The city responds
Grades and the underlying workings are sent to each graded entity ten working days before publication. Any response we receive is published verbatim below. Late responses are appended within 48 hours of receipt.
Johannesburg Water notes the assessment and confirms that its 2025/26 non-revenue water figure of 48.2% is consistent with the Auditor-General's finding. A five-year Turnaround Programme, adopted in September 2025, targets a 4-percentage-point reduction by June 2028 through active leak detection in Zones 3, 7 and 11 and accelerated meter replacement in Soweto. Progress is reported quarterly to the Section 79 Committee. Bulk supply constraints from Rand Water's Vaal system remain outside the entity's control but are factored into the reservoir-management strategy.
City Power acknowledges the reported energy-losses figure of 27.8% and highlights that R1.4 billion was reprioritised in the 2025/26 adjustments budget toward smart-meter roll-out in the Randburg and Roodepoort service areas. NERSA's proposed municipal-distributor KPI framework, once gazetted, will provide the first standardised outage benchmark against which our performance can be judged; we welcome the scorecard's plan to adopt those metrics as they become official.
Revenue notes the collection rate of 81% and the Ombudsman's resolution figures. The billing-query resolution KPI reflects a step-change in complaint volumes following the SAP migration completed in October 2025; residual data cleansing continues, with a 90-day intensive plan concluding end-August 2026. The Ombudsman's higher resolution rate this cycle is welcomed.
The City welcomes the upgrade in audit outcome to unqualified-with-findings (2024/25), the first improvement in five audit cycles, and notes Moody's April 2026 affirmation of the Ba3 rating with a positive outlook. UIFW expenditure has reduced from R4.8 billion to R2.1 billion over the reporting window. The City reiterates its commitment to a further reduction through the Consequence Management Framework adopted by Council in February 2026.