Ekurhuleni mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza says his administration has stabilised revenue collection and reduced expenditure as part of continuing efforts to turn around the cash-strapped metro’s fortunes.
“It has been a year of stabilisation and strategic repositioning, anchored on a clear two-phase plan designed to repair the institutional damage of the past few years and rebuild public confidence,” he said.
When the ANC councillor assumed office in April 2024, the metro was emerging from a period of financial instability and floundering service delivery.
The first phase of turning the situation around focused on stabilising the governance environment, Xhakaza said.
“To this end, we established a joint political management committee, fostering collaboration and ongoing consultations across all political parties in council. This was not just a mechanism for governance, it was a declaration that Ekurhuleni belongs to all its people, and that their needs must rise above partisan interests,” he said.
“With political stability and a clear vision in place, we transitioned to phase two implementation. Our first priority was financial sustainability,” Xhakaza said.
“Operational expenditure has been cut by 19%, no overspending occurred on consumables or bulk electricity purchases, and we’ve reduced our reliance on overdraft facilities thanks to improved cash on hand — now at 22 days, up from just 11 in quarter one,” he said.
“We’ve stabilised revenue collection, with electricity under-collection reduced from a crippling R2bn in the first quarter to R417m by quarter three. Meter reading accuracy climbed from 76.2% to 85.9%, while interim readings for large power users were nearly halved.”
Xhakaza’s state of the city address in March focused on improving up service delivery and boosting economic activity in Gauteng’s manufacturing and industrial hub. He said then that almost R2bn had been set aside over the medium term for various such initiatives.
“We introduced a revenue enhancement programme and prioritised restoring a clean audit culture” by strengthening financial oversight and instituting accountability mechanisms to root out waste, inefficiency, and misconduct.
“We launched the mayoral service delivery war room, a central co-ordination platform that has dramatically improved response times and accountability across departments,” he added, which was complemented by the mayoral izimbizo’s programme, which took government directly to communities, identified urgent issues and enabled immediate interventions.
The metro also hosted an inaugural investment conference which attracted commitments of more than R9.6bn.
Other measures the metro has taken to cut spending included slashing overtime pay for its 16,000-strong workforce by 50%.
This resulted in disgruntled Ekurhuleni metro police department officials using the department’s official vehicles last month to blockade crucial routes, including the R21, R24, N12, N17 and N3, which connect the metro to Africa’s busiest airport, OR Tambo International, and link Gauteng to KwaZulu-Natal and other provinces.
In the first quarter, about R216m was spent on overtime; projections for the full year are that the metro would have spent about R1bn, according to finance MMC Jongizizwe Dlabathi.
“We remain resolute, energised, and focused, because the people of Ekurhuleni deserve nothing less, and because the renewal of our public service must be more than a promise; it must be a lived reality in every department, every ward, every day,” Xhakaza said.
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