Wayne Duvenage’s warning about Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero coming true

Johannesburg is facing a financial crisis, with infrastructure crumbling and residents experiencing regular water outages, power cuts, and a high crime rate.

Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) CEO Wayne Duvenage warned that this was likely after Dada Morero was appointed as the new City of Johannesburg mayor.

Morero was appointed as Johannesburg’s new executive mayor on 16 August 2024. Prior to assuming this role, he was MMC for Finance in the city.

When Morero took the reins, the city was grappling with a massive, multi-layered governance and operational crisis.

Having changed leadership multiple times over the preceding years, the administration inherited a deeply unstable metro.

Many people, including Duvenage, warned that Morero was not the right person for the job as he was deeply entrenched in the system, which had failed the city.

He explained that Johannesburg was in a dire situation, with crumbling infrastructure and services. It needed urgent intervention.

Duvenage pointed to Morero’s tenure as the MEC of Finance on the mayoral committee, which showed that he could not address Johannesburg’s financial issues.

Under his leadership, Johannesburg’s financial problems escalated, with the city needing loans to make ends meet.

Duvenage argued that visionary leadership was needed to guide Johannesburg in the right direction and ensure accountability.

“We don’t see any joy coming out of Dada Morero’s appointment as the new Johannesburg mayor,” he said in August 2024.

The OUTA CEO predicted that the city would continue its downward spiral under Morero, which would further hurt residents.

Duvenage was proven right by Dada Morero

Duvenage was proven right. Johannesburg is now facing a far more severe financial crisis than previously, and service levels have plummeted to an all-time low.

It has reached such critical levels that the city has been sued, and Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana stepped in to try to stop the death spiral.

Last month, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana threatened to withdraw billions of rands in funding to Johannesburg if it did not scrap an unaffordable wage bill.

In a scathing letter to Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero, Godongwana delivered a stark warning about the metro’s severe financial distress and deteriorating governance.

He said that the City of Johannesburg currently owes creditors R25.2 billion, while only having R3.9 billion in cash in the bank.

The Finance Minister threatened to withhold the city’s national government support if immediate remedial actions are not taken to reverse the financial slide.

More recently, Eskom issued a firm notice to the City of Johannesburg about its arrears, which had reached R5.2 billion.

Eskom threatened to reduce, interrupt or terminate the supply of electricity to certain bulk supply points.

“It is simply unacceptable to the city’s residents and all South Africans that they are collecting electricity revenue but failing to pay Eskom its share,” it said.

On 11 May 2026, the DA Johannesburg Mayoral Candidate, Helen Zille, announced that they had taken the matter of poor service delivery in Johannesburg to court.

They filed court papers in the South Gauteng High Court against Johannesburg Water, the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, and Dada Morero.

The legal case focuses on the mismanagement of the City’s worsening water crisis and its continued failure to implement the Water Turnaround Strategy.

These drastic actions, linked to Johannesburg’s collapse, showed that Duvenage’s concerns about Morero were well-founded.

Dada Morero’s State of the City speech out of touch with reality

On 20 May 2026, Dada Morero delivered his State of the City address, saying Johannesburg has laid a solid foundation for the future.

This foundation, he said, will drive job creation and achieve key service delivery improvements under intense demographic and economic pressure.

He added that the city has strengthened its financial systems and attracted investments, while actively resolving infrastructure and utility challenges.

OUTA slated this speech, saying the State of the City address exposed the depth of Johannesburg’s governance, infrastructure, and financial crises.

“The address highlighted an increasing disconnect between a mayor’s political messaging and the lived reality experienced daily by residents,” it said.

“The speech attempted to present Johannesburg as a city on a path to recovery,” said Julius Kleynhans, OUTA Executive Manager.

“However, many of the City of Johannesburg’s own admissions point to a municipality under severe strain.”

He said residents have to cope with crumbling infrastructure, water outages, garbage collection failures, billing chaos, and deteriorating roads.

Throughout the speech, Johannesburg was repeatedly described as a performing city built on a solid foundation and the tired slogan of a world-class African City.

Kleynhans said that these claims sit uneasily alongside worsening water and electricity losses, financial instability, and infrastructure decay.

“Johannesburg’s recovery will not be achieved through speeches, slogans, or war rooms,” he said.

“It will require competent governance, sustained implementation, and leaders willing to confront the consequences of years of institutional decline.”