The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) did not support the Johannesburg Metro’s budget for the 2025/26 financial year due to its utter lack of vision and its detriment to the city’s residents.
On 24 April 2025, the party met with the Mayor, Dada Morero, and the Mayoral Committee Member for Finance, Margaret Arnolds, and made proposals for drafting a positive, viable budget. These proposals were ignored.
The budget places a significant financial burden on residents while service delivery keeps deteriorating.
Tariff hikes for services far exceed the inflation rate – residents simply cannot afford it.
The projected revenue amounts to R84,8 million, while expenditure totals R80,7 million, leaving the city with a budgeted surplus of R4,1 million. This surplus is desperately needed to settle outstanding accounts. Only R650 million of the surplus has been earmarked for capital projects, though.
The capital budget totals R8,7 million, an increase of R1,0 million from 2024/2025. The only ray of hope is that the capital allocation to Johannesburg Water has been increased from R1,291 million to R1,703 million.
While this is not nearly enough to significantly improve the city’s crumbling water infrastructure, it is a step in the right direction.
It makes no sense that the capital allocation to City Power has been reduced from R1,532 million to R1,360 million in light of the massive backlog in power infrastructure.
To fund capital projects, the city plans to borrow an additional R3,5 million. Financing costs for the 2025/2026 year already amount to R7,2 million per day and will only continue to climb.
No concrete plans were put forward to address the wastage and theft of water and electricity, non-payment for services, or the issuing of Aarto fines which is the Post Office’s responsibility.
If these issues received the attention they deserve, the city could generate sufficient additional revenue, thus keeping tariff increases to the minimum and freeing up more funds for capital projects. No additional loans would be necessary.
This budget will not encourage businesses to invest in the city, will hinder service delivery, let infrastructure decay even further, increase unemployment, and put paying residents under greater financial pressure.
The Freedom Front Plus will under no circumstances support this budget and will voice its objections in the budget debate to protect residents’ interests.
Freedom Front Plus Digital Policy: The FF Plus supports digital transformation and access to technology.
Manly
Diary of an Englishman after he moves to South Africa….
**August 1**: Just got transferred with work from London, UK to our new home in Phalaborwa, Limpopo, South Africa. Now this is a town that knows how to live! Beautiful, sunny days and warm, balmy evenings. I watched the sunset from a deckchair by our pool yesterday. It was beautiful. I’ve finally found my new home. I love it here.
**September 1:** Really heating up now. It got to 31 today. No problem though. Living in air-conditioned home, driving air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun every day like this. I’m turning into a sun-worshipper – no blasted rain like back in London! Had the back yard landscaped with tropical plants today. Lots of palms and rocks. No more mowing lawns for me! Another scorcher today, but I love it here. It’s Paradise !
**October 1:** The temperature hasn’t been below 35 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least today it’s windy though. Keeps the flies off a bit. Acclimatizing is taking longer than we expected. Fell asleep by the pool yesterday. Got third degree burns over 60% of my body. Missed three days off work. What a dumb thing to do. Got to respect the old sun in a climate like this!
**October 25:** This wind is a bastard. It feels like a giant fucking blow dryer. And it’s hot as hell! The home air conditioner is on the blink and the repair man charged R200 just to drive over and tell me he needs to order parts from @#$# Johannesburg. The wife & the kids are complaining.
**October 30:** The temperature’s up around 40 and the parts still haven’t arrived for the fucking air conditioner. House is an oven so we’ve all been sleeping outside by the pool for 3 nights now. Bleeding R4 million house and we can’t even go inside. Why the hell did I ever come here?
**November 4:** Finally got the fucking air-conditioner fixed. It cost R1,500 and gets the temperature down to around 35 degrees. Stupid repairman. Fucking thief. If one more smart bastard says ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I’m going to fucking throttle him. Fucking heat! By the time I get to work, the car radiator is boiling over, my fucking clothes are soaking fucking wet and I smell like baked cat. Fucking place is the end of the Earth.
**November 9:** Tried to run some errands after work, wore shorts, and sat on the black leather upholstery in my car. I thought my fucking backside was on fire. I lost 2 layers of flesh, all the hair on the backs of my legs and off my fucking behind. Now the car smells like burnt hair, fried bum and baked cat. The Weather report might as well be a fucking recording – hot and sunny. Hot and sunny, Hot and fucking sunny. It’s been too hot to do anything for 2 bleeding months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Fuck!!
**November 15:** Doesn’t it ever rain in this darn place? Water restrictions will be next, so my R5,000 worth of palms might just dry up and blow into the fucking pool. The only things that thrive in this hell-hole are the fucking flies. You don’t dare open your mouth for fear of swallowing half a dozen of the little buzzards!
**November 20:** Welcome to HELL! It got to 45 degrees today. Now the air conditioner is gone in my car. The repair man came to fix it and said, ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I wanted to shove the car up his backside. Anyway, had to spend the R2,500 of the mortgage payment to bail me out of jail for assaulting the stupid fool. Fucking PHALABORWA! What kind of sick, demented idiot would want to live here!
**December 1:** WHAT!!!! The FIRST day of Summer!!!!
You are fucking kidding me, right?
Black Hole Necromancer
Fun South African Fact: Can you think of any other place in the world where two Nobel Peace Prize winners lived on the same street? Both Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu had houses on Vilakazi Street in Soweto.