The Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG), under Premier Panyaza Lesufi, claims to be committed to the rule of law and due process; however, it fails to provide the outcomes of the disciplinary hearings for the suspended officials.

The following senior officials were placed on precautionary suspension for 60 days: Arnold Lesiba Malotana, the former Gauteng Health Head of Department (HOD); Nontsikelelo Sisulu, HOD for Community Safety; and Mduduzi Malope, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Community Safety.

The DA Gauteng will table further questions to the Premier to determine why all these officials have been moved to other departments and to make the internal report available, explain why the officials were placed on precautionary suspension and the outcomes of the investigations.

The Premier has provided no update on whether disciplinary action has been taken against these officials and has never provided the outcomes of the disciplinary hearings. We demand to know whether these officials were cleared of the serious allegations of corruption and maladministration. Lesufi must not cynically invoke due process as a substitute for transparency on the outcomes of disciplinary processes.

While awaiting the disciplinary outcomes, these officials were moved to other departments that provide critical services to the province despite the ongoing investigations and clouds hanging over their heads. Sisulu was redeployed to the Premier’s office to assist with service delivery priorities, and Malope was deployed to the Gauteng Department of Environment to help with financial administration. Malotana was moved to a senior manager position at the Gauteng Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and has been recently appointed as the new City of Johannesburg HOD of Public Safety.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng demands that the internal disciplinary hearing report into Malotana and other suspended officials be made public immediately. Lesufi claims to be committed to following due process. While we respect the integrity of the ongoing investigations and disciplinary processes, we want to know why these suspended officials are allowed to move from one senior position to another while the investigations are ongoing. This raises a serious question about whether internal disciplinary processes have been turned into mechanisms for delaying accountability and allowing corruption-accused officials to escape consequences. Clearly, Lesufi has failed the residents of Gauteng by shielding these officials.

Lesufi further claims that he has consistently updated the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) on these matters and has made it clear that he is awaiting the final forensic report from the Special Investigative Unit (SIU). Lesufi is misleading Gauteng residents by failing to provide reports regarding the processes followed before and after the suspension of these officials, including internal investigations and their findings.

Gauteng residents deserve a transparent government that adheres to the rule of law, instead of shuffling alleged corrupt officials from one department or entity to another.

Under a DA-led Gauteng Provincial government, transparency in these matters will be a priority. If disciplinary action is necessary, it will occur within 90 days.

14 out of 45 housing projects in Gauteng, which is approximately one in three, have been illegally occupied in the last five years. This situation highlights a significant failure to protect housing projects and to ensure that they are completed and allocated to millions of residents in dire need of dignified homes.

The Gauteng Department of Human Settlements (GDHS) disclosed the alarming extent of the problem in a written reply to Democratic Alliance (DA) questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL). The reply confirms that 14 of Gauteng’s 45 housing projects have been illegally occupied over the past five years. The affected projects include Eagle Nest, Western Mega Project, Danville, Beverly Hills, Olievenhoutbosch Extension 36, among others.

When asked what the department is doing to remove illegal occupants and protect housing developments, the GDHS outlined that it has established a panel of security companies to prevent land invasions through surveillance and monitoring, as well as to assist with the execution of eviction orders. Furthermore, the MEC stated that each eviction order costs an average of R1.5 million, a budget constraint that will impact the ability to swiftly remove illegal occupants.

The DA will not allow illegal occupations to be used as an excuse for further delays in housing delivery. We will table further questions to GDSD MEC Tasneem Motara to establish the reasons why these 14 housing projects were allowed to be invaded and what measures were in place to prevent the invasions. We will also seek information on the number of beneficiaries affected by these invasions and the estimated value of each housing project.

The GDHS has allowed illegal occupations to become a costly and entrenched part of Gauteng’s housing programme. These illegal occupations expose the incompetence of the Gauteng government. As long as government fails to plan and implement preventative measures, Gauteng will be incapable of protecting public housing projects and taxpayers’ money. Rather than being proactive and protecting housing developments from the outset, the department is now spending millions of rands responding to illegal occupations after they have already occurred.

The department cannot hide behind budget constraints while millions of rands in public investment are effectively surrendered to unlawful occupants while housing delivery to legitimate beneficiaries is senselessly delayed.

A DA-led Gauteng Provincial Government would proactively prevent the invasion of housing projects rather than spending millions on recovery. We would enhance security and monitoring, establish early-warning mechanisms, and work with municipalities and law enforcement to prevent unlawful occupations. In the event of illegal occupations, we will take swift legal action to protect investments and ensure allocation of homes to verified beneficiaries without years of delay.

The City of Tshwane, along with the Gauteng Department of Environment, has shown that they care little about the well-being of residents who depend on the Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Works (RWWTW) is in a catastrophic state and has poisoned the water supply to Hammanskraal and contributed to a cholera outbreak that has cost many lives.

The horrible condition of RWWTW has major negative impacts on the health, food security, and jobs of Gauteng residents.

This information was revealed during a recent presentation to the Gauteng Provincial Legislature’s (GPL) Environment Portfolio Committee. It was further revealed that Rooiwal is running at 140% of its hydraulic design capacity and 170% of its organic design load.

See the full presentation here.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng demands that the MEC for Environment, Ewan Botha, immediately act and find a long-lasting solution to this problem.

Rooiwal discharges effluent directly into the Apies River, which feeds the Leeukraal Dam, a river and dam system so polluted that, on the department’s own admission, Temba Water Treatment Works cannot treat the water it draws from it to safe drinking standards.

What makes this even more unacceptable is the pattern of governance failure behind it. The City of Tshwane’s reports indicate that its first contractor was terminated due to contractual disputes while the project was 60% complete, and the case is now under investigation by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU).

The City has committed more than R627 million across six separate Phase 1A and 1B contracts, with at least one of the contracts already running on delay damages after three separate extensions of time. Millions more sit unspent against a 2026/27 maintenance budget that is short by R15.4 million.

The department has listed criminal cases relating to pollution for Sunderland Ridge, Baviaanspoort, Klipgat, Zeekoegat in its accountability table. However, even though it identifies Rooiwal as the facility needing the most urgent intervention, the department has no record of a corresponding criminal case or case number for this facility in its accountability table. This discrepancy needs to be addressed.

This is not a story of insufficient information. It is a story of appointing contractor after contractor, spending hundreds of millions of rand, and still failing to hold anyone accountable. While residents drink unsafe water, farmers lose their livelihoods, and the environment is suffering disastrously. This is a direct failure of Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s government.

A DA government would enforce a mandatory 48-hour response protocol for any water-quality or pollution hazard of this magnitude, with public reporting from day one, and ensure criminal referrals are opened and pursued for every polluting facility without exception.

Gauteng residents and farmers have paid the price for a decade of state failure. The DA will continue to demand full transparency, full accountability, and a credible, funded plan to fix Rooiwal.

Gauteng schools have been pushed into a deeper financial crisis after the Gauteng Provincial Treasury advised the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) to delay Norms and Standards payments to public schools due to provincial cash-flow constraints. This decision was made without assessing the impact the delayed funding would have on schools that have municipal accounts to pay, service providers to settle, maintenance to undertake and learners to educate.

The Gauteng Treasury’s admission is contained in a written reply by Gauteng MEC for Finance, Nkuleleko Dunga, to DA questions submitted after schools failed to receive their full first-tranche allocations. When asked whether Provincial Treasury advised GDE to delay Norms and Standards payments due to provincial cash-flow constraints, the MEC answered: “Yes.”

See the reply here.

This alarming admission suggests that the Gauteng Treasury knowingly recommended delaying funds owed to schools without assessing whether these institutions could still fulfil their financial obligations. The repercussions are evident in a staggering R1.87 billion shortfall, which places additional financial pressure on schools that are already grappling to maintain essential services.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will submit follow-up questions requesting copies of the 11 February and 13 June 2026 GDE letters, Treasury’s responses to those letters, and the circular issued to provincial departments. We will also seek a full accounting of requested, approved, and transferred school allocations, inquire about the Gauteng Provincial Government’s cash position and whether other departments are delaying payments, and ask whether Treasury anticipates further cash-flow issues this financial year.

Treasury also admitted that it responded to GDE correspondence and issued a circular to provincial departments. More concerning, Treasury acknowledged it did not assess how its decision would affect schools’ payments to municipalities, service providers, or their ability to support teaching, maintain facilities, or prevent utility disconnections.

The reply also confirms that this cannot be dismissed as an unforeseen administrative delay because the GDE had already written to Provincial Treasury on 11 February 2026, before the start of the new financial year, setting out its projected transfers to schools. A second letter followed on 13 June 2026. Treasury itself acknowledged that the weekly transfer of the Provincial Equitable Share creates cash-flow constraints because it does not align with departmental cash-flow projections. This raises the question: was the Gauteng Provincial Government’s 2026/27 budget financially credible, and was adequate provision made for the actual cash-flow requirements of provincial departments?

The Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) mandates the MEC for Finance to present a provincial budget with revenue and expenditure estimates. However, just months into the financial year, Treasury advised Gauteng’s largest department to delay payments to public schools, despite prior warnings about funding needs. Gauteng residents are therefore entitled to ask whether the budget accurately reflected the government’s ability to meet its financial commitments.

The contradiction is even more striking when viewed against the province’s other financial obligations. Gauteng schools have experienced electricity disconnections linked to unpaid municipal accounts. This happens while Treasury reported payment of R3.806 billion in the 2024/2025 financial year and R5.476 billion in the 2025/2026 financial year to settle e-Toll debt. However, the MEC did not provide a clear breakdown of GDE’s request for the first tranche, the amount approved by Treasury, and the amount transferred.

The DA will therefore submit follow-up questions seeking the February and June letters, Treasury’s responses, the circular issued to departments and a full accounting of the amounts requested, approved and transferred. Parents, teachers, Schools Governing Bodies and taxpayers deserve to know whether Gauteng has enough cash to meet the commitments contained in its own budget.

A DA-led Gauteng Provincial government would not balance the province’s budget by sacrificing schools. Instead, it will hold the Gauteng Treasury accountable for effective cash flow planning, protect funding for essential services, carefully consider the implications before postponing payments, and ensure full transparency regarding the province’s financial situation.

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s failure to act against officials implicated in corruption and pending investigations has allowed them to walk free and work in different spheres of government.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng demands that Premier Lesufi blacklist these officials and register their names on the national Department of Public Service and Administration central register for verification of dismissals and resignations pending disciplinary cases.

The corruption-accused former Gauteng Health Head of Department (HOD) Arnold Lesiba Malotana has been appointed as the new City of Johannesburg HOD of Public Safety.

Premier Lesufi’s silence on this matter is worrying, because Malotana has been implicated in a series of corruption allegations, including the infamous Tembisa Hospital corruption scandal. Malotana is currently unfit for any government position because of the corruption allegations pending against him.

Malotana stands at the centre of serious corruption allegations. This includes allegations of tender-rigging, claims of bribery, and ongoing investigations by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU). Malotana was moved to a senior position at the Gauteng Department of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs after his 60-day suspension lapsed before charges were laid against him.

In addition, the following officials were placed on precautionary suspension for 60 days along with Malotana; Nontsikelelo Sisulu, suspended HOD for Community Safety and Mduduzi Malope, suspended Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Community Safety. The Premier has provided no update on whether disciplinary action has been taken against these officials and has instead moved them to other departments that provide critical services to the province.

Sisulu was redeployed to the Premier’s office to assist with service delivery priorities, and Malope was deployed to the Gauteng Department of Environment to help with the financial administration process.

Premier Lesufi has provided no update on whether disciplinary action has been taken against these officials. We are also still waiting for Lesufi to make senior officials’ lifestyle audits public, including Malotana.

Lack of consequence management has been a norm across all spheres of government in Gauteng, Dithabe Oupa Nkoana, former Emfuleni Acting Municipal Manager, was implicated in the 2017/18 forensic report, which revealed the loss of R872 million in unauthorised expenditure through a series of alleged irregular contracts in the municipality. He faced no consequences and was appointed as an administrator at the Construction Education and Training Authority (CETA).

Lesufi’s failure to act against corruption accused officials has allowed them to avoid any consequences. If Lesufi had taken action, these accused officials would have faced consequences and would not have been eligible for future appointments in any government sphere or entity. Officials, based on their proximity to Premier Lesufi, face no consequences for their actions.

Reshuffling implicated officials from one department to another does not eradicate corruption; it conveys a message that under Lesufi’s government, corrupt individuals will face no consequences.

The DA Gauteng demands that Premier Lesufi immediately disclose the senior officials’ lifestyle audits and explain to the residents of this province what consequences management took against these officials and the outcome of any disciplinary action.

The DA Gauteng will be tabling further questions to the Premier through the Gauteng Provincial Legislature to determine when the lifestyle audits will be made public and why officials implicated in corruption are not being blacklisted.

The DA will continue to expose officials implicated in corruption at any government institution or entity to ensure that they are held to account before being appointed to a new position.

A DA-led Gauteng provincial government would end cadre deployment and get the municipalities working by employing competent people, enforcing merit-based appointments, and ensuring consequences for corruption and mismanagement.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) demands urgent repairs to water infrastructure affecting Greenhills residents in Randfontein, Rand West. This area faces ongoing water shortages: residents have water for two hours, then it goes for eight hours due to ageing water infrastructure and pump failures.

This issue has been ongoing for more than three years, mostly affecting Wards 6 and 9 in the area.

Despite the recent community meeting attended by Rand West Mayor William Matsheke at Green Hills Stadium, there are no clear timelines for when the water infrastructure upgrade will commence and will be completed.

At the beginning of August this year, the municipality informed residents that work on the water tower would commence on 21 August. However, there are currently no visible signs of work at the site.

18 months ago, the mayor promised to resolve the issue and announced that funding to fix the water tower had been secured from the national government.

In December 2025, a South African Human Rights Commission (SHRC) report found that the water problems were not simply isolated breakdowns. It identified the following: systemic infrastructure decay, supply limitations, insufficient operational resilience, and the consequences of municipal financial difficulties.

We will continue to put pressure on both the Gauteng MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Jacob Mamabolo, and Mayor Matsheke to prioritise fixing water infrastructure at Rand West.

A DA-led Rand West municipality will use water and sanitation revenue directly to maintain, repair, and expand water and sanitation infrastructure. We will focus on replacing ageing pipes, fixing leaks, upgrading wastewater systems, and extending services to growing communities.

The Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) has built just 202 public schools in 32 years while the demand for additional schools and the growing crisis of overcrowding continue to escalate, placing enormous pressure on existing schools. This is a rate of barely six schools being built per year. Gauteng MEC for Education Lebogang Maile has also disclosed that only one school is currently under construction, which means Gauteng learners are doomed to wait generations for the permanent quality schools they deserve.

MEC Maile revealed this startling information in response to questions from the Democratic Alliance (DA). This painfully slow pace of school infrastructure delivery is completely out of step with Gauteng’s growing learner population. Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s failure to fulfil his promises of building schools in Gauteng means more crowded classrooms where learners receive less individual attention from teachers, and environments that are difficult for concentration. Furthermore, children will continue to have to travel further to receive education while also waiting longer to be placed in schools. These factors are not conducive to positive education outcomes.

In his 2023 State of the Province Address (SOPA), Premier Panyaza Lesufi warned that overcrowding and in-migration threatened to overwhelm Gauteng’s education system and announced that the province had received R1.5 billion from National Treasury’s Budget Facility for Infrastructure (BFI) to build 18 schools. This promise has been repeated at every SOPA since then, yet three years later, the department’s latest response records only one school as currently under construction.

See reply here.

Premier Lesufi cannot continue announcing new schools while his government fails to deliver them. Gauteng urgently needs permanent schools to address overcrowding, accommodate learner growth and provide learners with safe and appropriate learning environments.

Worse still, MEC Maile admits that Gauteng needs at least 200 additional schools to tackle overcrowding. Yet, after 32 years of ANC-led government, 202 schools have been built, with only one currently under construction.

The contrast with the DA-run Western Cape shows what is possible when a competent government prioritise infrastructure. Since 2019, the Western Cape Government has built 35 new schools, 15 replacement schools and more than 1,300 additional classrooms at existing schools, including 48 classrooms for learners with special education needs. In total, 2,217 classrooms have been delivered across new, replacement, and existing schools

Through its Rapid School Build Programme, the Western Cape is focusing on delivering permanent school infrastructure quickly. Macassar Primary School, for example, provides capacity for approximately 1,860 learners at a cost of about R107 million, compared with Gauteng’s own benchmark of R175 million for a new school. The Western Cape has also demonstrated that quality schools can be delivered quickly: Saxonsea Junior School was completed in just 65 days, while Fisherhaven School was completed in 71 days.

A DA-led Gauteng Government would end this failure to deliver. We would ensure proper project management, appoint competent and accountable contractors, enforce strict oversight, and prevent corruption and political interference. We would also implement a rapid-build programme, based on the successful Western Cape model, to deliver safe, quality permanent schools and end the delays that leave learners crammed into overcrowded classrooms.

Gauteng residents continue to live in fear as the South African Police Service (SAPS) First Quarterly Crime Stats of 2026-2027 (April 2026 to June 2026) reveal that the province is the country’s biggest contributor to kidnapping and several serious crimes. These statistics are a serious indictment of Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s crime-fighting strategies that continue to fall short of making Gauteng safer for all its residents.

It is high time Premier Lesufi pays attention to the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) call for action on the critical issues facing policing. This includes ensuring that police stations are well-resourced, adequately equipped, and sufficiently staffed. Such improvements will enable officers to investigate cases, apprehend criminals, and achieve successful convictions.

While some crime categories recorded year-on-year declines, Gauteng remains the country’s highest contributor to kidnapping, accounting for a staggering 51% of all reported kidnapping cases nationally.

The province also recorded the highest national contribution to attempted murder at 25.5% and Assault with intention to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) at 20.4%. In the first quarter of the 2026-2027 financial year, Gauteng reported 1,772 attempted murders, marking an increase from the 1,720 cases recorded in the same period of the previous financial year, 2025-2026. This indicates an increase of 3.0% (+52 cases).

These figures further expose the ongoing threat facing residents in their communities.

The situation at educational institutions is also concerning. While Gauteng has seen an 8% decrease in rape cases overall compared to the previous year, incidents within academic settings have surged dramatically, rising by 61.5% from one quarter to the next. This jump brought the number of reported cases from 13 to 21. These included cases at special needs schools, tertiary institutions, and early childhood facilities.

This increase cannot be dismissed as just another statistic. Every case represents a victim whose safety was compromised in a place where they should be protected.

Gauteng’s murder rate also remains deeply concerning despite a 10.7% year-on-year decline. The province recorded 1 276 murders, the highest provincial contribution nationally at 23.5%. More than half of these murders, or 652, were committed using firearms, highlighting the urgent need to address the proliferation of illegal firearms.

The statistics further show that Gauteng accounted for 26.1% of all contact crimes nationally, the highest contribution in the country, with 11 of the 30 police stations recording the highest levels of contact crime located in the province.

Adding to these concerns, drug-related crime increased by 8.7% year-on-year, from 10 687 to 11 619 cases, an increase of 932 cases. The continued rise in drug-related crime points to a broader failure to disrupt the criminal networks and conditions fuelling crime across Gauteng communities.

These figures demonstrate that Gauteng residents cannot afford complacency or continue relying on the same crime-fighting strategies while expecting different results.

Residents of Gauteng deserve to live, work, study, and raise their families without fear. The latest crime statistics demonstrate that this is currently not the case.

The DA is the only party committed to restoring the rule of law in Gauteng communities. Through our CCC approach - Catch, Convict and Clean - we will catch criminal, convict them, and clean our communities.

Tshwane residents and tourists are being cautioned about using the Marais Dam picnic site in the Rietvlei Nature Reserve facilities due to worsening pollution. This situation did not happen overnight, and the DA Gauteng has been warning about rising pollution at the picnic site. This is once again putting the health and well-being of Tshwane residents at risk.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on the Gauteng MEC for Environment, Ewan Botha to compel Tshwane and Ekurhuleni to agree to a binding, time-bound remediation plan for the Hartebeesfontein Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). We further demand that Ekurhuleni Water Care Company (ERWAT) publish a clear timeline and technical plan to end the biological overload driving this pollution, as raised with them in March this year.

If pollution is not brought under control in the area, residents are at risk of developing severe respiratory illnesses. In addition, the current situation affects not only residents but also the natural flora and fauna in the nature reserve and the local bird population.

This site is a tourist attraction, and if visitors and residents cannot see the natural ecosystem due to pollution, the number of visitors to the nature reserve will decrease. New research by water expert Dr Michael van der Laan has found phosphorus levels at Marais Dam of 5.1mg/L. This is around five times the legal discharge limit and twenty times the threshold associated with severe algae blooms.

Every sampling site in and around the reserve exceeded the legal limit, with pollution already present before the Riet River even enters the reserve and worsening downstream.

The City of Tshwane’s claim that pollution comes from outside its jurisdiction is simply inadequate. The DA Gauteng demands that the city immediately engage with the City of Ekurhuleni.
This is not a new situation, and the DA Gauteng has been warning about the looming pollution crisis for months.

In March, the DA’s Mayoral Candidate for Tshwane, Cilliers Brink, visited the point where the Hartebeesfontein WWTP in Ekurhuleni discharges effluent into the Rietvlei River and raised the biological overload at that plant directly with ERWAT.

In April, following the Green Drop Report, the DA Gauteng warned that this decline was not a performance dip but a public health and environmental catastrophe resulting from years of neglect across the metro’s failing treatment works. Those warnings have now materialised into a closed picnic site, a fenced-off dam, and a nature reserve in decline.

Residents, wildlife, and biodiversity do not care whose jurisdiction the pollution crosses; they need it stopped. A DA-led Tshwane would immediately meet with its counterpart in Ekurhuleni to put a plan in place to curb the ongoing pollution affecting the Rietvlei Dam.

Patients seeking admission to the emergency department at Helen Joseph Tertiary Hospital have been advised to seek treatment at another hospital. This is putting patients’ lives and health in danger.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) demands that the Gauteng Department of Health MEC, Faith Mazibuko, urgently address the obvious human resource and contract renewal challenges that are dogging hospitals across Gauteng.

On 6 August 2026, Dr Patricia Saffy, Helen Joseph Tertiary Hospital Trauma Unit Head, posted a warning to all patients visiting the emergency department that they would be better served going to another hospital for treatment as the Gauteng Department of Health had not paid its staff, and some doctors had not come to work. Consequently, she stated that the emergency department would be closed throughout August.

See the notice here

The DA Gauteng has been reliably informed that medical officers’ contracts were not renewed and many staff in the emergency department have been working without pay or contracts since April of this year. At least two doctors have now left Helen Joseph Hospital and sought employment elsewhere, leaving the hospital precariously short of trained, qualified staff.

Closing an emergency department or diverting patients to different facilities due to lack of medical personnel is illegal and risks the health of patients. Medical diversion can only be implemented if there are no available beds or ventilators.

However, the Gauteng Health Department has become known for its unwillingness to fill funded, vacant posts across many of its facilities. A comprehensive investigation by the Health Ombudsman in March 2025 estimated that Helen Joseph Hospital operated with a 30% vacancy rate, especially in nursing and specialised units. Added to this is a severe and persistent lack of permanent executive management and leadership guidance, leading to both operational and human resource challenges.

Staffing challenges are widespread at Helen Joseph Hospital and is a reflection of issues across public hospitals in the Gauteng province. The organisational plan for hospitals – upon which hospitals are allocated budget and staff – was last updated 20 years ago. While many of the 37 hospitals have submitted updated plans to Premier Panyaza Lesufi for sign-off, they have been gathering dust in his office for at least two years.

The DA calls on the Gauteng Premier, Panyaza Lesufi, to apply his mind to signing off on the updated organisational plans so that adequate planning and budgeting can become standard practice.

A DA-led Gauteng Provincial Government would not let bureaucracy dictate patient care, budgets, staffing needs, or staff availability. We will ensure that appropriate budgets are available and adequate staffing levels are in place to guarantee quality treatment for all patients in our care. We will implement our manifesto by providing preventative health and support services. This will be achieved by ensuring municipal clinics are equipped with all necessary medications, equipment, and professional staff to support a healthy community.

The financial crisis within the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) has now reached a critical point, demanding urgent and decisive action. The department has admitted that it cannot pay more than R1.187 billion owed to schools, blaming its “cash flow challenges”. It also concedes that the money it receives from the Provincial Treasury each month is insufficient to meet all transfers due to schools.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on the GDE to urgently reprioritise spending to protect frontline education services, rather than forcing schools and learners to bear the consequences of its financial mismanagement.

This information was revealed in the Gauteng Department of Education’s GDE’s responses to questions from the DA in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL). The responses form the basis of the DA’s new oversight report, Following the Money: An Evidence-Based Investigation into the Distribution of Norms and Standards Funding in Gauteng Public Schools (2026/27).

The department’s claim of a “cash flow challenge” is deeply concerning, as it exposes its inability to meet its financial obligations to schools. When a government department cannot pay school budgets, this is no longer simply a “cash flow challenge”, but a financial crisis.

The consequences are severe. The GDE’s own figures show that, on average, only 26.61% of the reconstructed provincial first-tranche funding requirement had been paid at the reporting date, leaving schools facing a R1.187 billion funding shortfall. This comes only months after Quintile 5 schools were hit by devastating 64% reductions in their Norms and Standards allocations from 1 April 2026.

Even more concerning is the GDE’s admission that it has not assessed the impact of these delayed payments on schools. In effect, the department acknowledges that it cannot pay schools on time and has not assessed the educational consequences of that failure. The effects are already being felt on the ground. Schools collectively owe municipalities approximately R117 million, resulting in electricity disconnections at hundreds of schools and further disruption to teaching and learning.

Furthermore, the DA’s oversight report, based on the GDE’s published replies, found that out of R3.234 billion in annual Norms and Standards funding, only R430.3 million was paid as first-tranche funding. It noted discrepancies in payments among schools with similar allocations and a lack of clear payment calculations. Its Fairness Index identified 143 major disparities and 375 significant variances needing clarification.

A DA-led Gauteng Provincial Government would relocate district offices from privately leased buildings to government-owned accommodation, potentially saving R180 million to R230 million. Additionally, we would review the over R400 million allocated to the Matthew Goniwe School of Leadership and Governance for measurable value for learners, assess staffing levels at head and district offices for efficiency, and ensure correct school zoning to avoid incorrect municipal service charges.

For a child who has suffered abuse, an older person needing support, or a victim of gender-based violence seeking help, access to a social worker or child and youth care worker can determine whether they receive urgent assistance or are left to cope alone. Yet, the Gauteng Department of Social Development (GDSD) has admitted in a reply to questions posed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) that 170 critical frontline posts remain vacant. The vacancies include 102 social workers and 74 child and youth care worker posts.

These are not administrative posts; they are frontline positions that need to be filled by professionals capable of protecting, supporting and caring for Gauteng’s most vulnerable residents when they need help the most.

The DA will table questions to the GDSD and Gauteng Treasury to ascertain why critical frontline posts remain vacant despite the department’s annual budget, including its compensation of employees’ allocation, having been approved in the GPL. The department must provide clear timelines for filling all 170 vacancies and outline the measures being implemented to prevent excessive caseloads for current officials.

What is particularly concerning is the department’s complete lack of urgency and failure to account for how it expects existing staff to absorb additional workloads while delivering quality services. Rather than providing clear timelines for filling these critical vacancies, the department shamelessly states in its reply that the posts “will be considered” for filling.

This is completely unacceptable. A department entrusted with protecting Gauteng’s most vulnerable residents cannot treat critical frontline vacancies as something that can be considered at some unspecified point in the future. Every day of delay puts vulnerable residents at greater risk.

Every vacant social worker post adds pressure to already stretched staff, increases waiting times, delays critical investigations and limits interventions in communities grappling with poverty, substance abuse and violence. Likewise, every vacant child and youth care worker position reduces the number of available professionals to support children in residential facilities, many having faced abuse, neglect, and trauma.

Premier Panyaza Lesufi has repeatedly stressed the importance of protecting vulnerable residents. In his 2026 State of the Province Address, he stated it was “compulsory” for the Gauteng government to protect the “weak, poor and vulnerable”, particularly children. However, the failure to fill 170 critical frontline posts contradicts this commitment, resulting in poor care for those in need and a missed opportunity to create jobs for qualified professionals.

Under a DA-led Gauteng Provincial Government, critical frontline vacancies would be urgently filled. We would put qualified professionals to work, reduce excessive caseloads, and ensure that taxpayer money provides genuine care and protection for the most vulnerable individuals in Gauteng.

Forty-one City of Johannesburg ambulances, valued at more than R16 million, have been standing idle for six years. Meanwhile, residents are subjected to a Gauteng provincial ambulance service that puts users at risk because of long waiting times.

The DA calls on the Gauteng MEC for Health, Faith Mazibuko, to conduct an immediate independent audit of all 41 ambulances, including their ownership, condition, current value, and repair costs. All provincialisation and asset-transfer agreements must be made public.

Within 60 days, every ambulance must either be repaired and deployed, transferred to Gauteng, allocated to another lawful public service, or sold. Taxpayers cannot continue paying for government incompetence and indecision.

See pictures here and here.

These ambulances were bought to save lives. Instead, they have been standing unused at the City’s Emergency Medical Service (EMS) bases, losing value, and not benefiting the community. The root of this failure lies in Gauteng’s poorly managed provincialisation of ambulance services.

Although ambulance services are a provincial constitutional responsibility, municipalities previously operated them on behalf of the province. When Gauteng took the function back in 2020, it assumed responsibility for operations, personnel, and dispatch services, but failed to deal properly with the municipal ambulances left behind.

Six years later, the vehicles remain stranded.

Why was there no binding plan to transfer, maintain, sell, or deploy them? Who decided that assets worth millions could simply stand and deteriorate? Why has no official been held accountable?

The COJ no longer has the budget, skills, or equipment to run a fully-fledged ambulance service, but is currently negotiating with Gauteng province for an operating license that will allow it to run an event-based supplementary service. In light of Johannesburg’s well-publicised financial crisis, is this even possible?

An ambulance without paramedics, insurance, medicines, equipment, and a dispatch system is not an emergency service. It is an expensive parked vehicle.

Only the DA-led Gauteng Provincial Government will protect public assets, hold officials accountable and ensure that emergency resources are used to serve residents rather than left to rot behind locked gates.

Note to Editors: Attached please find a soundbite in English here by Michael Sun MPL.

• R197.4m Airwing contract breached procurement rules, with R156.4m already paid.
• Four officials implicated, but none suspended or disciplined.
• Airwing grounded, forcing Gauteng to rely on borrowed 12 helicopters at an undisclosed cost.

Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s record of failing in community safety continues with the exposure of a R197.4 million procurement scandal that has grounded the Gauteng Traffic Police Airwing. Lesufi launched the Gauteng Traffic Police Airwing on 01 April 2024 to strengthen law enforcement and give officers an aerial advantage in the fight against crime. Yet, less than two years later, the grounding of the Gauteng Traffic Police Airwing has left Gauteng residents with no meaningful safety benefit from a programme meant to enhance policing.

After the Public Protector found the establishment of Lesufi’s Crime Prevention Wardens (Amapanyaza) was irregular and unlawful, this procurement scandal once again emphasises the costly implications of Lesufi’s strategy of acting for political mileage before putting proper governance processes in place.

A written reply by Premier Panyaza Lesufi to questions posed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) reveals the extent of the procurement scandal. The helicopter contract, valued at R197,455,554.30 and awarded to Simunye Air Charter, was found to have breached the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), Treasury Regulations and the applicable national Transversal Contract.

The Auditor-General’s findings led to the contract’s termination on January 6, 2026, and the case has been referred to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU). But by then, Gauteng taxpayers had already paid out R156,454,504.65. This money was spent before a single red flag was formally raised.

See reply here.

Four individuals have been implicated, and all Gauteng officials involved in selecting the service provider are now flagged as persons of interest. Yet more than six months on, not one of them has faced a disciplinary hearing. Not one has been suspended. They remain in their posts, on full pay, while the SIU investigation runs its course.

This is unacceptable. The Lesufi-led government cannot expect the public to have confidence in its fight against crime when officials implicated in a procurement failure of almost R200 million remain in their positions without consequence. The failure is also having a direct operational impact. With the Airwing’s own fleet grounded, the province is relying on 12 helicopters provided by other partners to maintain aerial support.

Gauteng taxpayers deserve to know what this temporary arrangement is costing them and how much more they will have to pay as a result of this procurement failure.

The DA urges Premier Lesufi to suspend implicated officials, ensure a transparent SIU investigation into the R156.4 million paid under the irregular contract, quickly re-procure the Airwing fleet through proper channels, and provide regular oversight. Additionally, we have tabled follow-up questions to the Premier, who must fully disclose the costs of using 12 borrowed helicopters.

The DA-led Gauteng Provincial Government would have ensured that the Airwing complied fully with the PFMA, Treasury regulations and the applicable Transversal Contract from the outset. We would also take steps to ensure that officials implicated in irregular procurement are held accountable, while also pursuing the recovery of any improperly spent public funds.

Lesufi and his minions in the metros have dealt a hard blow to the unemployed residents. Many have endured years of misery. According to the latest Quarterly Labour Force Statistics (QLFS), 22000 more Gauteng residents joined their ranks this past quarter.

This is the second consecutive quarter in which the province has endured increased unemployment.

The facts are absolutely appalling.

In Ekurhuleni, there are 12 000 more people unemployed compared to quarter two of 2025.

The increase in joblessness in Johannesburg since last year stands at 84 000.

Despite the mayor’s propaganda and her party’s megaphone, Tshwane recorded an increase of 57 000 in unemployed residents’ year-on-year for the second quarter.

These numbers clearly show that Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s Nasi Ispani programme is failing and is just another vanity project to placate the residents of this province. Just recently, Premier Lesufi announced that job opportunities will be created through the Nasi Ispani programme, however, the QLFS undermines what Lesufi is proclaiming.

On the other hand, the DA-led Cape Town metro added 67 000 more jobs during the second quarter compared to 2025.

This demonstrates that where the DA governs, not only is there reliable service delivery, but there is a chance of getting a job.

Currently, a total of 2.697 million residents of Gauteng are unemployed. Year on year, the unemployment rate continues to increase and now stands at 34.6%.

It is high time that Lesufi prioritise creating a conducive environment to attract investors. This can be done by fixing our collapsing infrastructure, ensuring adequate service delivery and fighting crime. No business would invest in a province burdened by crime and facing challenges with water, electricity, sanitation, and infrastructure.

The DA is the only party that has a tangible plan to grow the Gauteng economy and create employment opportunities. DA-led Gauteng municipalities would deliver government services and implement investment-ready toolkits aimed at facilitating investor support, making our municipalities and towns in Gauteng competitive global destinations for business and job creation. The toolkit, which would follow the same model as the DA-run Western Cape, will include measures to attract and retain investment, such as one-stop-shop services, dedicated facilitation units and coordinated fast-tracked support.

• Gauteng learners lost 8,925 school days to electricity disconnections.

• DA will submit this as new evidence to the Public Protector against the GDE.

• A DA-led Gauteng Government would strengthen financial oversight and track school debts.

Gauteng learners have missed out on 8,925 invaluable school days in 2026 due to electricity disconnections at public schools across the province. This exposes that the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) initially misled the public by denying that electricity cuts were taking place and impacting learning in the province. This also highlights the devastating consequences of the department’s failure to oversee school finances.

This staggering figure is contained in a written reply by the Gauteng Department of Education MEC (GDE), Lebogang Maile, to questions tabled by the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL). It confirms that electricity disconnections are not isolated incidents but a province-wide crisis affecting schools across multiple education districts.

See the reply here and annexure here.

The DA has submitted these latest legislative replies to the Public Protector as supplementary evidence in its ongoing complaint against the GDE over electricity disconnections at public schools. We believe they strengthen the case that the department failed to exercise effective oversight to prevent schools from reaching the point at which essential services were disconnected.

Each of the 8,925 school days lost due to electricity cuts represents a day when learners were denied access to quality education because lessons were disrupted; smartboards and computers could not be used; photocopiers and internet connectivity were affected; security systems were compromised and, in many cases, learners were forced to learn in unsafe and unsuitable conditions.

Even more concerning is that, while the department acknowledges widespread municipal debt and claims to provide oversight and intervention, it has now admitted in a separate reply that it does not maintain a central register of schools’ outstanding debts to service providers, including amounts owed, the duration of those debts, or their causes.

How can the department intervene before schools lose essential services if it doesn’t know which are financially distressed? Surely, it cannot claim effective oversight while admitting it lacks the information needed to identify schools at risk of financial collapse.

The GDE must get its house in order, stop denying the failures in its oversight of school finances, and urgently implement lasting solutions. Learners should not have to suffer the consequences of the department’s never-ending failures and poor oversight.

A DA-led Gauteng Government would strengthen financial oversight, track school debts, identify struggling schools early and intervene before essential services are disconnected

The Gauteng MEC for Education Lebogang Maile’s warning and threat of legal action against municipalities disconnecting water and electricity at Gauteng schools will not fix a crisis that has been years in the making. Unless the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) addresses the systemic failures behind these disconnections, schools will continue to be caught in the crossfire between provincial departments and municipalities.

The DA has been warning about this crisis for years. One of the fundamental failures was former Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane’s decision to decentralise responsibility for municipal services to schools, including no-fee schools. These schools do not receive sufficient funding to keep pace with increasing municipal tariffs.

The problem is compounded by disputed and inaccurate municipal accounts, estimated meter readings, possible underground water leaks, and historical debt. In addition, schools have faced disconnections over outstanding property rates, which are the responsibility of the provincial government, not school governing bodies.

This is precisely why the Democratic Alliance (DA) has been calling for the immediate establishment of a permanent intergovernmental committee comprising the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE), the Department of Infrastructure Development (DID), the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Provincial Treasury and local municipalities.

This joint committee must audit every school’s municipal account, verify that meters are correctly linked to schools, identify underground leaks, resolve inaccurate billing and historical debt, and ensure that provincial obligations such as property rates are paid.

A DA-led Gauteng Provincial Government would establish a permanent structure to resolve the utility crisis faced by schools. This initiative aims to reduce unnecessary expenditure, allowing for better funding for schools. In addition, we would implement proper monitoring of municipal accounts and intervene when schools fail to pay for their municipal services.

Gauteng learners cannot continue paying the price for failures by the Gauteng Provincial Government.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls for urgent intervention from the Gauteng MEC of Environment, Ewan Botha, to ensure proper management of the Fochville Waste Transfer Station in Merafong. The site’s current condition poses a significant environmental and public health risk to surrounding communities. Residents have also raised concerns about recurring fires at the facility, with burning waste producing smoke that affects nearby neighbourhoods for days at a time.

The Fochville Waste Transfer Station has now become an uncontrolled dumping site rather than a properly managed waste transfer station. Instead of serving as a facility where waste is temporarily received before being sorted, recycled, or transported for final disposal, the site is strewn with every imaginable type of waste. This includes household refuse, builders’ rubble, green waste and even animal carcasses. There is no effective access control, allowing members of the public to enter the facility freely to dump waste.

The deteriorating condition of the facility has been repeatedly reported by the local DA Councillor, Almè Rowles Zwart, who requested the assistance of DA Gauteng in escalating the matter. During a recent oversight inspection conducted by DA Gauteng, these concerns were confirmed.

It is worrying that the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) continues to pursue the establishment of additional waste transfer stations while existing facilities are being allowed to deteriorate into environmental hazards. Before new facilities are considered, the relevant authorities must demonstrate that they are capable of properly managing and overseeing those already in operation.

The DA Gauteng calls on MEC Botha to urgently intervene to ensure that existing waste transfer stations are properly managed before additional facilities are established. The health of residents cannot continue to be put at risk while the provincial government’s solution is to establish more waste transfer stations.

The DA has submitted a comprehensive set of questions to the Gauteng Department of Environment. The questions seek clarity on whether the facility is operating with the necessary environmental authorisations, what oversight inspections the department has conducted, whether any environmental non-compliance has been identified, what enforcement action has been taken, and what immediate interventions will be implemented to restore proper management of the site.

The DA will continue to hold both the municipality and the provincial government accountable until meaningful action is taken to restore the Fochville Waste Transfer Station and ensure that it operates in accordance with the standards expected of such a facility.

• 22 020 child abuse reports recorded between 2023 and 2026, but GDE cannot account for investigation timelines.

• The DA demand a centralised case-tracking system with enforceable investigation deadlines.

• Every learner deserves a safe school where abuse is investigated and perpetrators are held accountable.

Between 2023 and 2026, the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) recorded 22, 020 reports of child abuse. However, the department cannot provide information on how long investigations take or how many cases were reported over the past ten years. This revelation exposes the shocking extent of abuse in Gauteng schools and the department’s failure to protect learners. A department that cannot measure its own performance cannot claim to be protecting vulnerable learners.

The departments failure means that learners’ sense of safety has been shattered, their education has been disrupted, and their physical and emotional well-being may be affected for years to come. Schools should provide a safe environment where learners can thrive, but in Gauteng, too many have become places of fear, trauma, and abuse.

The DA will write to the Gauteng Education MEC Lebogang Maile requesting that he urgently implement a centralised case-tracking system with legally enforceable investigation deadlines to ensure that every report of child abuse is investigated, victims receive support, and perpetrators are held accountable.

Responding to questions posed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL), MEC Maile revealed that out of the 22 020 reported child abuse cases, 18 843 were received through the department’s 24-hour helpline, 3 022 were referred for clinical counselling, and only 155 cases were investigated by the Special Investigations Directorate (SID).

See reply here.

The figures paint a disturbing picture of the abuse facing Gauteng’s learners. There were 3,960 reports of emotional abuse, along with 695 cases of rape, 423 of sexual assault, and 74 of sexual harassment handled by clinical counselling services. The SID investigated 15 cases of corporal punishment, 7 cases of educator bullying, 2 cases of learner assaults by educators, and 7 cases of sexual abuse involving educators or principals.

The department’s failure to provide the average turnaround time for investigations is concerning. This lack of transparency makes it impossible to assess whether allegations of child abuse are being investigated or whether vulnerable learners are receiving the protection they deserve.

Every parent deserves to know that no matter which school their child attends, reports of abuse will be tracked properly, investigated timeously, and escalated to relevant authorities.

A DA-led Gauteng Provincial Government would implement a centralised learner-protection system under which each report would be assigned a reference number, tracked, and properly managed. Strong response and investigation deadlines would be enforced, with urgent cases referred to the South African Police Service (SAPS), social workers, and psychologists. We would also expedite the vetting of educators and staff and provide regular training to identify and report abuse.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng has submitted a motion of censure against the Speaker of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL), Morakane Mosupyoe, for the disgraceful waste of R5.9 million on a trip to Venezuela.

The DA demands accountability against those who misuse the public purse for personal gains. We strongly disapprove of the wasteful expenditure of taxpayers’ money, particularly by politicians voted for by the public to represent them and officials hired to deliver services.

The Speaker must be reprimanded for her appalling judgement on wasting money on this trip. This trip, which took place in November 2025, consisted of 13 people: the Speaker, four members of the GPL, and seven staff members. A total of R5 997 895 was spent on this trip, with each member of the delegation receiving an allowance of R125 000,00 for being out of the country.

According to the documents provided to the Oversight Committee of the Office of the Premier (OCPOL), the Speaker claimed that the reason for the trip was to deepen diplomatic relations with Venezuela and that South Africa was the guest of honour. The exhibition was only for four days, and BrandSA already had an exhibition at the International Tourism Fair of Venezuela (FITVEN).

This means that there was no need for the GPL to be at the FITVEN as South Africa was already represented by BrandSA. The delegation attended the four-day tourism conference, but the rest of the trip cannot be explained. This action by the Speaker was solely for personal interests, specifically to increase the stipend received for being out of the country on legislative business.

This was a blatant waste of taxpayers’ money and should not have taken place at all. Wasting money on a trip when service delivery in the province is floundering indicates that the Speaker cares little about the well-being of Gauteng residents.

See documents here, here, and here.

The trip to Venezuela is not the action of responsible leadership; instead, it is one of leadership that looks for loopholes to steal from the public purse. Building diplomatic relations is a crucial responsibility of any government; however, it should not come at the expense of providing basic services such as water, electricity, sanitation and caring for the most vulnerable residents of this province.

The DA Gauteng is the only party that is committed to spending the public purse openly and transparently. A DA-led Gauteng Provincial Government would make wise spending decisions, prioritising service delivery.