The African National Congress (ANC) in Johannesburg will be requesting National Treasury to do a thorough analysis of mayor Herman Mashaba's 2017/18 budget.

During a press conference on Sunday, the party's chair Parks Tau called the budget dubious.

Tau, who lost his position as mayor during the local elections in August 2016, said he believed the city was headed to a credit downgrade under Mashaba.

"We will also request the Gauteng provincial government, through the MEC for human settlements and co-operative governance, to keep an eye on the financial position of the city over the next few months. We cannot afford a situation where Africa's pre-eminent city collapses without us intervening," he said.

He said that the ANC raised its concerns over the budget during a debate, claiming that Mashaba's budget was overstated by at least R1-billion.

"It is our considered view that the City of Johannesburg has to revise down its budget, both the revenue side and also on the expenditure side. Failure to do this will place the city at the risk of being unable to pay for bulk services such as electricity and water; pay salaries and also redeem its bond of R 2.7-billion that needs to be repaid by June 2018."

He said that with Mashaba at the helm the city, bank loans stood a risk of being compromised.

Finances 'in a sound position'

The ANC in the region also raised concerns over what it called significant under-spending of the capital grants from national and provincial governments to the tune of R750-million.

"This means that some of this money, which reflects in the city's cash position, is at risk of being returned. The return of grants simply means projects that these grants were allocated for are not being implemented in the City of Johannesburg."

Mashaba could not be immediately reached for comment. However, the city issued a statement denying the claims.

"The comments are nothing more than the ANC’s attempt at reviving Councillor Parks Tau’s political career from the ashes," Finance MMC Rabelani Dagada said.

"The truth of the matter is that under ANC administration, the city and its finances were run in an environment of chaos and disorder, all of which allowed a culture of corruption to fester and flourish." Dagada said the budget was already assessed by the National Treasury.

"The city’s finances are in a sound position. The DA-led administration has made tremendous progress since taking office to ensure that we run a clean administration following acceptable governance practices.

"The financial state of affairs will be revealed by the AGSA [Auditor General SA] when he issues his report in November 2017."