source of public revenue. CDE calculates that the city generates 21.8 % of the personal income tax collected nationally, while Gauteng as a whole contributes approximately 47 %.
These figures help explain why improving Johannesburg matters beyond its municipal boundaries. More reliable infrastructure would reduce operating costs for businesses, support property development and make it easier for employers to connect with workers across the city.
Johannesburg is not a single, uniform economy. It extends across more than 1 600km ² and contains numerous commercial centres, including Sandton, Rosebank, Midrand, Fourways, Randburg and Roodepoort. This distribution has given the city a degree of resilience even as its traditional centre has deteriorated.
Businesses and households have also proved highly adaptable, investing in solar power, water storage, private security and alternative working arrangements to keep economic activity going. But that adaptation comes at a price. Money spent compensating for unreliable public services cannot be invested elsewhere, and lower-income households and smaller businesses have far less capacity to make private provision.
Improving municipal performance would therefore do more than remove daily inconvenience. It would release resources currently being spent on managing uncertainty.
Friction in the network Transport offers one of the clearest illustrations of the relationship between city services and economic opportunity.
Johannesburg ' s residential areas are frequently located far from its main employment centres. Roads and public transport are therefore essential economic infrastructure, determining how easily people can reach jobs and how efficiently goods can move through the city.
CDE puts Johannesburg ' s road-maintenance backlog at R90 billion and its bridge-maintenance backlog at a further R37 billion. Between July and December 2025, residents reported 23 572 potholes to the Johannesburg Roads Agency, an average of almost 3 900 a month. In the final quarter of that year, approximately 55 % of the city ' s traffic lights experienced faults.
Each disruption adds friction. Unpredictable journeys complicate logistics, increase vehicle costs and reduce the productive time available to businesses and workers.
For lower-income residents, the effects are particularly pronounced. The report, drawing on Gauteng City- Region Observatory research, says the average Johannesburg household spends 29 % of its income on transport. In townships and peripheral areas, the proportion can exceed 40 %. sabusinessintegrator. co. za 23