July 02, 2026.

For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Haydon Whitley.

Making headlines:

Johannesburg faces R2.1-billion funding gap as its bills mount

Hill-Lewis defends GNU but warns ANC over mandate

And, US to give Tanzania $1.3-billion under five-year health pact

Johannesburg is starting a new financial year with a multibillion-rand budget that’s not fully funded, potentially deepening a crisis that’s already left it unable to pay for power and fuel supplies.

South Africa’s biggest city is facing an unfunded budget gap of about R2.1-billion for the year starting July 1, according to a framework seen by Bloomberg News. The National Treasury attributed the shortfall to city revenue projections that appear overstated relative to audited results, according to the document.

The metro forecasts an overall budget deficit of R7-billion for this fiscal year.

The Treasury advised city authorities to narrow the gap by improving revenue collection and rationalising the 6-kiloliter free water allowance for non-indigent households. It also recommended resolving affordability concerns over the second phase of a personnel finance agreement, which requires a binding decision by the city council before the final budget can be approved, the framework shows.

The Treasury declined to comment, citing confidentiality, while the city didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.

In his first major address since assuming the leadership of the DA, Geordin Hill-Lewis has declared that South Africa has entered a "second transition" that demands a “fundamentally new type of political movement”.

Speaking in Sandton today, Hill-Lewis called for an “honest, unvarnished assessment” of post-1994 politics.

He framed the upcoming era as a critical shift away from the apartheid-era legacy of "organised dependency" and subjecthood, urging a return to the collective, self-determined future South Africans chose in the 1990s.

Addressing the practical question of why the DA governs alongside the ANC, Hill-Lewis defended the Government of National Unity as the only viable choice to block “destructive populists”.

However, he warned that the ANC must accept that it did not win an outright mandate, but rather a mandate to negotiate and compromise.

The United States has signed a memorandum of understanding with Tanzania to invest more than $1.3-billion in its health sector over the next five years, the latest in a series of deals that have caused controversy in some African countries.

The agreement is similar to those struck with countries including Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda under US President Donald Trump's "America First Global Health Strategy", designed to make poorer nations more self-reliant as the US has dismantled foreign aid programmes.

The pact says that in return for more than $1.3-billion in investment, Tanzania has committed to investing $1.8-billion in the health sector over the same period, according to a statement from the US embassy in Tanzania.

The statement said this joint investment reflects both countries' commitment to preventing the spread of infectious diseases, and strengthening Tanzania’s capacity to finance, manage, and self-sustain essential health services.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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