastructure maintenance and upgrades, which resulted from a lack of good governance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe City of Johannesburg has thousands of leaks left unattended due to mismanagement, cadre deployment, and a complete lack of political will,\u201d the DA\u2019s Marina van Zyl said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WaterCAN said that since November 2024, Johannesburg Water has implemented water supply reductions, and as a result, many areas have been experiencing low water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is no longer a short-term crisis, but has become the standard way that the City of Johannesburg and its utility Johannesburg Water manage the water system,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The situation is worsened by Joburg Water, City officials, and bulk water supplier Rand Water’s lack of transparency and accountability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDespite mounting frustration, neither the mayor nor city leaders have provided meaningful responses or solutions,\u201d WaterCAN said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Electricity outages in Johannesburg<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Another problem is electricity outages that persist with or without load-shedding and disrupt businesses and the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These power outages are caused by collapsing electricity infrastructure and aging transformers and substations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also vandalism of electricity infrastructure, a proliferation of illegal connections, and widespread cable theft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To address these problems, the city needs to enhance revenue collection, improve its billing systems, and address load-shedding with alternative energy sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to electricity infrastructure problems that cause blackouts, the City of Johannesburg is also fighting with Eskom about payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Energy expert Chris Yelland revealed that the long-standing dispute between Eskom and the City of Johannesburg over unpaid electricity bills has reignited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eskom threatens to resume power cuts due to non-payment of arrears, which could dump parts of Johannesburg into darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCity Power and City of Johannesburg have not paid and are not going to pay. So, we are triggering the original action,\u201d a source told Yelland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The potential resumption of power cuts poses significant risks for Johannesburg, South Africa\u2019s largest metropolitan municipality and economic hub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previous threats of power interruptions in November 2024 had targeted key areas, including the Johannesburg CBD, Midrand and Cresta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johannesburg\u2019s chaotic billing system<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Many Johannesburg residents are complaining about the city\u2019s chaotic billing system, with inaccurate accounts and problems resolving the errors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, the Democratic Alliance highlighted that instead of automatically charging approved reduced tariffs, residents are still forced to pay the higher tariff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cResidents are also forced to go through a lot of red tape to receive their refund,\u201d the DA\u2019s Gauteng constituency head Alan Fuchs said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said a good example is properties defined as multi-dwelling units, defined as any arrangement of premises that comprises more than one dwelling unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the start of the financial year, the City of Johannesburg approved a reduced sewerage tariff of R314.60 per unit for multi-dwelling properties valued under R700,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, instead of implementing this lower charge automatically, the city has continued to bill these households at the previously higher tariff of R704.47 per unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen residents query the inflated charges, they are told they must formally apply for a tariff change, a process many are unaware of,\u201d Fuchs said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Refunds are only backdated to the date of application, rather than the date the tariff was approved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This effectively allows the city to pocket overcharges until residents take action to correct their accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe DA Gauteng views this as a predatory revenue collection tactic that preys on residents\u2019 lack of information relating to tariff information,\u201d Fuchs said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Infrastructure collapse in Johannesburg<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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A particularly pressing issue in the City of Johannesburg is infrastructure collapse which threatens most areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

80% of the city’s bridges are at risk of failure or collapse, and there are potholes on many municipal and provincial roads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johannesburg has a severe backlog in road rehabilitation programmes. Rehabilitating its bridges alone will cost over R16 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of its projects, like the Lilian Ngoyi street reconstruction, have also stalled because of contractor failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many Johannesburg residents reported flooding during thunderstorms due to blocked stormwater drains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are also widespread problems with streetlights not working, especially along the major arterial roads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another pressing issue is traffic lights. The Johannesburg Roads Agency said the city needs R70 million to fix its broken traffic lights and replace stolen ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The JRA\u2019s acting head of mobility and freight, Sipho Nhlapo, said that around 396 traffic lights in the city are vandalised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of these, about 202 are still functional, while the remaining 194 are completely out of order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c194 sites are totally vandalised,\u201d Nhlapo said. \u201cIf you had to go on that site, you won\u2019t find a pole, you won\u2019t find cable, you won\u2019t find anything \u2013 and we need to rebuild those from scratch.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that, at any given time, around 25% of Joburg\u2019s intersections are not working due to power problems stemming from sources such as Eskom and City Power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Cyril Ramaphosa steps in<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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President Cyril Ramaphosa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Johannesburg\u2019s collapse has reached such concerning levels that President Cyril Ramaphosa has stepped in to address the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He warned officials in Johannesburg to resolve a myriad of problems dogging the city ahead of a summit of leaders from the Group of 20 nations in November 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe environment that one observed was not a pleasing environment. I say this so that we can improve immensely,\u201d said Ramaphosa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He met with leaders from the central Gauteng province in the Johannesburg city council chambers to discuss the problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we do not move with speed to address the critical challenges identified, we risk undermining the progress we have made thus far,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president added that local officials must demonstrate that he had made a good decision in choosing Johannesburg as the venue for the G-20 gathering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said he had apologized to Ramaphosa and assured him that the provincial and local government would address Johannesburg\u2019s shortcomings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are not dealing with these issues specifically for G-20,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need a legacy program that all South Africans can enjoy,\u201d Lesufi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Images of Johannesburg’s collapse<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Johannesburg faces severe challenges, including water outages, traffic light problems, electricity blackouts, infrastructure collapse, and billing chaos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":784025,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[2016,7376,1164,1996,22356],"class_list":["post-821603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-city-of-johannesburg","tag-city-power","tag-eskom","tag-johannesburg","tag-sipho-nhlapo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=821603"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":821635,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821603\/revisions\/821635"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/784025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=821603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=821603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=821603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}