Gauteng SOPA: Premier Lesufi continues to bait residents with false hope and corrupt, unlawful schemes

19 February 2024

As anticipated, Gauteng Premier, Panyaza Lesufi, used his State of the Province Address (SoPA) to deliver empty promises and make false proclamations of progress. It is obvious that his administration is deluded and disconnected from reality as millions of residents in Gauteng continue to suffer.

When one looks beyond the abhorrent conduct displayed in the chamber this evening, the harsh reality is that, since his last SoPA, Premier Lesufi, just like his predecessor, has failed to respond decisively and deliver on his promises to improve the declining living standards of many in Gauteng, who are plagued by unemployment and ongoing loadshedding, among several other challenges.

Instead, millions have been wasted as the Crime Prevention Wardens, better known as AmaPanyaza, Premier Lesufi’s private militia, who are a law to themselves, are being paid to listen to a speech rather than serve their purported “purpose” of fighting crime.

The Premier is misguided if he believes that ActionSA is against the government’s creation of jobs for the youth. We, however, maintain that any efforts to fight crime and create employment should be done within the confines of the law.

We further demand that the wardens be pulled from the streets to receive adequate training from accredited institutions while drawing from the thousands of skilled SAPS reservists with years of experience.

These upcoming elections offer us a real chance of unseating the uncaring current government and charting a new path of prosperity for our great province. An ActionSA government will:

Rebuild our policing capacity to reverse the overpoliticization of our police services and address the severe constraints on resources. This will assist our law enforcement agencies to proactively respond to crime.

- Bring an end to the exploitation network created by the ANC by insourcing frontline services like security guards and cleaners.

- Resolve loadshedding by working with our nine municipalities to shift the province’s electricity dependence from Eskom and open the energy market to independent power producers.

- Introduce a supply chain policy that unapologetically insists on experienced and competent contractors and maintains good communication with all parties, including regular reporting on progress.

South Africans are fed up with empty promises. 30 years later, 63.9% of the youth in Gauteng alone are unemployed, yet the Premier rejoices and proclaims that the economy is booming while many sit at home, struggling to make ends meet.

The economy is stagnant, criminals are having a field day, and our economic infrastructure, such as railway lines, has been destroyed and continues to be stolen. Our healthcare facilities are unsafe for both healthcare professionals and patients, and our roads are derelict, with many of our traffic lights either destroyed or vandalised.

Additionally, thousands of people who were promised quality homes through the construction of housing megaprojects have been completely abandoned and left incomplete by incompetent, self-serving contractors who were appointed by the provincial government.

It is only when you act through your vote that we will be able to arrest the decline and put the province on an upward trajectory. Let's take action to fix Gauteng.

Issued by Funzi Ngobeni, Gauteng Provincial Chairperson, ActionSA, 20 February 2024