Emfuleni's money: budgets, audits and section 139 explained

As at 5 November 2026.

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Where council money comes from

Municipalities raise their own revenue from property rates and from charges for services such as water, electricity and refuse removal. They are also entitled to an equitable share of revenue raised nationally, to help them provide basic services.⁵

Source: National Treasury municipal payment schedule.¹ For Emfuleni, the instalments are due on 8 July 2026, 9 December 2026 and 10 March 2027.¹

The budget cycle

A municipality’s financial year runs from 1 July to 30 June.⁶

• At least 90 days before the financial year starts, the mayor must table the annual budget in council.⁶
• At least 30 days before the year starts, the council must consider the budget. It must approve the budget before the year begins, together with the resolutions setting rates and tariffs.⁶
• Approval needs a majority of all councillors, not just of those present.⁷
• The budget follows the plan. Spending should follow the council’s integrated development plan (IDP), its main planning document. Each new council must adopt an IDP. It may adopt its predecessor’s plan, with or without changes.⁸

Audits and oversight

• The annual report: within seven months of the financial year ending, the mayor must table it, including the Auditor-General’s report.⁶
• The oversight report: within two months of that, the council must adopt an oversight report on the annual report.⁶
• MPAC: every council must have a municipal public accounts committee. Its members review Auditor-General and internal audit reports and help prepare the oversight report. The mayor, speaker, whip and mayoral committee members may not sit on it.⁹

Emfuleni’s audit record

Source: Auditor-General of South Africa.²

For 2024-25, the Auditor-General also reported:²

• Going concern: a material uncertainty about whether the municipality can continue as a going concern.
• Water losses: R880.82 million, or 57.4% of the water bought.
• Electricity losses: R607.90 million, or 25%.
• Unpaid debts: 96% of the money owed to the municipality is unlikely to be recovered.
• Paying creditors: creditors were paid in 44 days on average. The law generally requires municipalities to pay creditors within 30 days.¹⁰
• Vacancies: a vacancy rate of 62%.

Across South Africa, only 39 municipalities (15%) received clean audits for 2024-25.¹⁰

Section 139: when the province steps in

If a municipality has a financial crisis and is in serious or persistent breach of its obligations to provide basic services or pay what it owes, the provincial executive must impose a recovery plan. This is section 139(5) of the Constitution. The plan binds the council to the extent needed to resolve the crisis.³

Emfuleni was placed under both section 139(1) and section 139(5) interventions in 2018. Gauteng ended the section 139(1) intervention on 31 August 2022, but the section 139(5) intervention remained in force.¹¹ In February 2026, National Treasury told Parliament that its recovery unit had helped review Emfuleni’s financial recovery plan in 2024, and that Emfuleni’s 2025/26 budget had been found to be unfunded.⁴

Questions for candidates

• How will you reduce water losses, which the Auditor-General reported at 57.4%?²
• What is your plan for the Eskom and Rand Water debts?⁴
• Will you attend MPAC meetings and publish the oversight report?

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