SOPA 2025: Lesufi vows to tackle Gauteng’s 13 biggest challenges

By Simon Nare

Fixing roads and potholes, tackling economic development, combating crime and lawlessness, expanding Gautrain services, creating jobs, and enhancing struggling sectors are some of the key priorities for the province of Gauteng during this financial year.

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi outlined these goals during his State of the Province Address (SOPA) in Mamelodi, Tshwane, on Monday night.

Lesufi, whose future as Premier has been under intense scrutiny following the province’s poor performance in the recent general elections, said these initiatives are crucial to give new strength to Gauteng, the economic powerhouse of South Africa.

Kicking off his speech, Lesufi cautioned that no matter what his administration says or does, its efforts will be meaningless if they fail to address what he termed the “Gauteng 13” – a set of pressing challenges facing the province.

The “Gauteng 13” problems include water shortages, cable theft and vandalism, non-functional traffic lights, potholes, crime and lawlessness, the rapid growth of informal settlements, and electricity issues such as load shedding and load reduction.

Others are the following: rising gender-based violence and femicide, drug abuse, poor healthcare services, a shortage of schools, failing infrastructure and deteriorating CBDs, and unemployment.

Lesufi emphasised the need for action to tackle these challenges.

“We have to reverse the impact of these G13 problems if we are worthy of being called government,” he said.

Focusing on economic matters, Lesufi said the province’s economy continued to demonstrate resilience at the end of 2024 and significantly outperformed the national government with a 1.2% growth rate in the last year.

“Over the past year, Gauteng’s GDP grew by 1.2%, compared to the national rate of 0.4%, reinforcing its role as a key economic driver. This consistent outperformance highlights Gauteng’s economic importance and resilience amid broader national challenges,” said Lesufi.

The premier added