Johannesburg faces a significant administrative backlog as the City reports nearly 80% of printed trading permits remain uncollected, leaving thousands of informal traders without legal documentation and vulnerable to removal by metro police. Concurrently, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) is advancing a crackdown on tax compliance within the burgeoning social media influencer sector, while the City of Cape Town is allocating R500 million to repair ageing water infrastructure amid persistent drought concerns.
In Johannesburg, the Department of Economic Development acknowledged that over 900 approved permits are outstanding, part of a larger queue of thousands of pending applications. Traders’ unions report that members are being forcibly removed from trading sites despite having applied for permits, citing a lack of communication and transparency. They have demanded a publicly accessible database of permit status and proposed that recognised block leaders be granted letters of authority to streamline group communications with the city. The uncollected permits highlight systemic delays in processing applications for informal traders, a critical sector for urban livelihoods and the local economy.
Meanwhile, SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter confirmed the tax authority is intensifying its focus on social media influencers and digital content creators. The agency is refining its operational definition of an “influencer” and profiling the sector to understand its diverse revenue streams, which often include brand endorsements, affiliate marketing, and platform monetisation. While final guidelines are under development, SARS is applying existing income tax rules to individual cases and urging voluntary registration. This move targets a rapidly expanding digital economy where earnings are frequently under-declared, aiming to broaden the national tax base.
In Cape Town, the municipality has launched an intensified water conservation drive, directing R500 million towards replacing 50 kilometres of old water pipes. City officials reported that nearly 22,000 leaks were repaired in the past six months. This infrastructure push is critical as dam levels hover at 57% and climate change drives increasingly erratic rainfall patterns. The programme is part of a broader strategy to reduce non-revenue water—losses from leaks and theft—and secure the city’s water supply, lessons deeply learned from the near-crisis of “Day Zero” in 2018. Residents are urged to report leaks promptly to support the effort.
These parallel developments in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and at the national revenue authority underscore ongoing challenges in South Africa’s urban management, fiscal oversight of new economic sectors, and climate adaptation. For Johannesburg, resolving the permit backlog is essential to formalise informal trade and prevent further conflict. For SARS, establishing clear rules for influencers is key to fair tax collection in a digital age. For Cape Town, aggressive infrastructure investment is a necessary response to a drier future. Each initiative requires not only funding but also efficient implementation and public cooperation to achieve their intended outcomes.
