South Africa’s largest city still does its billing on spreadsheets

Johannesburg still does its billing on spreadsheets, making it one of the only major cities globally which does not have a digitised system.

This, DA mayoral candidate Helen Zille argues, is by design, as it makes corruption and the theft of taxpayer money easier.

Zille told the Palatable Politics podcast that the City of Johannesburg’s billing system is in total chaos because it facilitates corruption.

“Johannesburg must be one of the only major cities in the world that still does its billing system on spreadsheets,” she said.

“The billing system is not even digitised now. Really, the first thing we’ll have to do is digitise the billing system.”

She argued that officials in Johannesburg do not want a digitised billing system as it requires entering a password.

“When you enter the system with a password, the system tracks where you are and what you’re doing in the system,” she said.

“You can’t scrap somebody’s balance, and you can’t do all the manipulations that people are doing now in return for money,” she said.

Zille referred to the corrupt practice of officials reducing or wiping out municipal debt in return for bribes.

“The Johannesburg officials don’t want a system that can track corruption, as it will stop them from stealing,” she said.

“Because of that, the billing system is in chaos. Because of that, we’re not getting the money in to fund the budget.”

She added that the billing chaos is partly to blame for Johannesburg’s unfunded budget, which, in turn, leads to poor service delivery.

“We’re not getting the money in to fund the budget. That is why Enoch Godongwana, the Minister of Finance, said Joburg’s budget is unfunded,” she said.

Johannesburg’s billing problems are nothing new

Problems with the City of Johannesburg’s billing system are nothing new. It has been a burning issue for over a decade.

Former City of Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba warned in 2017 that the billing system architecture was broken and vulnerable to manual interference.

He called for law enforcement investigations into tampering with automated billing and pushed for digital modernisations to replace corrupted data pipelines.

In 2021, the city leadership acknowledged that the billing systems were heavily reliant on manual workload, physical queues, and outdated paper-based reporting.

They stressed the need for an automated self-service system and self-captured digital meter readings to eliminate widespread resident frustration over estimated bills.

On 25 August 2026, Ann Bernstein from the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) produced a detailed report on the issue.

She highlighted that gross unpaid bills owed to Johannesburg have risen from R15 billion in 2014/15 to R72 billion in 2024/25.

By 2024/25, the annual increase in unpaid debt was equivalent to one rand in every six that the City billed for rates and services.

“Johannesburg’s financial crisis is one of the most concrete manifestations of its collapsing governance,” Bernstein said.

“A weak, unstable, crisis-prone administration without clear leadership affects billing, and corruption undermines procurement and maintenance.”

“A lack of maintenance affects service delivery, which leads people to withhold payments.”

“Non-payment affects cash flow. Weak cash flow affects suppliers and infrastructure. The cycle then repeats and deepens.”