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City of Joburg Forfeits R313m Rea Vaya Grant Amid Transport Failures
The City of Johannesburg has forfeited over R313 million in national funding intended to support its Rea Vaya bus system, after failing to meet compliance requirements and due to poor commuter turnout.
A newly tabled council report also revealed that the city’s transport department has not spent a single rand of its R546 million annual budget for public transport in the current financial year.
The report outlines severe financial mismanagement within the Rea Vaya system, highlighting problems ranging from mechanical faults in buses to delays in rolling out the next phase of the service. Additionally, ongoing payments to taxi operators—due to delays in issuing licenses and implementing the Johannesburg Integrated Transport Information (JITI) system—have drained resources.
JITI was intended to streamline and modernise public transport operations across the city.
Further straining the city’s financial outlook, Johannesburg’s revenue collection shortfall now ranges between R50 billion and R63 billion, according to Finance MMC Margaret Arnolds, who spoke to Sowetan.
Although the city collected R39.2 billion in revenue, a large portion remains uncollected from residents and businesses who are behind on municipal bills.
“Urgent action is required to strengthen cash flows, improve revenue collections and capital expenditure,” the council report warned. The city saw R5.1 billion in cash inflows in January 2025, but outflows exceeded this at R5.3 billion—causing a R1 million dip in its cash reserves.
The report noted that while the gap between income and expenditure had narrowed slightly to R951 million from the projected R1.1 billion, this was only due to under-spending on operational costs.
The financial instability raises serious concerns about the city’s ability to sustain its services and implement its 2024/25 development goals.
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Sourced:Sowetan Live
Picture: Leon Nicholas
