Bongani Baloyi: MKP CoJ mayoral candidate demands a full forensic audit of Johannesburg's R5.2-billion Eskom settlement
Politics · City of Johannesburg
Bongani Baloyi: MKP CoJ mayoral candidate demands a full forensic audit of Johannesburg's R5.2-billion Eskom settlement
Demanding accountability over a opaque multi-billion-rand debt clearance and collapsing infrastructure, MKP candidate Bongani Baloyi marches to the Metro Centre on 22 October 2026, declaring the memorandum a mandate set for his own desk after the 4 November vote.
When uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) members marched on the Metro Centre on 22 October 2026 to hand over a hard-hitting memorandum to Mayor Dada Morero, they did so under no illusions. MKP mayoral candidate Bongani Baloyi made it explicitly clear that the delivery was not done with the expectation of receiving immediate resolutions from the current executive.
Instead, Baloyi framed the memorandum as a binding mandate set for himself. Expressing firm optimism about the upcoming electoral outcome, he stated that he is bringing the document forward purely so it will be waiting on the mayoral table for him to execute as his first official objective after the 4th of November local government elections[span_0](start_span)[span_0](end_span).
“We are not bringing this memorandum expecting Mayor Morero to fix anything. We brought this memorandum as a mandate we have set for ourselves. I am optimistic that after the 4th of November local government elections, when I walk into the Mayor’s office, I will find this very memorandum sitting on the table—and it will be my first objective to execute.[span_1](start_span)”[span_1](end_span)
At the center of today's fierce protest is an urgent demand for a full forensic audit into the City of Johannesburg’s controversial R5.2-billion Eskom debt settlement.
Demanding a full forensic audit of the R5.2-billion Eskom settlement
To understand the depth of the financial crisis, one must examine why the City of Johannesburg received and settled that massive liability. In August 2026, the City of Johannesburg and City Power finalized a lump-sum payment to settle an accumulated overdue electricity debt of R5.25 billion owed to Eskom, successfully averting threatened power interruptions across the economic hub. While Mayor Dada Morero’s administration heralded the settlement as a milestone for financial sustainability, it raised profound public questions. With City Power recording multi-billion-rand operational losses and public funds stretched to their limit, critics have demanded absolute transparency over how this R5.2-billion settlement was funded.
Baloyi emphasized that rather than stabilizing the municipality, this murky financial arrangement poured oil on fire, leaving the city in an even worse structural state while its infrastructure continues to collapse.
Baloyi delivered this memorandum precisely during examination time while students are busy writing exams and confronted with no electricity. As the writer observes, addressing infrastructure, financial accountability, and service delivery is Baloyi's main mandate when he takes office. Not mincing his words, Baloyi made it entirely clear that he is supremely confident he will secure an outright majority come the 4th of November.
Every single day, residents across Johannesburg are facing a complete collapse in infrastructure and poor service delivery. And let us be clear: this current failure is not just the ANC. It is the whole coalition government of the City of Johannesburg—which includes the Patriotic Alliance, the EFF, and others. The city is falling apart, and they have no answers.
The memorandum submitted to the Mayor's office demands a transparent forensic accounting of the R5.2-billion Eskom payout alongside broader service delivery fixes across townships and suburbs. Baloyi aims for an outright majority come the 4th of November so his incoming administration can finally implement lasting solutions.
Not a Mafikizolo in running municipal government
Baloyi is certainly no mafikizolo in running municipal government. As we evaluate the race, he enters the field with a proven, clean track record of local municipal executive governance. During his tenure as Executive Mayor of Midvaal, he earned consecutive clean audits from the Auditor-General, proving he knows what it takes to run a city efficiently[span_2](start_span)[span_2](end_span).
Reiterating his confidence that the MKP will win an outright majority in the upcoming local elections on 4 November[span_3](start_span)[span_3](end_span), Baloyi noted that this clean administrative record follows him into the Johannesburg race. That is why today's memorandum—centering on the demand for a full forensic audit of the R5.2-billion Eskom settlement—is not a plea to Morero, but his personal work order to find waiting on his desk after 4 November[span_4](start_span)[span_4](end_span).
2026 LGE Focus
Why Baloyi is a favorite in the 2026 mayoral race
Click below to examine the core objectives driving Bongani Baloyi’s mayoral campaign for the City of Johannesburg[span_5](start_span)[span_5](end_span):
Frontrunner in the 2026 local government elections
As the campaign for the 2026 LGE local government elections reaches its peak ahead of the 4 November polling day, Baloyi has established himself as one of the frontrunners to claim the mayoral seat[span_7](start_span)[span_7](end_span). His mix of administrative experience, clean governance credentials, and the backing of the MKP has resonated with voters tired of opaque multi-billion-rand financial deals, recurring infrastructure blackouts, and political instability[span_8](start_span)[span_8](end_span).
Today’s march to the Metro Centre on 22 October 2026 was less about appealing to current leadership over poor service delivery and more about establishing a concrete blueprint—including a full forensic audit of the R5.2-billion Eskom settlement—for what Baloyi believes will be an MKP-led municipal administration after 4 November[span_9](start_span)[span_9](end_span).
Well deserved to lead greater Johannesburg, he knows what he’s talking about he must be given a chance
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