By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Democratic Alliance (DA) Federal Leader Geordin Hill-Lewis and Johannesburg Mayoral Candidate Helen Zille held a briefing regarding the ongoing service delivery collapse in Johannesburg.
They outlined action steps to address failing services and collapsing infrastructure in the city after touring three sites which laid bare years of neglect.
The briefing was held at the workshop of a local business owner in Eldorado Park, South of Johannesburg.
The party said it chose the venue to highlight the impact of failing infrastructure on businesses, economic activity and residents’ quality of life.
Hill-Lewis said years of political neglect, irregular expenditure and inadequate infrastructure maintenance had left residents and businesses bearing the consequences.
“What I have seen here today is absolutely shocking. I also know that it is fixable. What we have seen here today is caused by years of neglect, failure to prioritise investment in basic infrastructure and failure to spend money properly,” he said.
The workshop owner said, the persistent sewage spill and foul odour had driven customers away, forcing him to retrench employees. He added that several nearby businesses had shut down because of the deteriorating conditions.
He contrasted Johannesburg’s situation with Cape Town, saying the city had invested R17 billion in sewer infrastructure upgrades and maintenance since the DA took office. He argued that stronger political leadership and sound financial management could reverse Johannesburg’s infrastructure decline.
Hill-Lewis also called for stricter accountability and consequence management, saying authorities should investigate how funds allocated for infrastructure maintenance had been spent, both at the Eldorado Park site and across the metro.
The financial reports reveal that the City of Johannesburg had spent just 8% of its R8.7-billion capital budget by the end of September 2025 — three months into the financial year — which improved to 26% by December, still far below the roughly 50% level typically expected halfway through the financial year.
Burst water pipes, leaking reservoirs, ageing electricity cables and potholed roads are becoming increasingly common across the city. Yet a report tabled at the February council meeting shows the City struggling to spend the money allocated to repair the infrastructure behind those failures.
Zille said the city’s infrastructure crisis was the result of entrenched corruption and criminal networks operating within government.
“Joburg is an interlocking network of criminal syndicates parading as a government. That is what it is. And the syndicates are linked to the different factions in the ANC. They all fight each other for access. That is the mess. That is the consequence of the way people have voted in Joburg for 30 years,” she said.
She acknowledged that securing an outright majority would be difficult but said the party would pursue coalition options if necessary.
Johannesburg’s challenge is no longer simply how much money it budgets for infrastructure, but whether it can spend that money fast enough to keep the city’s failing systems from deteriorating further.