WATCH | Lesufi promises 250,000 youth jobs and ambitious plans to keep Gauteng’s heart beating

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.

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“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 toapologisetwo weeks ago for his remarks about showering at a hotel when his household didn’t havewater. “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.’”

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