Budget at risk: Lesufi and Maile face EFF showdown in Gauteng

As Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi reflected on his administration’s achievements and shortcomings on Monday night during the State of the Province Address (Sopa), it became clear that the EFF’s exit from the Ekurhuleni coalition could have serious repercussions for the province.

The decision will complicate proceedings in the Gauteng legislature, where finance MEC Lebogang Maile needs the EFF’s backing to get the provincial budget approved next month.

The legislature consists of 80 seats: the ANC has 28, followed by the DA with 22, the EFF with 11, the MK party with eight, ActionSA with three, the Freedom Front Plus and the PA with two each, and the IFP, Rise Mzansi, Bosa and the ACDP with one each.

If the legislature doesn’t pass the budget, Lesufi’s administration won’t be able to carry out its full spending plans, which could leave the province in a stalemate. That could mean delays to funding for schools, hospitals, water services, crime prevention and roads, creating uncertainty for millions of people in Gauteng.

“The developments in Ekurhuleni over the last few days have brought coalition governance into sharp focus. In our discussions with the leadership of the municipality, we have been assured that these governance challenges will be resolved without further delay,” Lesufi said during his address in Nasrec, Johannesburg.

The EFF’s Gauteng chairperson, Nkululeko Dunga, told News24 earlier: “We will vote against the ANC at every opportunity.”

Speaking to Daily Maverick, Maile was seemingly worried about the threat, suggesting, however, that talks with various political parties were ongoing.

“We are working on putting the budget together and worried about the financing of the priorities. Of course we want the budget to pass and we will continue to engage everybody to ensure we achieve that,” Maile said.

The IFP’s Gauteng chairperson, Bonginkosi Dlamini, called for a return to the negotiating table, urging talks for the sake of the province’s 16 million residents.

“What is happening in Ekurhuleni is worrying because its going to cause a lot of instability which is not good for Africa’s economic hub. We urge all the parties involved to go back to the table and find each other,” Dlamini said.

Here are five things you need to know:

Water

As the province faces intermittent water supply, Lesufi announced a range of measures to “permanently” deal with the crisis.

Among them is the establishment of a water agency. The premier admitted that areas including Westdene, Coronationville, Sophiatown, Melville, Emmarentia and sections of Doornkop remain “stubborn and difficult”.

“To permanently resolve these issues, a R760-million massive infrastructure investment upgrade is under way in COJ over a phased approach,” he said.

A new ground reservoir and tower in Brixton will start operating this Saturday, supported by an emergency pumping station next week, Lesufi promised.

To prevent further water shortages, Lesufi said new storage facilities are being built, including a 20 million-litre facility in Midrand, supported by a 10 million-litre donation from private developers, something which was expected to also happen in Ekurhuleni, Tshwane and the West Rand municipalities.

“We once more sincerely apologise to our residents that went and still go through the inconveniences caused by this unfortunate situation. Be assured of our commitment to permanently resolve this challenge.”

Electricity

On electricity supply, which too seems to be intermittent in several areas, Lesufi said his administration’s efforts to eradicate load shedding and stabilise energy provision have yielded positive results, giving credit to Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.

His administration had undertaken initiatives related to transformers, smart meters and renewable energy, with the focus now shifting from emergency expansion to long-term energy security.

Daily Maverick has highlighted how unreliable power supply disrupts small businesses and schools, deepening the cost-of-living burden on ordinary South Africans.

Integrated waste management

With the province now running out of landfill space, Lesufi announced the development of an integrated waste management facility to serve the three metros, focusing on Midrand, Tembisa and Centurion.

The project will use different technologies to reduce waste, including recycling facilities, composting, biogas, burning waste for energy and green hydrogen and will cost R10-billion.

Crime and lawlessness

In all his three Sopas, Lesufi has given considerable attention to crime prevention initiatives, some of which were initially criticised as overly ambitious, including the deployment of helicopters and drones.

He reflected on the scepticism these measures faced at the time, saying they had in fact yielded positive results, pointing to recent crime stats.

“When we introduced the three helicopters to fight crime in our province, our interventions were labelled gimmicks. When we declared that we would install almost 20,000 CCTVs, we were told it’s pie in the sky. When we appointed almost 10,000 young unemployed youth to fight crime, we were told we were campaigning. When we said we have profiled 392 kingpins and have now arrested 101, we were told it would never happen.”

Despite early doubts, Lesufi said that according to crime statistics released by Police Minister Firoz Cachalia on Friday, crime in Gauteng is steadily declining.

According to the latest statistics:

• Murder decreased by 11% year on year;
• Sexual offences, including rape, decreased by 8%; and
• Property-related crime dropped by 7.8%.

Mushrooming of informal settlements

This is another issue that has seemingly been giving Lesufi a headache, understandably since the rapid growth of informal settlements affects almost everyone, not just the people who live there.

For homeowners, it can affect property values and put pressure on water, electricity, roads and other services. For the government, it makes planning and budgeting more difficult, because money often has to be moved to deal with urgent needs.

“We cannot allow our beautiful province to be reduced to a shanty town. Of late, major parts of our province are witnessing an abnormal rise in a number of informal settlements,” Lesufi said.

To stop this, Lesufi said law enforcement agencies and municipalities would not allow the building of new informal settlements. He spoke about the establishment a multidisciplinary team to attend to the mushrooming of the informal settlements.

This had proven to be a success, with the first informal settlement removed – Plastic City in Ekurhuleni with more than 2,500 people.

“This is not being against the poor and the homeless. We are against the ‘mkhukhu’, mafias who are taking advantage of our people.” DM