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The City of Johannesburg has launched Project Lokisa, a sweeping new initiative aimed at recovering outstanding municipal debt, especially from the city’s largest and most persistent defaulters.

The campaign—named after the Sesotho word “Lokisa”, meaning “to fix” or “sort out” – marks a radical shift in the city’s approach to financial sustainability and revenue collection.

At the core of Project Lokisa is a large-scale disconnection drive focused on households, businesses, and entities that owe significant amounts for electricity, water, and other municipal services. The city will also crack down on illegal utility connections and increase monitoring of the effects of service disconnections.

Malope Ramagaga, the City’s acting group head for Revenue and Shared Services said Project Lokisa will include the implementation of a large-scale disconnection operations across the City targeting mostly worst defaulters, with the intense focus on illegal connections and the constant monitoring of disconnection impact on customers.

Ramagaga stated that Project Lokisa will take a hard line stance against:

-High-consumption electricity and water users with properties valued over R100 million
-Residential properties worth more than R5 million
-Commercial businesses
-Government departments and State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs)

A key part of the reform includes changes to the process of issuing municipal Clearance Certificates – a required document for property sales. Under the new system, the City will ensure that outstanding municipal debts are settled before any property transaction can proceed.

According to Ramagaga, under Project Lokisa, the City will introduce changes with regards to the process of issuing Clearance Certificates when the seller sells their property. This is another intervention to ensure that the City does not lose money owed for municipal services by the seller, when they finally put their property on sale.

“A Clearance Certificate will be provided to the transferring attorney and the customer with a notice of the total amount owing above 90 days. Attorneys will be given notice to sign an Acknowledgment of Debt (AOD), which will authorize direct payment to the City from the sale proceeds.”

This policy is designed to prevent residents and companies from offloading properties while leaving unpaid bills behind—a common loophole the City says it can no longer afford to overlook.

In addition to aggressive debt collection, the City will focus on preventing revenue losses from theft via illegal power and water connections—an issue that has drained city finances for years.

The City of Johannesburg is dealing with mounting service delivery challenges, in part due to billions lost annually in unpaid accounts. With Project Lokisa, officials hope to not only stabilize municipal finances but also send a strong message to habitual defaulters.

The campaign is part of a broader effort to reform revenue systems, plug financial leaks, and ensure that paying customers are no longer subsidizing those who evade their obligations.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on African countries to seize the opportunity presented by green hydrogen as a catalyst for industrial transformation, energy security, and inclusive economic growth across the continent.

Delivering the keynote address at the inaugural Africa Green Hydrogen Summit at the Century City Conference Centre in Cape Town on Thursday, president Ramaphosa positioned the continent as a key player in the emerging global green hydrogen economy.

“Our beloved continent Africa, the cradle of humanity, is uniquely positioned to become a major player in green hydrogen because it has abundant renewable resources manifested in high solar irradiance, strong winds and hydropower potential.

“The vast land our continent has lends itself to large-scale renewable energy projects. We are therefore perfectly placed to leverage the global shift towards cleaner energy sources for our collective advantage,” the president said.

President Ramaphosa noted that over 52 large-scale projects have been announced across the continent, including South Africa’s Coega Green Ammonia project, the AMAN project in Mauritania and Project Nour in Morocco.

The target, as articulated through the Africa Green Hydrogen Alliance (AGHA), is to produce 30 to 60 million tons of green hydrogen annually by 2050.

It is estimated that this could create between two and four million new jobs in alliance member states by 2050.

“To make use of these opportunities, we need to establish appropriate policy and regulatory environments. We must continue to move as a continent to develop regional certification schemes, hydrogen corridors and green product export platforms.

The president acknowledged the critical need for regulatory certainty, robust certification systems, and market access, stressing that investment and offtake agreements would be key to unlocking Africa’s green hydrogen future.

“We cannot close that gap with potential alone. We must match it with demand signals, regulatory certainty and project preparation support. We need to ensure that there is sufficient and growing demand. This includes building domestic demand in African countries,” the president said.

In this regard, the president noted that the launch of green hydrogen production for mobility in Sasolburg and policy enablers for domestic offtake are important foundational steps.

“As we explore these exciting opportunities, we must work to address the impediments to the growth of this industry,” he said.

President Ramaphosa also highlighted Germany’s continued support through the H2Global mechanism, which has allocated one of its bidding windows to Africa and praised ongoing bilateral cooperation with the EU on green hydrogen projects, including Sasol’s HySHiFT sustainable aviation fuel initiative.

The H2Global mechanism is opening its second bidding window, with one of the four lots allocated to Africa.

“The African lot, which is funded by the German government, will guarantee offtake for successful projects on the continent.

“A Joint Declaration of Intent with the German government focuses on market access, offtake opportunities and value-additive benefits in the production of green steel and green fertiliser. We commend the German government for its commitment to African supply,” the president said.

At home, South Africa has invested R1.49 billion in its Hydrogen South Africa programme, launched new wheeling regulations, and initiated pilot projects, such as green hydrogen mobility in Sasolburg, and advanced planning for the Coega project.

In addition, the South African Renewable Energy Masterplan has been launched to integrate renewable energy and hydrogen into broader industrial development goals.

President Ramaphosa acknowledged the many challenges facing the sector, including high capital costs, global investment gaps, and stiff competition from fossil fuels but urged unity and urgency in building an African-led hydrogen economy.

“Tempered by these realities, this summit must not only be a platform of ideas. It must be a platform of commitments. We must put the African voice at the centre of global energy rulemaking. We must be authors of our own future,” he said.

The South African Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has lowered the repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.25%, with the prime lending rate now at 10.75%.

Announcing the decision on Thursday, Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said: “A combination of higher trade barriers and elevated uncertainty is likely to weaken the world economy. We have therefore lowered our global growth projections, from 3.1% to 2.5% for 2025.”

The majority of MPC members — five out of six — supported the cut, while one preferred a deeper 50 basis point reduction.

The rate cut follows the MPC’s decision in March to hold rates steady amid inflation concerns. However, April’s inflation print came in at 2.8%, slightly above

March’s 2.7% but still below the lower end of the SARB’s 3% to 6% target range. The continued moderation in inflation provided room for a cautious policy adjustment.

The committee noted the recent trend of lower inflation and took the view that a modest reduction in the policy rate was appropriate to support the economy.

“In the previous MPC statement, we warned of downside risks to our growth forecast. We have now trimmed our GDP projections and currently expect growth of 1.2% this year. The outlook for structural reforms remains positive, but there are also headwinds,” Kganyago said.

“We have revised down our inflation forecasts. This reflects the lower starting point, as well as a stronger exchange rate assumption and lower world oil prices. Our previous forecast also included VAT increases, which have since been cancelled.”

The governor said that the committee considered a scenario with a 3% inflation objective, which corresponds to the low end of our target range. “This showed a lower path for interest rates, with the policy rate falling below 6%, instead of staying around 7%, as in our baseline forecast,” he said.

“We will also consider scenarios with a 3% objective at future meetings,” Kganyago said.