URBAN ECONOMY
This reflects the persistent distance between where many people can afford to live and where jobs are concentrated. In the Rosebank-Sandton corridor, CDE notes, there are as many as 15 000 jobs per square kilometre. Parts of Soweto have fewer than 500 jobs per square kilometre despite accommodating a much greater concentration of working-age residents. The city ' s own unemployment rate, 35.9 % in the second quarter of 2026, reflects how much of that mismatch remains unresolved.
Public transport should help close this distance. Rea Vaya was created to provide a more integrated alternative, but the bus rapid-transit system has experienced financial pressure, missed targets, payment disputes and the suspension of some feeder services.
Restoring these connections could have a direct economic effect. More reliable and affordable transport would expand the range of jobs residents can reach, give employers access to a larger labour pool and reduce the amount of household income consumed by commuting.
In the Rosebank-Sandton corridor, CDE notes, there are as many as 15 000 jobs per square kilometre. Parts of Soweto have fewer than 500 jobs per square kilometre despite accommodating a much greater concentration of working-age residents."
Pressure across the system The transport challenge forms part of a wider infrastructure problem.
Johannesburg Water has identified an infrastructurerenewal backlog of R26.6 billion. The utility replaces between 60km and 70km of pipe annually across a network extending more than 12 500km. CDE argues that the present replacement rate is insufficient to keep pace with the ageing network. Around 45 % of the water pumped into that network generates no revenue for the city, lost to leaks and illegal connections.
The electricity infrastructure backlog is estimated at R44 billion. Between July and December 2025,
Johannesburg recorded 54 132 power outages, including 105 high-voltage failures, with cable theft and vandalism accounting for approximately one-fifth of those outages. Separately, CDE estimates that nearly 30 % of the electricity distributed across the city is lost to theft and faulty metering, revenue that never reaches the utility at all.
Addressing these backlogs will require substantial financial and administrative reform as much as engineering expertise. According to figures cited in the report, Johannesburg owes creditors R25.2 billion but holds only R3.9 billion in cash and cash equivalents. More than 80 % of its municipal debtors ' book is reportedly considered irrecoverable.
Eliminating every backlog at once isn ' t realistic. What matters is credible priorities, reliable revenue collection and a long-term maintenance programme capable of preventing further deterioration.
Visible improvement may begin with relatively unglamorous measures. Fixing billing problems, protecting essential infrastructure from theft, repairing high-impact routes and directing capital spending towards maintenance would do more than any new flagship project.
Creating the conditions for recovery CDE identifies political instability as a central cause of Johannesburg ' s difficulties. Since 2016, the city has had nine mayors and eight coalition administrations, with no mayor completing a full five-year term.
Political stability would not automatically produce competent government; a stable administration can still tolerate poor appointments or pursue the wrong priorities. But repeated changes in leadership make sustained planning extremely difficult, rewriting strategies, contesting appointments, and leaving long-term programmes vulnerable to short-term political bargaining.
CDE argues that recovery will require stable and capable leadership following the local elections, together with a rebuilding of the municipal administration. It also calls for greater involvement from national government and partnerships with business, universities and civic organisations.
24 sabusinessintegrator. co. za