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Tomorrow, Gauteng residents will be given another Premier who is unable to ensure open and transparent governance in this province.

Gauteng MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi, has been nominated by the ANC to stand as the Premier candidate for the ANC.

Following the resignation of Gauteng Premier, David Makhura, a special sitting will be held at the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) to elect the new Premier.

There is nothing new that Lesufi will bring to the residents of Gauteng as he has been part of Makhura’s cabinet that failed to fulfil all the service delivery promises made to our residents.

Here are some of the service delivery failures by MEC Lesufi:

• MEC Lesufi has failed to take any accountability for the R431 million wasted on the decontamination of the schools that led to an investigation by the Special Investigative Unit (SIU).
• The placement of learners through the online system fails to place all learners timeously leading to valuable learning and teaching time being lost as thousands of learners continue to miss months of schooling.
• Failed to eradicate asbestos in schools across the province, and our learners are exposed to learning conditions that are not conducive to learning.
• Few schools have been built in the province leading to overcrowding at the current schools.
• MEC Lesufi supports the BELA Bill which if passed in its current form will remove the power of School Governing Bodies (SGB) to determine admissions and language policies and will also curtail the local communities’ ability to oppose the policy changes.

If these failures by the MEC Lesufi are anything to go by, nothing much will change for the residents of Gauteng. They will continue to endure poor basic service delivery from a government that is only concerned with enriching themselves. For the ANC, the party comes before the citizens of the country. Lesufi will be prioritising the ambitions of his cadres ahead of the service delivery needs of the Gauteng public as ANC eats from the trough before they are booted out in 2024.

The residents in this province deserve a DA government that is capable of delivering the services they promise and at all times, acts in the best interest of our residents.

I have been nominated by the DA as its Premier candidate to provide an alternative to the residents of Gauteng. The DA remains committed to governing in an open and transparent manner and ensuring that every cent that is spent is valuable for money and is properly accounted for.

Issued by Solly Msimanga MPL - Official Leader of the Opposition-Gauteng