Joburg among 69 municipalities hit by Treasury’s July equitable share freeze

By Des Erasmus

Treasury is withholding July 2026 equitable share transfers from 69 municipalities, including the City of Johannesburg, Mangaung, Buffalo City and Nelson Mandela Bay, for councils that have failed to clean up their finances despite repeated warnings and support.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Treasury said the funding freeze was meant to force municipalities to confront long-standing financial failures. It did not mention the rand values of the transfers being withheld. 

It said many municipalities were still failing to comply with the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) in areas “insofar as they relate to adopting funded budgets, addressing UIFWE (Unauthorised, Irregular, Fruitless and Wasteful Expenditure) and ensuring that statutory commitments are met when due,” while some had “failed to show that consequence management is being implemented”.  

It said the aim was “to instil fiscal discipline and ensure that public money is properly managed”. 

Municipalities affected by the