The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) and other opposition parties in the Johannesburg Metro joined forces on Thursday and prevented the ANC from pushing through an unrealistic adjustment budget.
The purpose of such a budget is to align financial management with the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) and prevent unauthorised expenditure.
The ANC, however, attempted to use it to conceal serious financial problems.
The proposed adjustments saw salaries and bad debt increased by R1,05 billion each, while contractor services were cut back by R1,17 billion.
When added to smaller adjustments, it raised the total expenditure from R80,6 billion to R81,2 billion.
However, major overspending between July and December 2025 – such as R1,2 billion on salaries, R640 million on electricity, R313 million on water and R252 million on interest – was simply ignored.
If the overspending was taken into account, expenditure would have shot up by an additional R3,61 billion.
The Metro finds itself in a dire financial predicament, but there is no political will to acknowledge or resolve it. So, the Freedom Front Plus had no other choice but to reject the budget.
The Freedom Front Plus is eager to, after the upcoming local government elections, work together on fixing the ANC’s mistakes and get Johannesburg back on the right track for everyone’s benefit.
