South Africa’s municipalities, except Cape Town, are in a financial “death spiral,” according to Deputy Finance Minister Ashor Sarupen. Speaking at the Cape Town Press Club, he warned that ballooning salary bills, poor service delivery, and collapsing infrastructure are crippling cities like Johannesburg, reports Bloomberg. Sarupen urged urgent reforms, better accountability, and focused infrastructure investment. He also criticized the dysfunctional national coalition government and called for a legal framework to ensure binding coalition agreements. Sarupen announced his candidacy for DA federal council chair, which may lead him to step down as deputy finance minister. They write:
South Africa’s main municipalities, with the exception of Cape Town, are in a “death spiral,” spending way too much money on administrative staff and too little on maintaining and building infrastructure, a deputy finance minister warned.
“Salary bills have grown much faster than inflation, faster than revenue and far faster than service outputs,” Ashor Sarupen told the Cape Town Press Club on Wednesday. “The result is a state that looks busy, that delivers less, consuming more in salaries and symbolism, while investing less in infrastructure that actually keeps our cities alive.” […]
“If we can fix our metro utilities, we begin to fix our major towns, and with that, the conditions for economic growth,” the deputy minister said. […]
Sarupen announced that he intends standing for election as chairman of the DA’s federal council at a party conference next year, and will decide whether to step down as deputy finance minister if he wins. The post is currently held by Helen Zille, who is running to become mayor of Johannesburg in municipal elections that must be held by early 2027, with Sarupen serving as her deputy.
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