Joburg denies R4 billion budget diversion for G20 blackmail

The leadership of the City of Johannesburg has denied diverting R4 billion from its capital expenditure budget to prevent disruptions to the G20 summit.

This follows a Sunday Times report published on 16 November, alleging that the City of Johannesburg diverted the money to prevent South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) representatives from protesting in the city.

The diversion is said to have followed an agreement for the city to pay R4 billion of a R10 billion agreement to increase municipal worker salaries over the next two years.

“No such diversion has taken place,” Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero said in a statement. “The city has not yet budgeted for the agreement reached in principle with SAMWU on Friday, 14 November.”

Morero added that the report’s claim that Joburg’s Mayoral Committee met in October to discuss the diversion of funds from Johannesburg Water, the Johannesburg Roads Agency, or any other entity is also false.

He said that expenditure can only occur once municipal funds are appropriated through council processes, which typically occur in June or February.

“Neither method has taken place in relation to the politically facilitated agreement. Therefore, the alleged diversion is not only inaccurate but also impossible.”

However, in response to Morero’s utterances, journalist Sisanda Mbolekwa posted the alleged agreement, which shows that the city will commit “a minimum of R1.2 billion, up to a maximum of R2 billion” by March 2026.

The city will also commit to paying a minimum of R5 billion, up to a maximum of R6 billion, by July 2026, and further commit to paying R4.1 billion by July 2027.

Morero says that the city and the union have been engaged in good faith, and that the CCMA has facilitated negotiations led by a senior advocate since December 2024.

“The agreement… introduces a fair and equitable remuneration framework, focusing on standard job grading, industry benchmarking, salary parity, performance-based progression, and financial sustainability.”

However, SAMWU does not seem to view the negotiations in the same light as Morero, as its Johannesburg regional chair, Ester Mtatyana, said in September that “if workers’ demands are not met, there is no G20 that will take place.”

“If the employer does not resolve this issue, on the eve of G20, comrades, we will close down all the freeways and all the entrances and exits. Nothing will move in Gauteng!”

Democratic Alliance leader in the Johannesburg council, Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku, has called the alleged diversion of funds “expediency at its worst.”

“This a shocking decision taken while communities queue at water tankers and roads crumble under neglect,” she added.

As a result, the DA has written to National Treasury demanding a full breakdown of where the R10 billion has been diverted from and how the city plans to fund the agreement.

It has also requested a full investigation into the legality of the decisions, the financial risks this may cause, and what services will be impacted.

“While the Mayor may attempt to appease SAMWU, it will be much more difficult to appease the residents of Johannesburg as their services stall,” she said.

“The Mayor has on multiple occasions, even when accounting to Parliament, been unable to answer whether or not the City has redirected R4 billion from Joburg Water, now, this financial blackhole only seems to widen.”

Johannesburg will be hosting the G20 leaders’ summit on 22 and 23 November, the first time the forum will be held on the African continent.

Representatives from the 19 countries, excluding the United States, as well as the African Union and the European Union, are set to meet at the event.