The City of Johannesburg achieved an Unqualified Audit Opinion for the 2022/2023 fiscal year at a group level and two of its entities, namely Joburg Market and Johannesburg City Theatres, obtained clean audits. Tebogo Moraka, the City’s Group Chief Financial Officer, says “despite challenging conditions that prevailed in 2022/23 the City has again achieved an unqualified audit opinion, as was the case in the previous financial year”. “The City continues to strive towards clean administration and the highest standards of corporate governance. Two of the cities’ entities obtained a clean audit and all other entities received an unqualified audit, which is an improvement from the last financial year where one entity received a qualified audit,” Moraka adds.

He notes that the City needs to rebuild cash reserves as it is critical to the City’s ability to respond to the aging infrastructure and demands of a growing City, more so amid concerns of decreased allocations to local government from the national fiscus, which was confirmed by National Treasury through engagements with them

“This means the City will have to do more with less to ensure that we deliver on our service delivery mandate,” he adds.

Johannesburg City Theatres showcased several noteworthy accomplishments during the fiscal year.

These included hosting 61 arts and culture festivals and themed productions, surpassing the initial target of 50. 

It also successfully executed four touring productions nationally and internationally, far exceeding the planned goal of one. Despite challenges posed by power cuts due to load shedding, it proactively procured a backup generator, showcasing resilience and adaptability.

Joburg Market also achieved commendable milestones. It witnessed an increase in revenue and employed 102 Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) workers for various projects. Direct revenue recorded amounted to R604.4 million, exceeding the budgeted amount of R599.7 million by 0.8%.

However, the entity faced challenges such as power failures, cable theft, inadequate trading space, contractor failures, and aging infrastructure. 

To mitigate these challenges, Joburg Market has undertaken initiatives like the urgent construction of a power supply line and seeking grant funding for the extension of trading space.

The fiscal year 2022/2023 presented unique challenges, with load shedding escalating and impacting economic activities. 

Despite these hurdles, the City remained steadfast in its commitment to strengthening its financial position.

The City’s recent released Annual Report 2022/2023 states the key features of the financial position include capital expenditure amounting to R6 billion of the approved budget of R6.5 billion, secondly, the City’s cash and cash equivalents at year-end amounted to R4 billion, which is a slight improvement from the R3.8 billion cash reserves at the end of the 2022 financial year. 

Furthermore, over R3.5 billion in long-term liabilities was successfully redeemed during the financial year mostly using the City’s sinking fund. Finally, the solvency ratio of 2.24:1, well within the set target of 2:1, indicates that the City is financially sustainable and able to meet its long-term debt obligations.

However, challenges persisted in revenue collection, achieving 86% against the targeted 91.1%. Group Finance have since launched various initiatives and processes to ensure an increase in revenue collection. 

​Some of these include prioritising queries and dealing with estimations and estimations beyond by laws, diversification of energy supply and sale and execution of properties owing the City.

The annual report provides comprehensive insights into service delivery, organisational and financial performance, and organisational development performance.