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ActionSA has today voted against the Ekurhuleni budget because it still asks residents to shoulder an unacceptable financial burden at a time when households are already under immense economic pressure.

While we acknowledge that the Government of Local Unity made concessions following our engagement, particularly on the issue of insourcing and the creation of permanent municipal jobs, the budget remains fundamentally flawed because it fails to provide meaningful relief on the tariffs.

ActionSA has consistently maintained that residents cannot continue to be treated as a revenue source to compensate for years of poor financial management and wasteful expenditure. Every effort must be made to reduce the cost of living before asking struggling families to pay more.

Although movement was made on our demands relating to insourcing, there was no meaningful movement on the proposed tariff increases. The administration has failed to demonstrate that it has exhausted every available option to lessen the burden on residents before imposing these increases.

Until we are satisfied that every possible intervention has been explored to reduce electricity tariffs and protect households from escalating costs, ActionSA cannot, in good conscience, support this budget.

Our position has always been guided by a simple principle: the people of Ekurhuleni must come first.

Residents are facing rising food prices, rising transport costs and growing economic uncertainty. The municipality should be looking for ways to ease this burden, not deepen it through excessive tariff increases that will place additional pressure on families and small businesses.

ActionSA welcomes the willingness shown to reconsider aspects of insourcing and recognises that this represents progress. However, progress on one issue cannot justify silence on another that will affect every household and every business in the city.

Our vote against this budget is not an act of obstruction. It is a principled stand in defence of residents who deserve a municipality that prioritises affordability, responsible governance and sustainable economic growth.

ActionSA remains ready to support a budget that balances the financial sustainability of the municipality with the realities faced by its residents. Until that balance is achieved, our position remains unchanged.

The people of Ekurhuleni deserve a budget that works for them, not one that makes their daily struggle even harder.

Issued by ActionSA