EFF calls for the removal of Gauteng MEC Panyaza Lesufi for conspiring tender corruption

4 April 2021

The EFF calls for the removal of the MEC for Education in Gauteng, Panyaza Lesufi, for the damning reports of his conspiracy to conduct tender corruption for the benefit of his allies.

In a meeting with his collective in Tshwane, it is reported that Lesufi suggested that all tender related matters most be discussed with him, so as to allow for "his people" to be supposedly empowered at the expense of service delivery.

The criminality of Lesufi is even further exposed, when he suggests in the meeting in which he is recorded that there may be traitors within his plot to loot, who will report him to police authorities for awarding tenders without following the appropriate bidding process.

As the EFF we are not surprised by the pure thuggery of Panyaza Lesufi, who behaves like a cowboy every time there are matters confronting the Basic Education Sector in Gauteng, yet never fundamentally resolves anything.

Lesufi thrives on pretending to work for public relations purposes, while lining his pockets, and allowing private institutions in the sector to be a law upon themselves.

Most recently, he feigned ignorance on the inexplicable use of R431 million over a period of three months, to fumigate and disinfect schools that were long closed, to combat COVID-19. He is corrupt to the core, and the EFF is pleased that the thuggery he attempted to conduct has been exposed.

We therefore call for the immediate removal of Panyaza Lesufi as an MEC, for brazenly plotting patronage and the robbery of the Basic Education Sector in Gauteng in a time of global economic crisis. Lesufi's nefarious scheme of self-enrichment is a sabotage of education and the future of children, and is tantamount to treason.

The EFF has long called for the tender system to be abolished as it only exists to serve the interests of an elite few, while undermining state-capacity and surrendering critical services to a parasitic private sector.

It is only through massive inward-industrialization and building of state-capacity that corruption will be firmly uprooted, and the criminals who loot resources will be undermined.

Issued by Vuyani Pambo, National Spokesperson, EFF, 4 April 2021