In his State of the Province address, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi promised transformative projects, including extensive Gautrain expansions, new hospitals, and free Wi-Fi. However, critics argue these promises are unrealistic given Gauteng’s limited budget and Lesufi’s lack of control over projects outside his jurisdiction. The feasibility of these plans remains dubious.
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By John Matisonn
An end to urban hunger. R120b in new Gautrain route construction. Build four new hospitals. Extend development from Gauteng to Harrismith, Sasolburg, Rustenburg and Limpopo. ___STEADY_PAYWALL___
These are just a few of the sweeping promises Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi made in his State of Province speech last week.
There’s more.
A clean, rejuvenated and busy Johannesburg anchored by a busy Carlton Centre. Free Wi-Fi and data in 26 townships. Free connectivity in all provincial hospitals, schools and offices.
Oh, and “we will kiss unemployment struggles goodbye.”
If Lesufi had a hope of keeping these promises, he would be the greatest reformer in the history of South Africa.
Unfortunately, he isn’t.
A brief look at his promises shows most are impossible to fulfil. He lacks the money, the authority and the track record.
The Gauteng capital budget is R13b, which is committed to various things. Lesufi has not explained how he will source R12ob. It’s to extend the Gautrain to Soweto, Fourways, Mamelodi, Atteridgeville, Vaal, Lanseria and Springs.
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Next, let’s look at his new development regions. These are in other provinces over which Lesufi has no control – Harrismith and Sasolburg are in the Free State, Rustenburg is in Northwest. Those provinces have problems of their own. With severe budget constraints, and a lack of jurisdiction, what can Lesufi actually do there?
One of the promised four hospitals has broken ground. And there is R50million for Wi-Fi. Delivery on those would be welcome.
But “kissing unemployment goodbye”? And an “end to urban hunger”?
To promise these things to a neglected an impoverished community without a remote chance of achievement is cruel as well as disingenuous.
The ANC head office is, at last, sensitive to rising voter anger. They know failure costs votes. If there is not visible progress, there will be a backlash.
Lesufi’s speech kicked off the term of his new minority government. It’s the only provincial minority government, so it’s out of step with the majority governments in every other province and the national government.
What will happen to Gauteng?
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His government can be brought down at any time by a vote of no confidence or a vote to reject the budget. It requires a decision by the EFF and MKP to vote the government out and to be joined by the DA. The three parties together have 41 out of 80 votes in the legislature.
The EFF and MKP are both well-known for choosing their moments with strategic purpose, so it’s difficult to predict if and when it might suit them.
They may choose to wait – the timetables of all the party strategists is focussed on local government elections in 2026. The opposition may choose to delay their challenge till close to election time, to get maximum media attention during the campaign.
So Lesufi’s bigger threat will likely come from within the ANC. His conflict with Luthui House and ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula could escalate. ANC HQ needs to show progress in the province, and especially in Johannesburg and Tshwane.
There, Lesufi’s ANC has been determined to keep the DA out, despite the ANC’s alliance with the DA in the rest of the country where it needed them to gain a majority.
Johannesburg has had nine mayors in five years – seven people, two in the mayoralty twice each. It goes without saying that Johannesburg’s severe service delivery problems remain. The latest and current ANC mayor, Dada Moreno, has lowered expectations, saying “Don’t expect major improvements while I’m in charge.”
Next time a Johannesburg building catches fire or a bridge collapses, the pressure will be up again. ANC politicians know the public will be angry.
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The ANC in Gauteng is fragile, and Luthuli House has no love lost for Gauteng’s rebellious party leaders. ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula and President Cyril Ramaphosa will likely ramp up pressure, which may only work if they can push Lesufi out.
When Mike Moriarty, the DA’s opposition spokesperson on Finance in the legislature, asked to see the performance plans for these projects in the province’s economic development meeting on Thursday, none of the officials had them.
“I was told they did not exist… they were now in the alignment process,” Moriarty said afterwards. Lesufi had said a first tender for the Gautrain extension closes in October. The officials couldn’t produce that either.
“Unless there is a performance plan with delivery deadlines, nothing will happen,” Moriarty said afterwards.
“The Premier promised R137bn of investments,” Moriarty said. At least R120b is supposed to come from the Province, “but from where would he get that money?
“Gautrain I has cost the province R6.1bn in capital costs and around R13b in terms of accumulated annual ridership guarantees …The province’s capital budget for this year is R13bn, R13b next year and R11bthe following year. So that’s R37bn over 3 years. So where is Mr Lesufi’s R120bn from?
“Perhaps he is factoring local government budgets like Johannesburg, which has capital budget of around R7billion a year? But it bears reminding that they are finding extreme difficulty raising finance and will probably not spend all of it. The other municipalities spend even less than Jo’burg on infrastructure investment.
“Lesufi talked about billions of rands of investments. We have heard about billions of rands of investments last year, and the year before. Indeed, the budget vote of the provincial Department of Economic Development passed recently claimed precisely this. But what form did these so-called billions of rands take exactly? This was asked in a recent portfolio committee meeting. The response was vague and there was mention of “non-disclosure agreements” with the investors.
“Unemployment and the amount of people in Gauteng that are without jobs went up, not down. This is despite what was said in the speech.”
In his speech, the premier said the investments he outlined “stand a better chance of attracting not less than 540 000 jobs that will be available to people of Gauteng, and with this, we will kiss unemployment struggles goodbye.”
He said his government is ready to end urban hunger, but his only information about that project was to say that his government “is committed to ensure that the agricultural sector in our province is given all the necessary support.”
If only ending hunger and unemployment were that easy.
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