{"id":864603,"date":"2026-06-25T10:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T08:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=864603"},"modified":"2026-06-25T10:58:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T08:58:37","slug":"joburg-cant-pay-its-bills-but-wants-to-hire-1000-more-managers-and-professionals-anyway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/864603\/joburg-cant-pay-its-bills-but-wants-to-hire-1000-more-managers-and-professionals-anyway\/","title":{"rendered":"Joburg can’t pay its bills, but wants to hire 1,000 more managers and professionals anyway"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Johannesburg plans to add 1,000 managers and professionals to its workforce, according to budget documents, even as the city fails to pay bills for power and fuel supplies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision comes as the South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana tells the city to address a wage bill he says it can\u2019t afford. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an April letter to Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero, Godongwana threatened to withdraw state funding unless the authorities cancel plans to increase municipal employee pay by R10.3 billion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city, South Africa\u2019s biggest, plans to increase its workforce by 4.4%, or about 1,700 people, this financial year to more than 40,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Included in that is a plan to add 695 municipal and senior managers and 308 \u201cprofessionals,\u201d according to a review of its budget documents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Total pay packages \u2014 including allowances and performance bonuses \u2014 for senior managers range from R1.9 million to R4.4 million, multiples of the average household income of R204,359.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, the National Treasury said in its response to questions that its primary concern was the broader wage bill resulting from the agreement with labour unions rather than \u201cthe filling of critically funded vacant positions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe National Treasury\u2019s concern was the increase in the wage bill in relation to the politically facilitated wage settlement agreement,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johannesburg\u2019s dominant labour union is the South African Municipal Workers Union, which is part of a labour federation that\u2019s in a political alliance with the African National Congress, the party that leads Johannesburg\u2019s ruling coalition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Morero and Godongwana are ANC members. The city didn\u2019t respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe city\u2019s failure to provide a clear explanation for the financial impact and operational necessity of these appointments raises serious concerns,\u201d the Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party in the city council, said in response to questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Godongwana sent his letter on April 23 to Morero, the city has been in talks with the National Treasury about its financial management. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, senior city officials have repeatedly said they won\u2019t cancel the wage agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can’t pay for fuel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The push for more hires comes as the city halted some essential services because it can\u2019t pay for fuel, the DA said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cCity of Johannesburg is facing a fuel crisis that has left municipal services grounded and now threatens service delivery across the city,\u201d the Democratic Alliance said in a statement sent to Bloomberg on Wednesday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier, a councillor who is a member of the coalition that runs the municipality and oversees the transport portfolio, issued a statement saying the Johannesburg Roads Agency had suspended operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crisis adds to the financial woes of a metropolis of 4.8 million people, with the municipality mired in corruption scandals and unable to provide reliable water, electricity and other basic services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The collapse of services comes ahead of municipal elections in November, with the DA mounting a campaign to dislodge the African National Congress \u2014 the senior partner in the coalition that runs the city. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two parties are part of a coalition that runs the country at a national level, but don\u2019t cooperate in Johannesburg.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spokespeople for the city didn\u2019t answer calls to their mobile phones, text messages or emails.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fuel shortage may also affect the water and refuse collection departments, the DA said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPotholes cannot be repaired, traffic lights cannot be fixed, refuse cannot be collected and water infrastructure faults cannot be attended to,\u201d the party said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a crisis that will be felt in every community if it is not addressed urgently.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agency that maintains Johannesburg\u2019s roads suspended services with effect from June 15, the office of Kenny Kunene, the councillor responsible for transport, said in the statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crisis extends beyond the agency, said Solly Mkhize, the councillor\u2019s spokesman. \u201cIt\u2019s the whole city,\u201d he said by phone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Johannesburg plans to add 1,000 managers and professionals to its workforce, according to budget documents, even as the city fails to pay bills for power and fuel supplies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":860340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[1875,1329,1995],"class_list":["post-864603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-anc","tag-da","tag-joburg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864603","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\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864603"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":864605,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864603\/revisions\/864605"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}