January 28 saw the City of Joburg (CoJ) host its first council meeting for 2016.
The meeting tabled the 2014/2015 annual report and discussed last year’s achievements.
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Finance, MMC Geoffrey Makhubo said, “Positive feedback from rating agencies, investors and Johannesburg residents confirmed and demonstrated that the city was delivering on its promises.
“We said we’ll put the city in a healthy financial position and we did. As we reach the end of the term of office, we can safely say we’ve indeed established a solid financial foundation.
“The city is in good hands,” said MMC Makhubo.
Explaining Johannesburg’s performance by numbers, the city’s 2014/2015 revenue leaped by eight percent to R42-billion.
The bulk of the money came from service charges such as water, electricity and refuse removal.
Total expenditure, which represented a 12 percent increase, was R37.8-billion and the city had R4.9-billion in its cash reserves.
MMC Makhubo said, “I’m pleased to report that the city received an unqualified audit from the Auditor General. It is also worth noting that the number of municipal entities that achieved clean audits has increased to six.”
These entities were the Johannesburg Social Housing Company, Joburg Theatre, Johannesburg Roads Agency, Pikitup, Johannesburg Property Company and Johannesburg Development Agency.
“We’ll work hard to restore the clean audit of the Joburg Market and move all other entities towards a clean audit,” said MMC Makhubo.
For the 12 months under review, the CoJ achieved a surplus of R3.9-billion.
At the meeting, pupils from the Johannesburg area were acknowledged for their academic achievements.
They were Siyabonga Dlamini, Lebogang Masekoameng, Brian Moyo, Godfrey Sekgale, Sphamandla Jiyane, Kabelo Makhetha and Zipho Memani.
