South Africa’s richest city struggling to pay for police and road repairs

The City of Johannesburg is struggling to pay for its road repair crews and police services.

South Africa’s economic hub is facing a financial crisis, with critical service delivery grinding to a halt as the City struggles with a growing liquidity problem.

This issue was recently thrown into the spotlight when the City suspended the diesel supply to the entire fleet belonging to the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA).

The JRA is the entity responsible for maintaining the city’s road infrastructure, including pothole and traffic light repairs.

Johannesburg’s MMC for Transport, Kenny Kunene, previously stated that the fuel suspension was implemented on 15 June 2026.

The matter has since been resolved. Kunene said that the JRA’s fuel budget had been received and that operations had resumed.

However, the Centre for Risk Analysis (CRA) said that the City’s difficulties with funding its own vehicle fleet highlighted a more serious administrative failing than just poor service delivery.

“Road safety and economic costs rise the longer signals and potholes go unrepaired, with insurers and motorists bearing the immediate burden,” the CRA said.

“The inability to finance basic infrastructure maintenance damages the city’s negotiating position with creditors and intergovernmental partners, including Eskom.”

According to the CRA, the delayed payments reflect poorly on Joburg’s fiscal credibility at a time when it is already under heavy scrutiny over its municipal debt.

The JRA reported a maintenance backlog of over R115 billion, far exceeding the entity’s annual budget of R1.8 billion.

Johannesburg Roads Agency not the only entity affected

The CRA said it expected this would not be the last major service interruption as the City attempts to reverse its dire financial situation.

The Democratic Alliance, meanwhile, claims that the fuel suspension affected other City entities such as Johannesburg Water, Pikitup, and Metrobus.

While this has not been confirmed nor denied by the city, the CRA said it would reflect a serious worsening of Johannesburg’s financial crisis if true.

Last month, Eskom also threatened to interrupt power to the City of Johannesburg over a R5.2-billion debt owed to it by the metro’s energy agency, City Power.

All of these issues highlight Joburg’s growing liquidity crisis. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana previously revealed that the City’s debts exceed R25 billion while its cash reserves are sitting at around R3.9 billion.

The issue has now spread to the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD), which was grounded over a payment dispute.

An anonymous JMPD source told Daily Maverick that the police fleet was grounded amid a payment dispute between the City and Afrirent over the amount owed.

This was confirmed by the DA’s shadow MMC for public safety, Solomon Maila.

The Public Safety Department said there had been a dispute over the billing of some vehicles by Afrirent.

The City subsequently paid almost R50 million to the entity, and both sides have agreed to launch a verification process on the disputed figures, which is expected to be completed by the end of this week.

Maila said it was unacceptable for a payment dispute to cause police vehicles to be taken out of service, as residents rely on a visible police service for security, traffic management, and emergency responses.

Afrirent confirmed that the City made a partial payment last Tuesday and that the two parties are concluding an agreement to settle the balance without grounding any vehicles.

It added that grounding vehicles was a “last resort” that would be considered only after it had exhausted all other options to resolve its service agreement with the City of Johannesburg.