Will Gauteng Premier Lesufi deliver meaningful solutions in his State of the Province Address?

As Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi prepares to deliver his fourth State of the Province Address, he faces the challenging task of earning the trust of the province’s millions of residents amid high unemployment, rising crime, and a water crisis, among other issues as residents and opposition parties question whether he has delivered on past promises.

In his 2023 State of Province Address, Lesufi said, “Our province is a home of heartless and merciless criminals. They do as they wish. If this situation is left unattended it will be the end of all of us.”

He was speaking about what remains the province’s thorniest issue — crime. In the same address, he announced plans to ramp up the crime-fighting budget from R750-million to “billions” over the next three years. He promised to introduce advanced CCTV with face and car recognition, e-Panic buttons, and a state-of-the-art Integrated Command Centre. He also announced two new helicopters to launch in the next financial year, with four more added in 2023/2024. 

In 2024, Lesufi made bold promises to tackle unemployment by creating thousands of job opportunities. The promise came after June 2023, when he launched the Nasi iSpani (Here is a Job) campaign, offering 8,000 jobs within the provincial government. The department eventually received 1.3 million applications — 1,273,604 online and 73,396 paper-based — pointing to the scourge of unemployment in the province.  

While Lesufi has delivered on some of his commitments, crime continues to spiral out of control. Last week, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu identified the province alongside the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal as being where criminal activity is most prevalent, saying that Gauteng was one of the largest contributors to the national murder rate, being responsible for 25% of the total.

In 2024, Lesufi said that over the next two years, the Gauteng government would invest R120-billion to expand the Gautrain to areas including Soweto via Fourways, Mamelodi, Atteridgeville, Lanseria and Springs. Lesufi said this expansion was expected to create more than 125,000 jobs during construction over five years. All eyes will be on him tonight to hear the progress made in this regard.

Read more: Crime-fighting and job creation — key points from Premier Lesufi’s State of the Province Address

The DA’s Solly Msimanga says that he anticipates Lesufi will fail to deliver meaningful solutions to residents’ challenges and instead continue to offer “empty promises”.

“We have little hope for the 2025 Sopa. It seems likely to offer only empty promises and fail to deliver any reports of success on previous commitments to inspire the people of our province. Why? There's been no progress to report.”

Among other concerns, Msimanga said Gauteng’s economy had remained stagnant under Lesufi's leadership, with a notable decline in investor confidence. The DA also raised an issue with the unemployment rate that has risen to 34.4% in the fourth quarter, up from 34.0% in the previous quarter, according to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey.

Msimananga said the residents of Gauteng were growing increasingly frustrated with unfulfilled promises.  

“They are demanding a government that will revitalise the provincial economy to attract investment and create sustainable jobs. They want a government committed to investing in and maintaining infrastructure, instead of returning unspent budgets to the Treasury,” he said. 

Painting a picture of success