For the purposes of this exercise we have taken figures from the 2018/19 Audited Financials – provided by Municipal Money, for these Metros in South Africa:
- Buffalo City
- City of Cape Town
- Ekurhuleni Municipality
- City of eThekwini
- City of Johannesburg
- Mangaung Municipality
- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality
- City of Tshwane
Municipal Money is an initiative of the National Treasury, which has collected extensive municipal financial data over several years and freely shares this information with the public.
We honed in on THREE important areas most asked about by the General Public:
- Spend on Staff and Salaries expressed as a Percentage of total income
- Fruitless and Wasteful Expenditure expressed as a Percentage of total income
- What is the Money Spent On?
1. Comparison between the Major Metros on their spending on Staff and Salaries:
| Municipality | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Buffalo City | 29.9 |
| Cape Town | 34.1 |
| Ekurhuleni | 22.7 |
| Ethekwini | 30.1 |
| Johannesburg | 26.1 |
| Mangaung | 27.7 |
| Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality | 31.9 |
| Tshwane | 28.1 |
2. Comparison between the Major Metros on Fruitless and Wasteful Expenditure:
| Municipality | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Buffalo City | 2.7 |
| Cape Town | 2.7 |
| Ekurhuleni | 1.1 |
| Ethekwini | 6.7 |
| Johannesburg | 2.9 |
| Mangaung | 30 |
| Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality | 43.5 |
| Tshwane | 10.6 |
3. The major areas of spend by the Municipalities are on:
- Community & Social Services
- Electricity
- Environmental Protection
- Governance, Administration, Planning and Development
- Health
- Housing
- Other
- Public Safety
- Road Transport
- Sport And Recreation
- Waste Management
- Waste Water Management
- Water
Looking at the graphs below you will see that the highest spend by every single Metro is on Electricity.
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Alan Straton
Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth.
Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."
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