Ernest Hemingway was right, as he wrote in The Sun Also Rises: “How did you go bankrupt? Two ways: Gradually and then suddenly.” Once Johannesburg was the richest city in Africa. Yet it is now staring bankruptcy in the face.

Here is the current situation as summarised by Biz News – the South African website. Johannesburg’s future will be decided on 4th November, when South Africans go to the polls in municipal elections. Whoever wins faces a terrible inheritance.

South Africa’s economic engine is running on empty. The City of Johannesburg is buried under a R9.5 billion debt pile, ($572 million) with virtually no cash reserves left to address a crumbling municipal landscape. 

Why it matters: This is not just a balance sheet crisis; it is a threat to the country’s economic heart. The decay is driven by systematic neglect, weak oversight, and massive infrastructure theft. Over R6 billion of the deficit is attributed directly to stolen electricity, water leaks, and non-existent municipal billing controls.

Go deeper: National Treasury has issued a stern warning to Joburg Mayor Dada Morero, indicating the city is in direct violation of the Public Finance Management Act. Yet, the local government continues to project an attitude of artificial calm while basic services disintegrate. 

• The city’s total infrastructure backlog has skyrocketed to R200 billion, a mountain of deferred maintenance that threatens basic electricity and water delivery.
• Public accounts watchdog committees are preparing to summon municipal leadership to account for the freefall, though previous administrations share equal blame for the five-year decline.