Govt depts, SOEs owe City of Joburg nearly R500m in outstanding water bills
This has been revealed in Johannesburg Water's first-quarter performance report, recently presented to the city council.
Picture: © zakspeed271/123rf.com
JOHANNESBURG - Government departments and state-owned entities owe the City of Johannesburg nearly half a billion rand in outstanding water bills.
This has been revealed in Johannesburg Water's first-quarter performance report, recently presented to the city council.
Government departments and State entities owe Joburg Water almost half a billion rand.
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) March 14, 2025
This is contained in Joburg Water’s performance report for Quarter 1 of the current financial year. @JusstAlpha pic.twitter.com/TDMRIeUCNr
The report shows that almost 20 departments and public entities have defaulted on their payments to the municipality.
According to Johannesburg Water's performance report, the department of health owed the metro over R115 million by the end of September 2024.
While the department is Johannesburg Water’s largest state-owned debtor, the report indicates that its debt has been decreasing in some quarters due to efforts to settle the amount.
In contrast, Transnet owed Joburg Water R72 million but the report shows this state-owned institution has made little progress in reducing its debt.
The SABC is also on the list but managed to reduce its debt from R6 million in December 2023 to just R26,000 by the end of September 2024.
The City of Joburg has faced criticism for poor revenue collection, as some customers continue to default on payments.