Please find attached soundbite by Stephen Moore MP.
– City of Johannesburg refusing DA probe on cash sweeping policy.
– Infrastructure projects repeatedly stall as the City deprives Joburg Water of its own funds.
– Johannesburg residents deserve answers on the use of their rate funds.
After it emerged in October last year that the City of Johannesburg had taken approximately R4 billion directly from Joburg Water’s bank accounts through a sweeping financial arrangement, I submitted a PAIA application to the City to establish whether Joburg Water retained effective access to the funds it needs to deliver water services.
Under the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA), sweeping financial arrangements are permitted to manage cash flow, provided they are properly governed and do not undermine the financial position or operational ability of a municipal entity.
The City refused to provide the policy needed to prove that this arrangement is lawful, properly authorised, and not depriving Joburg Water of access to its own funds when those funds are needed.
I escalated this refusal to the Information Regulator in January.
Despite continuous follow-ups by the Regulator, the City is stonewalling.
This raises serious concerns that the City’s sweeping arrangement is being used to plug Johannesburg’s wider cash crisis at the expense of Joburg Water and that the City may be contravening the MFMA.
The reality of the City effectively defunding Joburg Water has been clear on the ground for months, as critical water infrastructure projects have repeatedly ground to a halt because contractors are not paid on time and funds are not made available when needed.
The DA has long called for the ring-fencing of infrastructure funds so that money collected for water services is protected and used for water infrastructure, operations and maintenance, not absorbed into the City’s cash crisis.
Johannesburg residents are already suffering through dry taps, collapsing infrastructure, delayed repairs and inflated water tanker costs. As tariffs are set to increase, residents deserve to know where their money is going.
It is clear that the City is no longer a bystander while residents suffer, but an active participant in the collapse of water services.
Only a DA-led government can restore law, accountability and dignified service delivery in Johannesburg.
It is time to vote like never before. The right to water is on the ballot.