The Johannesburg council has approved the R80.9-billion 2023/24 budget.

A total of 166 voted in favour of the budget, 68 voted against it and there were no abstentions.

The budget includes the city's operational expenditure of R73.3-billion, the capital expenditure of R7.6-billion, and a three-year capital budget of R24.4-billion.

The budget vote occurred after hours, following a lengthy debate and a late start on Wednesday.

Finance MMC Dada Morero's budget began on a dire note with a picture of the City's poor finances.

On Tuesday, the City had R5-billion in its coffers when R9-billion was needed, according to Morero.

The new budget adds R3-billion on top of the previous year's budget.

Most of the debate was taken up by responses to the tariff hikes, which include the following:

Tariff hikes of 2% for property. A water and sanitation tariff increase of 9.3% each. An electricity tariff increase of 14.97%.A refuse tariff increase of 7%.

In his budget presentation on Tuesday, Morero said the City's billing for services was below budget by R3.4-billion while overspending on bulk services was R342-million.

He said the City was losing a third of its water and electricity revenue but was still hopeful that it would be able to collect 87% of its revenue.

The Joburg draft budget was based on a revenue collection rate of 91%, which was rejected by the Treasury as "unrealistic".

However, the opposition had latched on to the view that the budget was unrealistic, saying with the depressed economy, it would be increasingly difficult for residents to pay for services.

They believed the revenue collection would decrease.

ActionSA supported the budget but said it was aware it was presented against the backdrop "of a fragile economic environment, the negative performance of the domestic economy and the constrained affordability by households".

"We, therefore, welcome a lower rate of increase on property that is now reduced to 2% from the initial proposed increase of 5,3%."

The party added that it was a "missed opportunity" that Morero said very little about how the City "was going to reduce our reliance on the failing Eskom".

"We are also concerned that, despite being the poorest of all our regions, Region G was not considered at all in this budget. Nothing was planned for Eldorado Park despite the mayor and his team visiting the area during their protest in 2022. No plans at all for Ennerdale, Riverlea and Westbury. Indeed, this is very concerning for ActionSA."

The DA voted against the budget, saying that while the property tariff was only 2%, "you can clearly see that the increases are hidden elsewhere in the tariff increases".

The MMC spoke about the effects of load shedding, but he failed to mention that the problems that City Power is experiencing are because of ANC load shedding. You cannot mention load shedding without mentioning the ANC, who is in charge of the national government and is in charge of Eskom.

Joburg DA caucus leader, Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku said the budget was not "a people's budget".

"This is an ANC and government of local unity (GLU) [the name given to the leading coalition] election campaign budget, to provide jobs for cadres.

"The budget is not inclusive at all. The City is in freefall with an unrealistic, unfunded budget under the doomsday coalition of the GLU and the residents will experience the lack of service delivery on the ground.