Buffalo City Drops From Top Metro Capital Spender
Stats SA data shows Buffalo City no longer leads metros in per-capita municipal capital expenditure, with Tshwane lowest in 2024.
Updated on Nov. 5, 2026 in City Hall
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Buffalo City was the country's biggest metropolitan spender on infrastructure per resident in 2022, but Stats SA analysis shows it no longer tops the metro rankings. Johannesburg now trails Cape Town and eThekwini in per-capita capital expenditure, while Tshwane recorded the lowest per-capita capital spending in 2024.
Why it matters
Capital spending determines how much municipalities invest in roads, water and other infrastructure, and the shifts show financial pressures squeezing municipal investment across South Africa. Johannesburg's operating costs have grown far faster than its capital investment since 2010.
Municipal capital expenditure totalled R56.5bn in 2022, about R910 per person, according to Stats SA's Census 2022-based analysis. Johannesburg's operating expenditure grew 92.5% in real terms since 2010, while its capital investment contracted 12.8%, and Stats SA does not specify Buffalo City's exact 2024 position.
The players
Stats SA
Statistics South Africa is the national agency responsible for official statistics, including the census and municipal finance data used in this analysis.
Buffalo City
Buffalo City is a metropolitan municipality in the Eastern Cape, centred on East London and King William's Town.
Johannesburg
Johannesburg is South Africa's largest city and the economic hub of Gauteng province.
The details
Stats SA's analysis ranks metros by capital expenditure per resident, placing Buffalo City first in 2022 ahead of Johannesburg and Cape Town. In more recent figures Johannesburg trails Cape Town and eThekwini, and Ekurhuleni ranks second-lowest per capita in 2024, relying heavily on conditional national grants rather than internally generated revenue.
Timeline
2010: Johannesburg's operating versus capital spending comparison period begins.
2022: Census 2022 year, when Buffalo City topped metro capital spending rankings.
2024: Tshwane records the lowest per-capita capital spending among metros.
2025: Johannesburg's capital expenditure share of total spend falls to about 7%.
Political Context
The shift follows Stats SA's Census 2022-based analysis, which first put Buffalo City at the top of per-capita municipal capital spending. Opposition-led and national debates over municipal financial sustainability often centre on operating costs crowding out infrastructure investment, a pattern the Johannesburg figures illustrate.
Residents of Johannesburg and Buffalo City may notice how municipal budgets prioritise maintenance and services over new infrastructure. Shifts in capital spending can affect road repairs, water systems and other local projects in the years ahead.
The takeaway
Municipal capital spending is an early indicator of long-term infrastructure health, so tracking these per-capita figures year to year helps show whether cities are investing for the future or spending on running costs.
Further reading
For more on how councils fund local services, see City Hall coverage across South Africa.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Daily Dispatch.
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