Johannesburg’s three largest municipal utilities are failing at a pace that threatens basic services for the city’s five million residents. A Daily Maverick investigation published on 12 April laid out the numbers.
Why it matters
Johannesburg is South Africa’s economic hub. The deterioration of power, water and waste services affects millions of residents and businesses daily. Local government elections are expected later this year.
City Power
City Power recorded more than a million outages in the space of six months. The utility’s budget has been cut by hundreds of millions of rand. On Christmas Day 2025, the utility had more than 2,700 open fault calls simultaneously.
Johannesburg Water
The water utility managed more than 4,000 pipe bursts per month. Ageing infrastructure and budget reductions have left repair crews unable to keep pace with failures across the network.
Pikitup
The waste collection entity operates with a 56% vacancy rate. Its four landfill sites are nearing capacity. Robinson Deep, the city’s largest dump, has roughly eight months of space left. The Ennerdale site has about two months. Marie Louise is already full. Goudkoppies has about a year.
Cash flow problems have blocked fuel cards and delayed vehicle licence renewals, further disrupting collection schedules.
Systemic failure
Johannesburg city manager Floyd Brink told Eyewitness News in March that the service delivery failures are the result of decades of underinvestment in infrastructure maintenance. He acknowledged that the entities need significant capital injection to stabilise operations.
The question facing voters ahead of local elections is whether any party can reverse the decline without the billions of rand needed to replace ageing networks and equipment.