Nothing has yet come of Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s promises. (Photo: X)
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi says his administration will prioritize service delivery and security issues this year, with water infrastructure, cable theft, broken traffic lights, potholes and crime at the top of the list.
Lesufi said during his provincial speech at Nasrec in Johannesburg on Monday that the recent water shortages are not the result of a lack of water, but of infrastructure problems.
“The challenge is not water availability, but the interruptions caused by infrastructure failures, leaks and high demand,” he said.
He referred to the “unexpected water shortage” on 27 January after an explosion at Rand Water, followed by a fire and a large pipe that burst afterwards. According to him, the direct damage was repaired within 72 hours, but reserve levels took longer to recover.
However, Maroela Media reported earlier that financial mismanagement and the ill-considered spending of funds had worsened the province’s water crisis to a critical point.
New revelations show that approximately R5 billion is lost annually in Gauteng’s metros, while essential infrastructure upgrades stagnate.
Lesufi does say in his speech that a “large-scale upgrade of R760 million in Johannesburg” is already underway, with a new reservoir and water tower at Brixton which will apparently be operational “by Saturday”.
“Cable theft and vandalism meanwhile remain a reality for communities and businesses,” said Lesufi.
During his speech, he quoted a message from a cable manufacturer who wrote after a robbery that “our night shift workers refuse to work because of security issues”.
According to Lesufi, specialist units have been deployed to combat this crime. He referred to an operation where copper cables worth around R3 million were found and five suspects were arrested at the scene.
Water flows through an informal settlement in Mamelodi, Pretoria. (Photo: Tshwane Emergency Services)
Regarding traffic lights, Lesufi says that 4,786 lights are already functioning and that the remaining 699 need to be repaired, although vandalism slows down the process because “infrastructure is being repaired and damaged again and again”.
He also said that 26 000 of 31 000 identified potholes in Gauteng’s metros have already been repaired. “This confirms that we are repairing the potholes because we are fixing Gauteng,” he said.
Lesufi also warned against “the abnormal increase” in informal settlements. “We cannot allow our beautiful province to degenerate into a squatter camp,” he said.
He says the government will intervene with the police to limit the expansion of informal settlements. In Tshwane, 33 hijacked municipal buildings were identified, seven of which have already been taken back and placed under the metro’s control.