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The City of Joburg has lost R313m from its Public Transport Network Grant that funds the Rea Vaya bus system due to noncompliance and poor passenger numbers.
And the transport department managing the system has not spent a cent of its R546m budget this year.

This was revealed in a recently tabled report at the Joburg council, which revealed that Rea Vaya is faced with a myriad issues, including poor revenue.

“Revenue underperformance was linked to delays in rolling out Rea Vaya Phase 1C(a), a shortage of operational buses due to mechanical faults, and compensation to taxi operators due to delays in finalising operating licences and implementing [the] Johannesburg Integrated Transport Information (JITI),” the report said.

JITI was designed to help the city run public transport more efficiently.

In a recent interview with Sowetan, the city’s finance MMC, Margaret Arnolds, revealed Joburg’s revenue collection debt was between R50bn and R63bn.

Though the council report highlighted the city’s revenue collection, totalling R39.2bn, it also revealed that there is a significant portion of the money that is still outstanding from customers who are not paying their bills.

“Urgent action is required to strengthen cash flows, improve revenue collections and capital expenditure to deliver on the developmental outcomes as set out in the approved 2024/25 Integrated Development Plan and the Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan,” the report said.

“Cash balances must be monitored closely in order to ensure that the City remains in a position to meet its financial obligations.”

The report said the shortfall between income and expenditure was sitting at R951m compared to a projected R1.1bn, because the city was spending less on operational costs.

Published by Sowetan, written by; Koena Mashale, Journalist