Preventing the total collapse of Johannesburg must become an urgent national priority. This is the warning issued by Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) director Ann Bernstein, following the release of the organisation’s report, 'Johannesburg Matters: Fixing South Africa’s Growth Engine'.

Bernstein emphasised that Johannesburg is the single municipality whose failure guarantees national failure. If South Africa's principal economic gateway cannot be saved, the entire country’s growth and development are in jeopardy, she said.

The CDE report outlines a failure across every core dimension of the municipality’s mandate and indicates that structural decay is evidenced by alarming financial and operational metrics.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana revealed the city owes creditors R25.2-billion, while holding just R3.9-billion in cash.

Johannesburg Water faces an infrastructure backlog of R26.6-billion. At current spending rates, replacing the city's aging pipes will take nearly 200 years.

The city has an electricity infrastructure backlog of R44-billion, resulting in a staggering 54 132 power outages between July and December 2025 alone.

In the second quarter of 2026, Johannesburg recorded the highest official unemployment rate among South African metros at 35.9%. The city lost 90 000 jobs between April 2025 and June 2026, while Cape Town gained 57 000.

The CDE warned that these crises are not isolated and form a “destructive feedback loop”.

“Poor governance destroys municipal finances, which halts infrastructure maintenance. Consequently, businesses and skilled professionals flee, eroding the tax base and leaving fewer resources to fix the city,” the organisation pointed out.

The root of Johannesburg's decay is political instability, the CDE states. Since 2016, the city has cycled through nine different mayors and eight fragile coalitions.

The total absence of a mayor completing a full five-year term has destroyed stable, long-term planning.

According to Bernstein, continuing down this road of “dysfunctional, unstable coalitions” means an accelerated decline.

She said weak leadership will remain incapable of making hard decisions, appointing skilled professionals, or attracting vital investment.

The upcoming local government elections present a stark choice for voters, Bernstein said, adding that the city’s crisis is political, not technical, and requires a clean break from unstable coalitions.

"Johannesburg can recover," Bernstein insisted. "This is only possible if the elections produce stable, honest political leadership."

However, new leadership cannot fix the metro in isolation. Reversing the decline will require the incoming government to actively mobilise outside experts and forge deep partnerships with Johannesburg’s private sector, financial markets, academic institutions, and civic organisations.

https://www.polity.org.za/article/johannesburg-matters-joburg-in-jeopardy-2026-08-18