By Staff Reporter
In the lead up to the State of the Province Address in Gauteng on Monday, the DA in the province has launched an attack on premier Panyaza Lesufi, saying he needs to apologise to residents and stop making grand promises.
DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga accused Lesufi of using every SOPA as a platform to satisfy his relentless desire to “lie and deceive the people of Gauteng, making grand promises of prosperity, only to deliver disappointment”.
He claimed Gauteng was on a downward spiral.
“If Lesufi truly prioritised the residents of Gauteng, he would start by apologising for deceiving them and squandering their funds on initiatives that have not improved their lives but worsened their situation,” he said in a statement on Sunday.
“During his tenure, the economy of Gauteng has remained stagnant, and there has been a significant drop in investor confidence. The unemployment rate has increased to 34.4% in the fourth quarter from 34.0% in the previous quarter.”
He said the DA has long warned that for the province’s economy to grow, infrastructure deficits must be addressed. However, he accused Lesufi’s government of failing to maintain and improve infrastructure.
Msimanga said this was confirmed by finance and economic development MEC Lebogang Maile, who revealed that water pipes, electricity grids and roads in some areas were more than 50-years-old and on the verge of collapse as municipalities lacked the funds to replace decaying infrastructure.
This has led to service delivery failures, water leaks and electricity disruptions.
He also said that Gauteng’s lack of adequate infrastructure directly affected learners.
“They are packed into classrooms like sardines because the Gauteng government has not built enough schools or provided temporary classrooms to address the overcrowding.
“The consequences are also dire for residents in municipalities like Emfuleni, where people are without water and electricity for weeks and navigate streets filled with sewage. It would be wise of Lesufi to tell Gauteng residents what he will do to support municipalities. But as we know, all his promises will never materialise,” Msimanga said.
He said that while Lesufi would claim progress in tackling housing challenges, he was unlikely to acknowledge that the waiting list has surpassed 1.2 million beneficiaries, with some waiting since 1996.
“Moreover, there will be no explanation for why the Gauteng government is squandering taxpayers’ money on legal fees to defend its disgraceful failure to pay Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs). This failure has put vital services for the vulnerable people of Gauteng at risk, forcing some to shut down.”
Msimanga also claimed that there had been no progress report from the provincial government.
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