The week ahead: crunch time for Joburg’s Treasury grant

Anti-immigration marches loom countrywide, while residents of SA’s biggest cities will be forced to fork over more for dwindling services

Politics

South Africa on high alert ahead of anti-immigrant marches

On Tuesday, over twenty organisations will hold anti-immigrant marches and protests across South Africa. These will be spearheaded by the March and March organisation, led by Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma. Government and private security organisations will be coordinating a joint security operation.

Thousands of immigrants have already fled South Africa, with thousands more waiting to be repatriated. Potential hotspots, including areas where violence has already flared in recent weeks, are Pietermaritzburg, Durban, Newcastle and KwaDukuza in KwaZulu-Natal, and Hillbrow and Brakpan in Gauteng.

ANC pushes election campaign deadlines back as it starts choosing mayoral candidates

The ANC will start interviewing 150 mayoral candidates on Monday after missing its end-June deadline to finalise candidates. Three of those candidates are on the shortlist for Johannesburg: Jabu Moleketi, Makhosazana Ndlela, and the current deputy mayor Loyiso Masuku.

Joburg and Morero face threat of grant cuts

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has given the City of Johannesburg until Tuesday to explain years of irregular expenditure, unfunded budgets and the signing of a R10.3 billion wage deal with municipal unions. Godongwana wrote a letter to mayor Dada Morero two weeks ago, threatening to invoke Section 216(2) of the Constitution.

This would empower National Treasury to stop all transfers to Johannesburg, including the equitable share which subsidises basic services for poorer households. The cut in funding could target the first grant payments of the 2026/27 financial year which starts on Wednesday.

To make matters worse, Morero was absent for most of last week and the deputy mayor, Loyiso Masuku was seeming unaware until Friday that she had been appointed as acting mayor during Morero’s absence.

Start of new municipal financial year brings sharp tariff increases in some metros

The start of the new municipal financial year on Wednesday also brings above-inflation increases in the price of basic services for many South Africans. Water tariffs will increase by 12.5% in Johannesburg, 12% in Ekurhuleni and eThekwini, and 10% in Tshwane. Electricity will increase by 12.7% in Ekurhuleni, 9% in eThekwini, and 8.8% in Tshwane.

Afriforum took the City of Johannesburg to court last week over the new water demand management levy and the lack of transparency in calculating its amount

Parliamentary calendar

Last Friday was the last day of Parliament’s second term of 2026. The National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces will reopen on August 4.

Economics

Absa manufacturing PMI (June 2026)

Absa will release the June numbers for the Purchasing Managers’ Index on Wednesday morning. April’s headline index number was still expansionary at 50.8 but masked a fall in business activity and new orders, as input costs rose higher. June’s index reading could fall below 50, marking an end to a brief period of manufacturing expansion.

New vehicle sales (June 2026)

The Automotive Business Council will release June’s vehicle sales on Wednesday morning. Vehicle sales in May grew to over 51 000 even with the headwind of an interest rate increase. If consumer demand remains robust before future rate increases start to bite, June’s sales could remain above 50 000 units.

S&P Global PMI (June 2026)

S&P Global will release the June numbers for the South Africa PMI on Friday morning. The April headline number fell below 50 for the first time since December 2025. As with the Absa PMI, higher input costs and a fall in new orders pushed business into contractionary territory.

June’s report will confirm if South African firms continue hiring and business confidence remains buoyant as the effects of the US-Iran war persist.

This article is published courtesy of The South Africa Brief, a political newsletter published on Substack which is a collaboration between Paul Berkowitz and Jonathan Moakes. It provides analysis and insight into the new, uncertain era of South African politics heralded by the 2024 general election. Including a specific focus on municipal politics, it will provide full analysis in the run-up to this year’s municipal polls. 

_{Top image collage: Rawpixel; emojipedia.org; Currency.}