They play politics. Joburg pays the price.

14 May 2025

Johannesburg doesn’t need a miracle. It needs YOU.

Last week, Ferial Haffajee wrote an article highlighting the crisis and mismanagement of Johannesburg. Once the beating heart of the continent’s economy, Joburg is now on life support and time is running out.

Roads explode. Water stops flowing. Power vanishes without warning, separate from load shedding. And the people meant to fix it? They’re too busy playing musical chairs in council chambers while the city crumbles outside the window.

In 2023, the Auditor-General found that Johannesburg lost a staggering R21.8-billion to waste, irregular deals and unauthorised spending. That’s more than a quarter of the city’s budget.

Gone.

Not into infrastructure. Not into safety. Not into dignity. Gone into the fog of politics, mismanagement and corruption.

And yet, silence.

No uproar. No accountability.

Because the one thing more absent than service delivery ... is scrutiny.

Everything good that is happening in Joburg, as Ferial listed, is the result of the stellar work of civil society and residents who care.

The watchdogs are missing. Local journalism – the front line of accountability – has all but disappeared.

Over the past 15 years, the journalism industry has shrunk by an estimated 70%. The worst hit? Local newsrooms. The very ones we need most.

At the same time, service delivery failure has risen exponentially.

See the correlation?

We’ve got a plan. But we need your help.

Daily Maverick wants to launch a dedicated Johannesburg bureau, staffed with a team of 10 journalists on the ground focused solely on this metro. They will be committed to exposing the rot, spotlighting solutions and making sure no councillor, contractor or city official escapes the consequences of their failures.

Their stories will power a daily, free newsletter for residents, amplifying local issues on our national platform.

This newsletter will remain free for everyone because, with the local government elections around the corner, anyone who has the right to vote should have access to the truth.

Johannesburg doesn’t need a miracle; it needs a microphone.

Daily Maverick has a proven track record of exposing State Capture, shaking up national policy and holding the powerful to account. Now we’re taking that fight to Joburg’s front yard – because it’s past time.

Here’s the deal:

Despite the public service we provide, we receive no public funding. We need the business community and the public, who understand that our standard of journalism translates into impact and accountability, to support us in this effort.

We need 2,800 of you, our readers who care about Joburg’s future, to become Maverick Insider members. Your monthly or annual contributions will go directly to paying the salaries of the journalists at this bureau. If that happens, we’ll be able to open the bureau in a month.

It’s your choice how much you want to contribute (we suggest R200/month because it works out to about the cost of a cup of coffee a week…). Not a lot, but collectively it’s enough.

If you’re a business owner in Joburg and want to see the city thrive (and receive the kudos for being part of that), you can get in contact with us below.

Have we got a deal? Join us on the link below to support this bureau.

Become a JHB Maverick Insider

Have a question or suggestion? Get in touch by sending us an email here.

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We’ve got a plan. But we need your help.

Here’s the deal: