Fixing water outages, upgrading failing infrastructure, halting municipal instability, and fighting violent crime.
These are the urgent crises that featured prominently in Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi’s state of the province address as he sought to assure residents of the country’s economic hub that his government is fighting to overcome these setbacks.
Lesufi, who delivered his speech amid electricity tariff protests in Tembisa and water disruptions across the province, said Gauteng had gone into “emergency mode” to stabilise supply across the province’s municipalities.
He said the start of the province’s water crisis last month was caused by an explosion at a Rand Water plant.
“After the explosion, fire hit our transmission machines, followed by a huge burst pipe,” he said. “Our water supply was deeply affected. We sincerely apologise to our residents that went and still go through the inconveniences caused by this unfortunate situation.”
Lesufi said while repairs at the affected plant were completed “within 72 hours”, parts of Soweto, Westdene, Coronationville and Brixton remain unstable.
He outlined the plan to address the ongoing water crisis, including a R762m water infrastructure overhaul in Johannesburg, a new Brixton reservoir coming online this week, and a 5km pipeline to be completed by the end of the year.
“The challenge is not water availability but interruptions caused by infrastructure failures, leaks and high‑demand peaks,” Lesufi said.
The government is also building a new 20-million-litre water storage facility in Midrand, while private investors will donate an additional 10-million litres. The province needs R5bn for the upgrading of existing wastewater treatment works for the next three years.
“Let us face it; local government is the backbone of service delivery, and yet this is exactly where we are most challenged.” — Panyaza Lesufi
The water crisis bruised Lesufi’s public image, as he found himself having to apologise two weeks ago for his remarks about showering at a hotel when his household didn’t have water.
“Where I erred or misrepresented our province, I sincerely and honestly apologise, as I always take my responsibilities seriously,” he told the audience. “The African proverb tells us that ‘the hands that make mistakes belong to those who work.’”
On service delivery, Lesufi conceded that the poor performance of Gauteng municipalities remained the biggest challenge and welcomed the interventions made by the Ekurhuleni municipality in dealing with officials implicated at the Madlanga commission.
Lesufi underlined that political turmoil in some Gauteng municipalities had led to service delivery collapses.
“Let us face it; local government is the backbone of service delivery, and yet this is exactly where we are most challenged,” he said.
With Ekurhuleni teetering on the brink of instability due to coalition tensions over the removal of some members of the mayoral committee last week, the premier said the developments have brought coalition arrangements in governance into sharp focus.
Lesufi pledged to create 250,000 jobs for young people, positioning the province at the centre of SA’s fragile economic recovery.
He said the targeted jobs would flow from a pipeline of confirmed investments and infrastructure projects aimed at reindustrialising Gauteng and integrating township enterprises into the mainstream economy.
“All these investments are ready and capable of assisting us to defeat unemployment in our province, especially for the youth.”
His announcement comes as Statistics SA reported the easing of the unemployment rate to 31.4% in the fourth quarter of 2025. Employment increased to 17.1m.
Lesufi said Gauteng reached a record 5.24 million employed residents and accounted for nearly 70% of national job gains over the past year, with growth strongest in construction, finance and business services, and community and social services.
“As the economic heartland of our country, Gauteng should never be allowed to stop beating, for the consequences would be too dire for all of us,” he said.
On crime, citing statistics released by the police last week, Lesufi said murder in the province decreased by 11% year-on-year, sexual offences by 8%, and property-related crimes by 7.8%.
He said the province has profiled 392 alleged crime kingpins, with 101 arrested so far, including 11 linked to cash-in-transit heists.
On illegal mining, Lesufi welcomed the deployment of the army to affected areas, saying the government would “put a stop to this terror and protect law-abiding residents”.
“We are clear that to grow the economy of Gauteng, we must defeat crime, corruption and lawlessness,” he said.
Sowetan
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