News24 | EFF refuses to support bid to oust Lesufi, says DA went ‘out of its way to demonise’ party

Last week, the DA’s community safety spokesperson in Gauteng, Crezane Bosch, provincial party leader Solly Msimanga, and the party’s provincial spokesperson on community safety, Michael Sun annoncing that the DA will table a motion of no confidence in Premier Panyaza Lesufi.

• The DA is looking for support from the EFF and ActionSA to help it topple Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi through a motion of no confidence.
• But the EFF says it can’t participate in any discussions with “a party that continues to delegitimise it publicly while seeking cooperation privately”.
• ActionSA says its support depends on “the substance and feasibility of the proposal, not on political convenience or media optics”.

The DA’s bid to topple Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi could be a non-starter because the EFF has rejected the party’s approach on the one hand, and ActionSA says its support will depend on the substance of the motion of no confidence on the other.

Last week, Gauteng DA leader Solly Msimanga approached the EFF and ActionSA to ask them to support a motion of no confidence in Lesufi on several grounds.

The grounds included a Public Protector finding that the establishment of the Gauteng traffic wardens was irregular; the “bloating” of several budgets to support Lesufi’s plans; and the mishandling of issues, such as grand corruption at the Tembisa Hospital.

READ | DA to table motion of no confidence against Lesufi over ‘illegal’ Amapanyaza programme

But, in a letter to Msimanga on Monday, 27 October, Gauteng EFF caucus leader Philip Makwala rejected the party’s overture, highlighting several issues between the two parties, including the “conduct and language historically used” by DA leaders when dealing with his party.

Makwala said: “Over time, the DA has gone out of its way to demonise our organisation, using language that is defamatory and inconsistent with mutual respect between political parties in a democratic dispensation.”

He listed six examples involving DA leaders Helen Zille and John Steenhuisen.

Makwala added: “This posture is not new. On 17 July 2024, soon after entering the so-called government of national unity (GNU) with the ANC, your party released a statement, asserting that its participation was to ‘prevent the EFF and the MKP from ever getting their hands on the levers of executive power’.”

Makwala also reminded the party of Steenhuisen’s comments in the White House that the DA participated in the GNU to keep the EFF out of power.

“It is therefore curious that, despite this posture, you now seek our cooperation to vote your trusted partner out of Gauteng,” Makwala said.

Although the ANC is part of the GNU, Lesufi runs a minority government consisting of small parties in Gauteng.

Makwala said: “It appears that the DA wants its bread buttered on both sides.”

He said the EFF’s belief was that political engagement must be based on mutual respect and good faith.

Makwala added:

Makwala also said that if the DA wanted to demonstrate good faith, it must retract all statements its leaders made against the EFF.

“In the absence of such, the EFF cannot participate in any discussions with a party that continues to delegitimise it publicly while seeking cooperation privately.”

In response to Msimanga’s letter, ActionSA caucus leader Funzi Ngobeni said the DA wouldn’t be complaining about Lesufi’s maladministration and poor leadership if it hadn’t nominated him for the premier position after the 2024 elections.

Ngobeni said: “That decision placed Gauteng under the very leadership your letter now seeks to remove.”

He said the DA must apologise to Gauteng residents for the “historic misjudgment”, which happened “in the moment of GNU euphoria”.

Ngobeni added: “Should this motion represent a genuine attempt to correct that course, ActionSA will engage it constructively, but our position will depend on the substance and feasibility of the proposal, not on political convenience or media optics.”

Speaking to the media on Monday on the sidelines of an anti-drug initiative in Ekurhuleni, Lesufi said those who were tabling the motion “want to play to the gallery”.

“We will meet them at the legislature,” he said.

He added:

Meanwhile, Cope acting general secretary Erick Mohlapamaswi called for Lesufi’s immediate removal following the Public Protector’s report on the mismanagement and unlawful deployment of so-called crime prevention wardens or “AmaPanyaza”.

The report stated that the Gauteng Department of Community Safety unlawfully spent R450 million on the recruitment, training, and equipping of about 6 000 wardens without the necessary legal authorisation.

READ | Public Protector finds Lesufi’s crime prevention wardens irregular and unlawful

The Public Protector also advised that the crime wardens must be formalised within 180 days.

“Premier Lesufi must fall on his sword. He has disrespected the people of Gauteng by wasting R450 million on an unlawful project.

“He should personally repay this money to demonstrate accountability and integrity,” Mohlapamaswi said.

Mohlapamaswi called on the provincial government to immediately halt all further spending on the wardens project, and to initiate a full forensic audit to identify all individuals involved in this “gross mismanagement of public resources”.

“The people of Gauteng deserve honesty, transparency, and effective leadership - not unlawful political experiments disguised as crime-fighting initiatives.

“Cope fully supports the findings of the Public Protector and will continue to hold those in power accountable for their actions,” Mohlapamaswi said.

Commenting on the Public Protector’s report, Lesufi said he welcomed it and called it “wonderful”.

“They’re not being disbanded because the Public Protector said we have 180 days [to formalise them],” Lesufi said.