South Africa’s richest city collapsing in front of everyone’s eyes

Johannesburg’s post-G20 shine has faded fast.

After major clean-up efforts ahead of the November 2025 Leaders Summit, Mayor Dada Morero now faces accusations of allowing the city to fall back into decay, with the Democratic Alliance (DA) claiming he and his MMCs have neglected their responsibilities since the event.

DA’s Johannesburg Caucus Leader, Belinder Kayser Echeozonjoko, said that the Mayor and his MMCs have abandoned their responsibilities since the summit. 

“City Power has offered nothing but generic excuses, while ward councillors face threats from the construction mafia because the ANC has failed to uphold basic law and order,” she said.

Videos circulating on the social media platform X show the Johannesburg CBD in a poor state; one such video referenced by Mayor Morero said Johannesburg had returned to “factory settings”.

The videos showed litter covering the roads and sewage leakages spilling onto the streets. 

In January, Mayor Dada Morero admitted that the city is regressing. “Officials have dropped the ball. I said this in December, but we are not folding. The inner city is a priority,: Morero responded to complaints on X.

“We acknowledge that there have been delays and setbacks, but we are fully committed to addressing these issues and ensuring that we get things right in the CBD.”

Addressing a clean-up operation on 20 January, Morero claimed that the revitalisation of Johannesburg remains his top priority. He said it is not true that the city gave up.

“Cleaning of the city continues to be a priority. We call on people of this community to participate in cleaning the city,” he said. 

“There would have been challenges during the festive season. We had a lot of people put in leave, especially at Pikitup.”

“We are back in full force. We are not going to drop the ball,” he said that the city will continue to clean, continue to enforce by-laws, and in this way he hopes people will realise the city is serious about the restoration of law, order and cleanliness. 

Kayser-Echeozonjoku, told The Citizen that Morero’s response about the regression in the CBD is deeply concerning.

She described this as a “slap in the face for Johannesburg residents” and said that she is concerned there is no concrete plan to address the issues.

Johannesburg has been struggling with collapsing water and electricity infrastructure as well as a decaying road network, for some time. 

The City currently has 22 water infrastructure projects delayed due to over R72 million in outstanding payments to contractors.

Specific neighbourhoods in the city have been experiencing week-long outages, with areas such as Westbury, Ebony Park and parts of Soweto enduring dry taps for close to a month.

Even Sandton, one of the wealthiest areas on the continent, faced a week-long outage in August.

WaterCAN’s Dr Ferrial Adam recently told Newsday that “the majority of dry taps we see today are not caused by natural scarcity but by governance failures.”

“Billions have been spent on upgrades that never materialised or were riddled with corruption,” said Adam.

Nearly half of Johannesburg’s water is lost through leaks, bursts or illegal connections.

A slap in the face for Joburg residents – DA

In March 2025, President Cyril Ramaphosa warned officials in Johannesburg to resolve several issues ahead of the G20 Leaders Summit. 

“The environment that one observed in Johannesburg was not a pleasing environment, I say this so that we can improve immensely,” the President said at the time. 

In May 2025, Mayor Morero unveiled a high-impact implementation task force, dubbed the “bomb squad”, to tackle these problems. 

This effort and these commitments led to visible improvements. “The lights stayed on, the streets were clean, and the systems worked,” the city said. 

“I said it then, and I’ll say it now. G20 standards must become the norm, not for visitors, but for the people of Johannesburg,” Morero said. 

“The inner city remains one of the most complex urban environments on the continent. Keeping it clean is not a once-off event, but a daily battle,” Morero said. 

The city said that Morero’s administration was handed a dilapidated water and electricity system, which has continuously been an issue. 

The mayor said that these systems had to be fixed at a foundational level, which will take time. “Authentic leadership fixes systems. Not headlines.”

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