The City of Ekurhuleni appears poised to finally pass its R71 billion budget for the 2026/27 financial year after three failed attempts, with the Democratic Alliance signalling its support for a revised budget proposal ahead of a crucial deadline.
The extraordinary council sitting taking place on Tuesday comes just days before the 30 June deadline for municipalities to adopt their budgets and could spare Ekurhuleni from a provincial intervention that would be triggered if councillors fail to approve the budget before the start of the new financial year.
The ANC-led coalition suffered a major setback last month when opposition parties, including the DA, EFF, ActionSA and several smaller parties, voted against the proposed budget. The budget received 95 votes in favour and 105 against.
However, the DA has now indicated that it will support a revised version of the budget after securing a series of commitments from the ANC, which it says will benefit residents and strengthen oversight of municipal finances.
Speaking ahead of Tuesday’s council meeting, DA Gauteng leader and federal chairperson Solly Msimanga said the party could not ignore the consequences of continued deadlock.
“We were cognisant of the fact that the continuous inability to pass a budget might lead to the administration of this council being placed under a Section 139 intervention,” said Msimanga.
“And therefore we felt it was important that we do not simply sit back, but engage.”
Msimanga said the DA reached out to the ANC and other political parties in an effort to find common ground.
According to him, while some parties sought positions in exchange for support, the DA focused on policy changes and service delivery commitments.
“We were not negotiating for positions,” he said.
“We were saying we will support the budget if the people of Ekurhuleni become the winners at the end of the day.”
Among the concessions secured by the DA is a reduction in property rates increase from 2% to 1.5%.
The party also pushed for the ringfencing of infrastructure spending to ensure funds allocated for roads, electricity, water and sanitation cannot be diverted elsewhere.
Msimanga said deteriorating infrastructure across the metro made it essential that more resources be directed towards maintenance and service delivery.
The revised budget also includes plans for an electricity protection unit aimed at combating illegal connections and electricity theft, which municipal officials have repeatedly identified as a major contributor to financial losses.
The DA further secured commitments for the publication of monthly service delivery dashboards to allow residents to monitor municipal performance and hold the administration accountable.
Other measures include tighter controls on luxury spending, greater emphasis on frontline service delivery and stronger consequence management for officials implicated in governance failures.
“Ekurhuleni has been the star player in the Madlanga Commission,” Msimanga said.
“We are saying there must be consequence management for those matters so that the municipality can begin moving towards better governance.”
Msimanga argued that the revised budget differs significantly from the versions that had previously been rejected.
“You will see there is a distinct difference between the budget that was initially proposed and the budget that now comes before council,” he said.
“The DA has used its numbers in council to influence an outcome that, under the circumstances, is the best possible outcome for the people of Ekurhuleni.”
The budget battle has unfolded against a backdrop of growing tensions within Ekurhuleni’s coalition politics, with parties increasingly testing the strength of the ANC-led administration ahead of next year’s local government elections.
According to Msimanga, the DA was unwilling to allow political manoeuvring between coalition partners to jeopardise municipal governance.
“We could not simply sit by while parties sought to test each other’s political strength through demands to remove mayors or MMCs in exchange for support,” he said.
“The question for us was always: what is in the best interests of the people of Ekurhuleni?”
Should councillors fail to approve the budget before 1 July, Gauteng’s provincial government would be compelled to intervene in terms of Section 139(4) of the Constitution and the Municipal Finance Management Act.
Under such an intervention, the provincial executive would be required to take steps to ensure the municipality adopts a budget and the necessary revenue-raising measures needed for the new financial year.
This council meeting is therefore expected to determine not only the fate of Ekurhuleni’s budget, but also whether the metro can avoid provincial intervention and maintain control over its own financial affairs.