City of Joburg Does Not Have the R4 Billion Owing to Joburg Water

Dear Editor

The Democratic Alliance (DA) today reveals that the City of Johannesburg does not have the R4 billion in cash that Johannesburg Water’s financial statements show as “cash including cash held at CoJ – sweeping”.

In a meeting of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation with National Treasury, the Auditor-General and the Department of Water and Sanitation, the DA probed the Auditor-General’s representative with our PAIA records showing that Johannesburg Water’s own bank accounts do not have the money and that the entity struggles to access cash from the City.

This is cash that it is owed to Joburg Water by the City of Johannesburg.

The Auditor-General’s representative confirmed that, based on the City’s own (still to be audited) figures at 30 June 2025, the entire City of Johannesburg did not even have R4 billion in cash and cash equivalents. In short, the R4 billion on Johannesburg Water’s books is a paper entry – not real, accessible cash that can be used for pipes, pumps and contractors.

This proves that Johannesburg Water’s crisis is not self-inflicted. It is being suffocated by a failing City that has drained its trading entities through an abusive sweeping arrangement and now cannot give them back the money they need to keep services flowing. Contractors go unpaid, projects stall and residents sit without water – while the books pretend there is R4 billion in the bank.

Johannesburg is South Africa’s economic heart, generating roughly 16% of national GDP. If the City’s water system fails, the economic and social consequences will be felt across the country. Allowing Johannesburg Water to be hollowed out in this way is a direct threat to South Africa’s resilience.

The DA is not calling for an abrupt end to the sweeping arrangement that could tip the City into outright cash-flow collapse. But there must now be an honest recognition that the current model is untenable, and a clear, time-bound plan to fix it.

The DA calls for:

1. A phased ring-fencing plan to move from the abusive sweeping arrangement, so that money collected is used for water infrastructure.
2. Minimum cash protections for Johannesburg Water that guarantee it can access the cash it needs to pay suppliers within 30 days for critical maintenance and capital projects, with clear reporting to City Council and Parliament.
3. A focused water infrastructure turnaround by the City and Johannesburg Water, supported by the Department of Water & Sanitation, to cut non-revenue water, replace ageing pipes and reduce reliance on emergency water tankering.

Johannesburg is too important to be allowed to slide into a full-blown water and financial collapse. The truth about the R4 billion that currently now has not been accounted for in real cash terms must be the turning point where municipalities stop hiding behind paper balances and start fixing the water system residents depend on.

Regards

Stephen Moore MP
DA Spokesperson on Water & Sanitation