Durban's R70 billion budget: Mayor says plans in place to bury potholes, sweep the street and keeps the lights on

eThekwini Mayor Cyril Xaba stated that they are committed to addressing service delivery  challenges that are plaguing the municipality. 

Xaba acknowledged systemic weaknesses that continue to frustrate residents while he presented the 2025/26 budget at a council meeting on Monday. Xaba said that the municipality will be rolling out a bold new approach to boost service delivery that hinges on real-time accountability, regional management and  technology-driven innovation.

The total budget for 2025 and 2026 is R70.9 billion which is made up of an operating budget of R63.6 billion (or 89,7% of the total budget) and a capital budget of R7.3 billion (or 10,3% of the total budget).  

Xaba said that the municipality will conduct unannounced site visits, artificial intelligence tools, and decentralised management will form the backbone of the municipality’s renewed push for service excellence. 

He said that the municipality is not happy with the response time after service delivery queries have been raised, particularly when dealing with a water leaks. 

“To close the gaps, we are promoting “transversal management” and tighter standard operating procedures between municipal units. Sometimes they take long to respond to a water leak because they don’t have equipment to dig up that particular pipe. Another example is where the water department digs up a road to replace a water pipe, but the roads department does not come and fix the road timeously. This will help resolve such issues and we are already noticing the impact,” Xaba said. 

The main focus of the budget is the replacement and rehabilitation of infrastructure and the implementation of the trading services turnaround strategies to ensure efficient and effective service delivery.

Xaba said this is not just a promise, but a commitment that has come to define the posture of the leadership and indeed the entire management of the city. 

“We will bury potholes, sweep the street, cut the verges and keeps the lights on,” he said. 

The budget was presented at 17 budget hearings across the City and to all stakeholders including business, the disability sector and traditional leaders from 22 April to 17 May. 

Xaba said the municipality faces the following challenges:

• Infrastructure decay in key urban and township areas
• Growing informal settlements and housing backlogs 
• High levels of unemployment and youth disillusionment 
• Financial constraints and revenue collection difficulties • Climate vulnerability and a need to accelerate resilience

The municipality's target for 2025 and 2026 are:

• Over 5,000 new houses will be built over the MTREF

• • 6,000 new water connections 

• 13,500 new electricity connections 

• 7,386 new sewer connections

• 53 km of wastewater pipes

• Upgrading of 14km of gravel road to blacktop 

• Build 13 new sports fields

• Build two new libraries and refurbishing 13 

• Repair and upgrade 11 community halls, and

• Build three new fire stations 

zainul.dawood@inl.co.za