City of Johannesburg to lay complaint against City Press

Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba says the city is to lay a complaint with the Press Ombudsman regarding a City Press report stating that the financial health of the city is “on life support and could require a bailout unless something drastic is done”.

The newspaper reported that situation was so bad that the country’s economic hub’s financials showed that the city had a bank balance of R1.2bn at the end of April‚ and that a shortfall of R3.5bn was projected for last month and this month.

There was already anxiety‚ it said‚ about whether June salaries would be paid.

However‚ Mashaba said on Sunday that “nothing could be further from the truth”.

“I would like to reassure our residents that the City faces no financial distress nor is the City in need of a bailout‚” he said in a statement.

He added that the city’s Cash Management Report‚ as required by Section 71 of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA)‚ which had been approved by the mayoral committee and was on its way to council‚ clearly stipulated that the city’s cash remained in a healthy state at over R3.2bn.

“Further to this‚ the City continues to meet its salary commitments. At no point has there been any risk of the City not being able to do so‚ either presently or in the future. “