Johnathan Paoli
The City of Ekurhuleni’s 2026/27 budget has failed to secure council approval in a fourth attempt, deepening uncertainty as the ANC-led executive races to break the deadlock before the new financial year begins on 1 July.
During a council sitting in Germiston on Thursday, 95 councillors voted in favour of the budget while 105 voted against it, marking the latest setback for the municipality’s spending plan.
The vote leaves the city under mounting pressure to approve a budget before the end of June, failing which it risks triggering a governance crisis and possible intervention.
Speaking after the vote, Finance and Strategy MMC Jongizizwe Dlabathi said the executive would continue engaging political parties in an effort to secure support for the budget.
“We will continue to engage political parties because it is the role of the executive in the ANC-led municipality to try and reach out to political parties, hoping that they would come on board,” Dlabathi said.
He acknowledged that time was running out but expressed confidence that consensus could still be reached.
“We do have a deadline, it should be approved, at least by the 30th of June. So, with the continuous engagement, we are hoping that we ultimately find each other,” he said.
Dlabathi said that the ANC-led administration had already revised the budget in response to concerns raised by opposition parties.
“On our end, we have considered on several occasions, further improvements that were made by other political parties, and that is why with the last council meeting, we came here with a revised budget as a way of demonstrating that we listen further to what political parties are doing,” he said.
“We are really calling for maturity, and we are calling for parties to put aside party interests at the expense of those that all of us claim to represent.”
Dlabathi said discussions would continue ahead of another council sitting expected next week.
“Engagements will take place on an ongoing basis, let’s give it a chance and see what happens at the next council meeting next week, and depending on what happens it will advise us on the next course of action,” he said.
Defending the proposed budget, Dlabathi maintained that there were no fundamental problems with the document.
“We have constructed a budget that is compliant, funded as per the National Treasury Assessment, and a budget that is responsive to the basic issues that council wants us to respond to,” he said.
However, opposition parties remained firmly opposed.
EFF Gauteng provincial chairperson Nkululeko Dunga said the repeated failure to pass the budget showed that it did not command the confidence of the majority of councillors.
“The ANC must now confront the reality that it governs Ekurhuleni as a minority administration. A government that cannot pass its own budget on three separate occasions cannot continue to behave with arrogance, entitlement, and disregard for the views of other parties represented in Council,” Dunga said.
The EFF said that the budget failed to address the city’s infrastructure challenges and deteriorating service delivery.
Dunga also reiterated his party’s criticism of Ekurhuleni mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza, saying the continued rejection of the budget reflected a lack of confidence in his political leadership.
The DA also defended its decision to oppose the budget, with caucus leader Brandon Pretorius saying the ANC had again presented what the party regarded as the same failed spending plan.
“The ANC had an opportunity to choose residents over politics. Instead, it chose to recycle a failed budget and expected a different result,” Pretorius said.
He said the DA had formally submitted alternative proposals to Xhakaza aimed at easing pressure on residents and improving service delivery.
These included a 1% reduction in property rates, reallocating millions of rand towards infrastructure maintenance, creating a ring-fenced infrastructure fund, tackling electricity theft, and improving transparency around the city’s Eskom debt.
ActionSA also opposed the budget again.
Ekurhuleni mayoral candidate Xolani Khumalo said ActionSA would only support a budget if two “fundamental conditions” were met.
“First, we demand a budget that gives effect to Council’s resolution to insource workers and reduce reliance on contracted services. Second, there must be no increases to tariff categories, except for regulated adjustments such as the NERSA-approved 9.01% electricity tariff hike,” Khumalo said.
The latest impasse follows three previous failed attempts to adopt the budget.
The first sitting collapsed on 28 May when disagreements over voting procedures and legal requirements led to the meeting being abandoned before a vote could be concluded.
A second attempt on 4 June saw the budget formally rejected, with 96 councillors voting in favour and 105 against.
The third attempt, on 11 June, also failed after 100 councillors voted in favour and 111 against.
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