City of Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya's projected economic growth by 3,9% by 2029 comes under criticism from the Freedom Front Plus.
Image: Jacques Naude / Independent Newspapers
The Freedom Front Plus has cast doubt on the City of Tshwane's projected 3,9% economic growth rate between 2026 and 2029 through creating an investor-friendly environment, suggesting it is unrealistic.
The political party was reacting to the recent State of the Capital Address by the Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya, who expressed confidence that the city is set to stimulate economic growth and reach its ambitious target of a 3,9% growth rate by 2029.
Moya expressed concern during her address that the city's economy is not growing fast enough to create enough job opportunities for every household.
According to her, the unemployment rate was 37,8% last year, with youth unemployment being particularly alarming.
“That’s why our goal is to grow Tshwane’s economy to 3,9% by 2029, through our newly developed Economic Revitalisation Strategy that promotes investment, supports businesses and creates jobs,” she said.
A key part of the strategy is to unlock the economic potential of city-owned assets that have been underutilised or neglected.
The assets include the Wonderboom National Airport, which is being redeveloped as a commercial hub for logistics and revenue growth and the Tshwane Fresh Produce Market.
Moya also mentioned the Pretoria West power station as one of the assets, noting plans to convert it into a waste-to-energy facility to reduce the city's reliance on Eskom and enhance energy security.
FF-Plus councillor Pieter Meijer said: “There was much ado about a projected economic growth rate of 3,9% between 2026 and 2029 through creating an investor-friendly environment. How this will be achieved remains to be seen as a recent survey among investors indicated that there is no drive to invest in Tshwane. No incentives are implemented to bring it about either.”
He said the address was based on several unfounded assumptions, resulting in empty promises that would negatively impact basic service delivery.
Moya said her administration made progress in settling the city's long-standing Eskom debt, having paid over R1 billion towards the outstanding amount the previous month, reducing the total Eskom debt to R5,66bn.
She also reported a reduction in the city's debtors' book, from nearly R30bn to R25,69bn as of March 31, 2025.
Meijer said: “The so-called success of settling, among others, Eskom debt is highly commended, while it is simply complying with a court order. If the court order was not complied with, Tshwane would have been plunged into a financial crisis.”
The city noted that the reduction from nearly R30bn to R25,69bn in the debtor's ledger was attributed to improved revenue collection and the recent implementation of a debt write-off scheme.
Meijer said: “Since no concrete figures were mentioned, there hangs a question mark over the success of debt collection versus writing off debt, and the impact it will have on cash flow.”
According to him, promising to improve basic municipal services is a pipedream.
“The current state of Tshwane serves as proof, in fact, residents are experiencing the decline of basic service delivery firsthand. The achieved successes can be attributed to the foundation laid by the former administration, of which the Freedom Front Plus was part,” he said. rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za
