Johannesburg is increasingly spending on the assumption that money it bills residents and businesses will eventually arrive, even as its mountain of unpaid debt grows and much of it becomes unlikely to ever be collected.
The Centre for Development and Enterprise says Johannesburg’s unpaid customer bills have climbed to nearly R72 billion, worsening pressure on service delivery, infrastructure maintenance and the City’s ability to pay suppliers.
Johannesburg’s unpaid customer bills have climbed to nearly R72 billion, according to the Centre for Development and Enterprise, which warns that weak revenue collection, rising costs and deteriorating services are reinforcing one another.
In its latest publication, Joburg’s Broken Budget, the CDE says the City is increasingly budgeting on the basis that money billed to residents and businesses will be collected, even though a growing share of that debt is unlikely to be recovered.
CDE says gross unpaid bills owed to the City increased from about R15 billion in 2014/15 to nearly R72 billion in 2024/25. Its analysis describes a cycle in which unreliable services undermine customers’ willingness or ability to pay, weakening revenue available for maintenance and investment.
