National Treasury‘s preliminary Local Government Revenue and Expenditure Results has ranked the City of Johannesburg as the top performing metro in South Africa in terms of aggregate revenue (at 98.5% of budgeted revenue), and second only to Buffalo City in terms of expenditure (at 97.5% of budgeted expenditure).
The preliminary report, published this week on the National Treasury’s website, has not only given credibility to the prudent financial management of the City of Johannesburg; it has affirmed our position that the City’s finances are stable and improving on an annual basis.
This also comes as a blow to the opposition in Council, led by the ANC, who last month tabled a frivolous motion of no confidence against the Executive Mayor, Cllr Herman Mashaba, based on what they claimed was the City’s dire financial status. This report exposes their lies and nefarious efforts to collapse this administration.
The Treasury report gave a range of aggregate trends. According to the release the adjusted capital budget for all metros in the 2018/19 financial year is R38.1 billion of which 77.5% or R29 billion has been spent as at 30 June 2019. The City of Johannesburg came out tops, far exceeding this performance, spending 91.3% of its adjusted capital budget. The City’s spending of R7.4 billion accounted for a quarter of the national capital expenditure by metros.
Despite the high levels of expenditure, the figures from National Treasury also show the City closing the year with a cash balance of R4.4 billion, representing a vastly improved liquidity position.
The City of Johannesburg notably accounts for more than half of the investments held by municipalities in guaranteed endowment policies (sinking funds), used to service long-term debt. The City currently holds R2.7 billion in its sinking fund, out of the R4.7 billion held by municipalities in total, which further highlights the health of our finances and ability to service loans.
From an economic development perspective, the City of Johannesburg has facilitated a record breaking R17.29 billion in investments into the city in the 2018/19 financial year. Given that when this multi-party government came into office, the previous administration had facilitated only R4,5 billion in the 2015/16 financial year, this is a phenomenal achievement.
Such continued investment trends will help to stimulate the economy of Johannesburg and create much needed jobs for our people.
While these numbers are subject to a final auditing process by the Auditor General, there can be no doubt that the City of Johannesburg’s finances are stable and steadily improving. This in turn will contribute to improved service delivery and economic growth that creates jobs.