The Ekurhuleni Metro Council meetings take place in Germiston. (Photo: City of Ekurhuleni)
The Ekurhuleni Metro Council is still without an approved 2026-27 budget.
The ANC-led coalition in Ekurhuleni tabled a proposed budget to the metro council for the fourth time on Thursday. This proposed budget was also rejected.
The FF Plus says the proposed budget was presented to the council practically unchanged on Thursday with serious financial and regulatory questions that still remain unanswered – hence the decision to vote again against the proposed budget.
A total of 95 councilors voted in favor of the ANC-led coalition’s proposed budget on Thursday and 105 voted against it.
Nkosindiphile Xhakaza, the executive mayor of Ekurhuleni, and Jongizizwe Dlabathi, the mayoral committee member for finance, had a week to adjust the proposed budget after it was rejected at last Thursday’s (June 11) council meeting.
The City of #Ekurhuleni budget did not go through again. Councillors voted in favour of the budget were 95 while 105 voted against it. MMC for Finance and Stragey, pic.twitter.com/yxQtYDxOvU
— CITY OF EKURHULENI (@City_Ekurhuleni) June 18, 2026
Denise Janse van Rensburg, FF Plus councilor in the Ekurhuleni metro council, says the FF Plus has already warned that the budget is based on unrealistic assumptions, such as a collection rate of 90%, a projected surplus of R1,523 billion and proposed bridging funding of R500 million.
Janse van Rensburg says the recent revelation about Ekurhuleni’s electricity tariffs makes the proposed budget even less credible.
Maroela Media reported earlier this week that the Ekurhuleni Metro Council inflated its application for power tariffs for 2024-25 by at least R13 billion by manipulating supporting information used in the application.
A group of industrialists say Nersa, the energy regulator, apparently let it slip through without checking the figures.
Janse van Rensburg now says that the FF Plus finds it extremely problematic that the council is being asked to approve a budget that is based on electricity income, while there is still uncertainty about the underlying tariff structure.
“The FF Plus wants to know why residents are being charged tariff increases of 11% for water, 8.35% for sanitation, as much as 9.01% for electricity, 3.4% for garbage disposal and 2% for property tax while billions of rands are still being lost through power losses and poor financial control.”
ActionSA also voted against the proposed budget on Thursday. The party has now voted against the budget four times.
Xolani Khumalo, ActionSA’s mayoral candidate in Ekurhuleni, says that after four attempts, the ANC-led coalition in Ekurhuleni still cannot present a budget that prioritizes residents’ interests.