CATEGORIES
- (40)Agriculture, Land Reform & Rural Development
- (30)Auditors & Accountants
- (10)Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment
- (7)Built Environment
- (80)Communications & Digital Technologies
- (2)Company Law
- (2)Consumer Law
- (34)Courts
- (4)Criminal Law
- (1)Cybercrimes
- (2)Disaster Management
- (17)Education & Training
- (8)Electoral Law
- (128)Environmental Law
- (4)Family Law
- (183)Financial Sector
- (5)Fisheries & Aquaculture
- (10)General Interest
- (28)Health & Safety
- (25)Home Affairs
- (3)Housing
- (30)In the Spotlight
- (1)International Co-operation
- (87)Justice & Constitutional Development
- (72)Labour Law
- (22)Legal Practice Council
- (26)Local & Provincial Government
- (35)Minerals & Energy
- (1)Monetary Policy
- (2)National Development Plan
- (35)National Treasury
- (92)New Legislation
- (28)Opportunities for Public Comment
- (9)POPIA
- (366)Parliament
- (1)Practice Management
- (7)Presidency
- (19)Property Law
- (9)Public Service
- (4)Retirement Reform
- (18)Road Accident Fund
- (30)Safety and Security
- (1)Science, Innovation & Technology
- (13)Small Business Development
- (28)Social Development
- (13)Sport, Arts & Culture
- (15)State Owned Enterprises
- (4)State of Disaster (energy)
- (26)Taxation
- (9)Tourism
- (100)Trade, Industry & Competition
- (46)Transport
- (21)Water & Sanitation
- Show All
LOCAL GOVERNMENT SPENDING: NATIONAL TREASURY LAUNCHES METRO TRADING SERVICES REFORM MEASURES
- 23 March 2026
- Local & Provincial Government
- SA Legal Academy
National Treasury has launched a municipal financial management and service delivery reform measure targeting South Africa’s largest cities. First announced in Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s 2026 Budget speech, according to Director-General Duncan Pieterse’s to delegates at the launch, the metro trading services reform:
- introduces performance linked incentives ‘to restore the operational and financial sustainability of metro trading services’, thus
- attracting lenders and investors for water, sanitation, electricity and waste infrastructure development, and in turn
- improving metro services.
‘Strengthened by partnerships with the international development community’, the metro trading services reform programme ‘is part of a comprehensive package of local government reforms ... detailed in the 2026 Budget’. Aligned with Operation Vulindlela and government’s ‘structural reform priorities’ in removing constraints to economic growth, the reform package:
- ‘moves beyond oversight of local government towards more active intervention to stabilise municipal governance and strengthen financial management’, and
- includes:
- ‘legislative changes’
- the ‘stronger enforcement of funded budgets and financial recovery plans’
- ‘targeted investments in municipal infrastructure and smart metering’, and
- ‘new approaches to ensure that public funds are matched to credible delivery’.
In the context of non-metro municipalities, should ‘capacity constraints at a specific municipality threaten infrastructure delivery’, instead of reallocating the funding concerned to other municipalities with the capacity to use it effectively, unspent funds will be ‘transferred to entities such as the Development Bank of South Africa and the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent, which will then provide the assistance necessary to ‘ensure ... spending takes place in that municipality to benefit the residents who live there’.
- Pieterse’s address
- 2026 Budget speech
- Operation Vulindlela
- Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent’
Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch
Follow us on X @SALegalAcademy (you can also join us on LinkedIn and Facebook)
If you use this information in articles, reports and social media posts of your own, please acknowledge SA Legal Academy Policy Watch as your source