South Africa’s richest city is collapsing

The City of Johannesburg is collapsing with deteriorating infrastructure causing water and electricity outages, traffic jams, and security problems.

The Johannesburg Crisis Alliance (JCA) has raised the alarm that Africa’s richest city is facing a deepening struggle for survival.

Citizens have become accustomed to regular power cuts. They are not caused by load-shedding but by poor municipal electricity infrastructure.

Years of neglect and underinvestment forced City Power to implement load reduction to prevent its power systems and infrastructure from collapsing.

There are also regular power outages due to cable theft and problems at substations. These could be prevented through better management.

City Power CEO Tshifularo Mashava said Joburg residents logged about 4,000 electrical faults with City Power per day, but it only had enough manpower to attend to 800 such issues.

Board chair Bonolo Ramokhele added that the issues with the network stemmed from its age and estimated it would cost R50 billion to fix the century-old infrastructure.

The City of Johannesburg, through City Power, has now implemented a R200 fixed charge on prepaid electricity users to fund infrastructure investment.

This fixed fee has been widely criticised as disproportionally hurting poorer households and putting strain on struggling citizens.

An equally serious problem is regular water outages, threatening instability and unrest in South Africa’s largest city.

Crumbling infrastructure has caused prolonged water outages, hurting households and businesses in the city.

To address these problems, Rand Water has started to conduct substantial maintenance on parts of the water network. This caused further outages.

Johannesburg’s water infrastructure has not kept pace with its rapid population growth and cannot cope with increased demand.

The city has more than enough water. The issue is getting the water to the end user as the infrastructure deteriorates.

It is estimated that, due to leaks, between 45% and 50% of all water in Gauteng pumped from the bulk water supplier, Rand Water, does not reach an end user.

Water scientist Anthony Turton said the water supply is being mismanaged, resulting in water shortages in parts while dams are sufficiently full.

Johannesburg needs R25 billion to fix its water infrastructure and potentially billions more to replace outdated equipment to meet increasing demand.

The problems do not stop at electricity and water. Traffic lights are often out, and streetlights do not work on many major routes.

It is common to see unemployed people directing traffic at busy intersections due to traffic light problems.

The city is also beset with crime and corruption, causing many businesses and rich households to leave for the Western Cape.

It is difficult to fight corruption as it has infiltrated most aspects of the city, including law enforcement.

This month, City of Johannesburg official Zenzele Benedict Sithole was killed in a hit. He was investigating high-profile corruption cases.

The JCA argues that the city’s dysfunction is rooted in unstable coalitions and neglected maintenance of core infrastructure.

The situation has become so dire that the JCA has called for the resignation of the City of Johannesburg’s executive mayor, Kabelo Gwamanda.

“This call is made in the wake of the significant decline in citizen confidence and trust in the leadership of the executive mayor and his mayoral committee,” the JCA said.

It said recent incidents reflect the city’s leadership crisis and the executive mayor’s specific failures.

• The city’s arrogant, uncaring, and insensitive handling of the electricity surcharge and tariff increase, as well as the ongoing widespread electricity outages.

• Intermittent water supplies since 2023 and prolonged water cuts in recent weeks despite public assurances by Joburg Water that the water supply is being managed adequately.

• The admission by the MMC Finance that the city needs to loan an amount of R2.5 billion from Agence Franqaise de Dévelopement (AFD) to cover budget shortfalls.

• The collapse of services in terms of road maintenance, cleanliness and the provision of affordable housing.

The JCA believes that the executive mayor and his mayoral committee must be held accountable for these and other critical service delivery lapses.

“We do not believe Gwamanda and his team have the requisite skills and capability to resolve the deepening governance crisis in Johannesburg,” it said.

Recent news reports suggest that Gwamanda’s time as Johannesburg mayor may come to an end soon.

Action SA leader Herman Mashaba said a major announcement about changes in the coalition arrangement in the City of Johannesburg will be made soon.

Mail & Guardian reported that Gwamanda is set to resign and will be replaced by the ANC’s Johannesburg regional chair, Dada Morero.