The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) provoked the ire of members of the governing ANC coalition in the Johannesburg Metro Council by objecting to the process followed with the city’s adjustment budget.
The budget was very nearly tabled during yesterday’s council meeting.
The item was only added to the agenda the previous evening after 20:00.
After the Freedom Front Plus pointed out to the Speaker, Ms Margaret Arnolds, that the proposed adjustments were never tabled to the Oversight Committee on Finance, she sought legal advice and removed the item from the agenda.
Judging by the other items on the agenda, the governing coalition was probably attempting to sweep the decline of the city’s finances under the carpet.
The first four items on the agenda were section 71 reports for the period between September 2025 and December 2025. These reports are compiled in terms of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) and are supposed to be discussed by the Oversight Committee on Finance.
The reports show that the city’s finances have deteriorated to such an extent that a short-term loan of R3 billion had to be taken out in November to settle outstanding accounts.
The Council did not approve this loan and its terms and conditions have not been disclosed.
The collection rate for outstanding accounts is currently on a downward trajectory. It stood at only 80,3% in November 2025.
Losses recorded at City Power for the six months ending December 2025 amounted to a massive R4 billion. In addition, Johannesburg Water’s sales were more than R300 million below what was projected, even though water purchases exceeded the budget by more than R300 million.
The Freedom Front Plus will not be bullied or misled by the governing coalition’s attempts to conceal Johannesburg’s dire financial position, but will fearlessly keep fulfilling its oversight role.
FF+ Manifesto on Family values: Promoting traditional family values.
Red Delicious
Bitter koud — very cold. An Afrikaans phrase meaning ‘bitter cold’, often used to describe the cold weather during winter.Example: “Oh, my gosh! It’s bitter koud outside!”
Mammoth 2
So I\’m real good friends with this guy named Juan Ted. Now, Juan is a pretty incredible guy. He can steal ANYTHING he wants to. Literally anything. It could be the shirt off your back, the wallet in your pocket, or I\’m even sure he\’d find a way to steal your house (And your spouse too). So anyway, one day Juan and I are sitting around watching TV, and they announced that the hope diamond will not be on display anymore and is now getting moved to an undisclosed location. So as we hear this, Juan says \”I\’m gonna steal it\”. Now I know how good Juan is at this kind of stuff, so I just tell him good luck and he goes on his way. Eventually he narrows his search down to a small cave in South Africa. When Juan gets there, he doesn\’t see any guards or anything outside the cave, so he just walks in assuming he was wrong about where the diamond was. He wanders around for a while until he sees a long lit hallway with the hope diamond at the end of it. Confident in his abilities, he strolls over to the diamond and picks it up before realizing its a trap! Suddenly, red lights flashed, armed men came running out, sirens went off. You could hear one of the men say under his breath \”We finally caught Juan Ted.\” But Juan, being the best thief in the world, said \”Not quite. On the count of three, I will disappear.\” As the men looked around confused, Juan began to count. \”Uno. Dos.\” And he disappeared without a tres.