Johannesburg in Brief: Metro Trading Services Reform Programme

In July 2026, CDE hosted a discussion led by Deputy Minister of Finance Ashor Sarupen on the National Treasury’s Metro Trading Services Reform (MTSR) programme and its implications for metros such as Johannesburg. Sarupen argued the collapse of municipal trading services stems from a flawed funding model where metros use utility revenues to cross-subsidise unrelated functions, causing chronic underinvestment and masking administrative bloat. To arrest this decline, the MTSR programme draws on a R54 billion funding pool, including a R19 billion World Bank loan, to match qualifying municipal infrastructure expenditure rand-for-rand over five years. Participation is voluntary, but strictly conditional, requiring metros to navigate a six-year timeline of institutional milestones and linking financial disbursements to independently verified physical outcomes. While Treasury cannot dictate municipal spending, it can enforce compliance by expelling non-compliant metros from the programme or withholding equitable share funds, for example if utility debt continues to grow unabated. Assessing current progress, Johannesburg demonstrates only ‘minimum compliance’ with uneven commitment: City Power is quantifying revenue leakage, Joburg Water underfunds capital expenditure, and Pikitup lacks necessary financial quantification.

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