The Nelson Mandela Bay metro recorded a loss of R1.58bn in the 2024/2025 financial year, councillors attending the budget and treasury portfolio meeting heard last week.

The Nelson Mandela Bay metro recorded a loss of R1.58bn in the 2024/2025 financial year, councillors attending the budget and treasury portfolio meeting heard last week.

The Nelson Mandela Bay metro battled sky-high overtime claims, continuing electricity and water losses, and a low collection rate of municipal tariffs to run up a loss of R1.518-billion in the financial year that ended in June, the Budget and Treasury Committee heard last week.

The metro managed to reach only 53% of its service delivery targets during that year.

The overview of the financial year put water losses in the metro -- which only recently emerged from a drought -- at 52.74%. This means more than half of the metro's water has been lost to theft and leaks. That is equal to 67.95 million kilolitres of water, up from 48.6% in 2023/24.

Non-revenue electricity losses, caused by factors including meter tampering and illegal connections, amounted to R1.196-billion (26.34%) in 2023/24 and escalated to R1.323-billion (26.81%) in 2024/25.

These devastating figures were revealed as the city entered the third week of phone lines for its Call Centre and some ward offices being disconnected because the metro failed to settle its R9.6-million bill with service...