By Cllr Nasiphi Moya
Executive Mayor of Tshwane
Today, the City of Tshwane has taken a decisive step towards financial recovery and sustainability with the adoption of the 2024/25 Adjustments Budget and the Incentive and Debt-Relief Scheme to Encourage Customers to Pay Long Outstanding Debt.
2024/25 Adjustments Budget
The Adjustments Budget is being tabled at a time when mid-year expenditure stands at R22.1 billion, which is 14% below the year-to-date budget.
While total expenditure has increased by R704 million (1%), careful financial management has resulted in a
budget surplus of R3.7 billion.
This reflects the administration’s commitment to fiscal discipline, ensuring that spending remains controlled while maintaining essential service delivery.
To further improve the financial health of the city and move towards a fully funded budget, targeted revenue adjustments have been implemented to strengthen revenue collection and improve financial stability.
These adjustments have increased total revenue by R777.5 million, driven by:
• Water service charges increased by R160.5 million (3%), reflecting improvements in billing accuracy and revenue collection.
• Interest earned from receivables surged by R437.2 million (33%), following the implementation of stricter credit control measures.
• Property rates revenue grew by R64.9 million (1%), indicating a stable and reliable tax base.
• However, fines, penalties, and forfeits declined by R71 million (32%), highlighting the need for a review of enforcement mechanisms to address compliance challenges and recover lost revenue.
At the same time, the Adjustments Budget prioritises resource efficiency, ensuring that expenditure growth is limited to critical service areas.
Key adjustments to expenditure include:
• Employee-related costs reduced by R346.5 million (3%), following the implementation of cost-containment measures.
• Debt impairment increased by R1.4 billion (31%), allowing the City to better manage and account for non performing debts.
• Depreciation and amortisation costs reduced by R834.2 million (36%), reflecting a more efficient approach to asset management.
• Contracted services increased by R603 million (12%), ensuring continued support for critical service delivery programmes.
Some of the key changes made to the approved budget are as follows:
Urban Management:
To enhance the maintenance of public spaces, R11 million has been allocated for the procurement of machinery and tools to support urban management programmes.
This investment will enable the City to build in-house capacity for regular grass-cutting and maintenance, ensuring that parks, streets, and public spaces are well-kept and safer for communities.
Emergency and Disaster Response:
Recognising the importance of well-equipped emergency services, the City has allocated R8 million to provide firefighters with essential protective equipment.
This will improve safety for emergency personnel and ensure they are fully equipped to respond to fires and disasters effectively.
Water Tankers:
Access to clean water and reliable sanitation services is a fundamental right. However, years of under investment in infrastructure, coupled with maintenance backlogs, have left the City facing serious water supply challenges.
During the first half of the financial year, the demand for water tankers increased significantly due to supply disruptions, resulting in the depletion of the initial budget for this service.
To ensure continued support for affected communities, an additional R242 million has been allocated to fund water tankers as a short-term measure.
Protection of Infrastructure:
The ongoing challenge of theft, vandalism, and deliberate sabotage of municipal infrastructure has made it necessary to strengthen security measures across the City.
The cost of energy loss in the City have increased from an estimated R470 million in 2022/23 financial year to R800 million in 2024/25.
To address this, an additional R315 million has been allocated for security services, including the protection of critical assets.
The administration is finalising a comprehensive asset protection strategy, incorporating CCTV surveillance and motion detection systems to improve security.
However, while these long-term measures are being implemented, immediate additional expenditure on security personnel is necessary to protect essential infrastructure and maintain service delivery.
Incentive and Debt-Relief Scheme to Recover Outstanding Municipal Debt
Council has also approved the Incentive and Debt-Relief Scheme, a key initiative aimed at cleaning up the City’s debtors’ book and recovering historic municipal debt.
To encourage residents and businesses to settle outstanding municipal accounts, debt will be structured according to the period owed:
• For residential customers, the scheme offers a full collection of debt from the past 12 months, while 70% of debt older than a year will be written off.
The remaining 30% can be paid over a 36-month instalment plan.
• Customers who settle all outstanding debt of less than 12 months will receive a 100% interest write-off, reducing their total burden.
• For businesses, customers must pay the last 36 months of outstanding debt in full, and in return, all remaining debt will be written off.
Further debt relief will be provided for deceased estates and indigent households, ensuring that vulnerable groups are supported:
• Indigent-registered households will receive a 100% debt write-off.
• For deceased estates, all debt older than 24 months will be written off, provided that the last 24 months of arrears are settled.
This initiative represents a significant step towards financial sustainability, enabling the City to recover outstanding revenue while providing relief to residents and businesses that commit to settling their accounts.
It is further complemented by the implementation of a new Revenue Recovery Plan, which is projected to generate R2.1 billion in additional revenue.
This plan is designed to strengthen revenue collection, improve billing accuracy, and enforce stricter credit control measures.
By 30 June 2025, the City anticipates recovering an additional R1.4 billion through enhanced collection efforts, optimised billing systems, and stronger enforcement mechanisms.
I want to express my appreciation to our coalition partners for their continued support of this administration’s efforts to restore Tshwane’s financial health and prioritise service delivery in the best interests of all residents.