Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero has warned that the City has enough available cash to keep operating for only 12 days should an emergency or unexpected financial pressure arise, as it awaits an equitable share transfer from National Treasury to settle billions of rands owed to Eskom and Rand Water.
Morero said the City currently had only 12 days’ cash coverage, meaning it had enough available money to continue funding its operations for that period if an unforeseen event occurred.
“But the coverage that we have is at least 12 days, meaning that should anything happen we only have sufficient finance to support whatever happens for 12 days,” Morero said.
He said municipalities often experienced fluctuations in cash coverage because they relied on their own revenue collection to fund operations.
“It’s normal in government that at times your cash coverage, because you are self-funding, you will find yourself not saving sufficient coverage for a month,” he said.
Morero said municipalities were required to maintain at least 32 days’ cash coverage and that Johannesburg was working to improve its revenue collection to strengthen its financial position.
“We are required to have at least 32 days and above for cash coverage. So we are working hard to ensure that our collection rate can ensure that we’ve got sufficient days for cash coverage,” he said.
He stressed that the City’s current position did not mean Johannesburg had run out of money.
“But, by the way, it doesn’t mean you have nothing,” Morero said.
The mayor said the City was awaiting the transfer of its equitable share from National Treasury, which he expected to be received during the week, before settling its outstanding accounts with Eskom and Rand Water.
“We are just awaiting for the transfer of equitable share, which should be coming possibly by this week, so that we can then settle the Eskom account,” he said.
Morero said the funds would be divided between the two bulk service providers.
“So with what we are receiving, we’ll then split between Eskom at about R2.6 or R2.4 billion and R960 million for Rand Water,” he said.
The payments come amid ongoing financial pressures linked to the City’s bulk service costs and revenue collection challenges.
IOL previously reported that Morero had identified Eskom’s electricity costs as one of Johannesburg’s biggest financial pressures, saying bulk electricity purchases remained a major expense for the municipality.
He previously said City Power’s bulk electricity purchases had contributed significantly to overspending, amounting to about R2.1 billion by the end of the third quarter.
Morero has also acknowledged that the City’s billing and revenue systems needed improvement to strengthen cash flow and ensure it could meet its financial obligations.
The City of Johannesburg was among the 69 municipalities whose July 2026 equitable share transfers were temporarily withheld by National Treasury over concerns about compliance with the Municipal Finance Management Act and financial management requirements.
However, IOL previously reported that Morero said the matter had been resolved following engagements with National Treasury.
He said Treasury had confirmed that Johannesburg’s 2026/27 budget was funded and that the issue relating to an unfunded budget had been closed.
Morero said the City remained focused on bringing its accounts up to date while improving financial controls and revenue performance.
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