Lesufi disgusted by Sedibeng's dirtiness
SEDIBENG.- The ANC Gauteng Provincial Task Team (PTT) convened a two-day lekgotla at the Indaba Hotel in Johannesburg over the weekend.
The gathering followed on the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) lekgotla and the State of the Nation and Province Addresses. Its aim was also to develop a Provincial Programme of Action, the party said.
The lekgotla was held under the theme: 'The Year of Renewal – Making the ANC a more effective instrument of the people to achieve the vision of the freedom charter.'
Speaking at the opening of the event, ANC Gauteng Provincial Task Team Co-Convenor who is also Gauteng Premier, Panyaza Lesufi, mentioned the Sedibeng area on numerous occasions where service delivery is deplorable. He rebuked his party's officials at the helm of both the Sedibeng District Municipality (SDM) and the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM).
'Comrades, our province (is) and our municipalities are dirty, dirty, dirty. I attended the May rally in Sharpeville, Executive Mayor Sedibeng auwaaaaaaaaa banna (Nooooooooooo Man),' Lesufi said, in disgust.
'If we cannot get the basics right, we have no legitimate right to claim that our people should still have confidence in us. If we can not get the basics right, we are no longer representing our people, we are misleading them. If we can not get the basics right, then we are betraying the revolution that we said we must not betray.'
Attendees of the lekgotla included ANC Gauteng PTT members, ANC Regional officials and office bearers, provincial representatives of ANC leagues, Alliance and Umkhonto We Sizwe Liberation War Veterans (MKLWV), representatives of ANC municipal caucuses, ANC caucus of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature and ANC NEC deployees.
Key objectives of the lekgotla were outlined as follows:
• Deliberate on the challenges identified in the 2025 State of the Province Address and develop ways to overcome the challenges.
• Formulate strategies for the upcoming local government elections.
• Rebuild public trust through renewed communication and community engagement efforts.
The two-day lekgotla started on Saturday and ended on Sunday.
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A majority judgment by Mogoeng CJ concurred by Moseneke DCJ, Bosielo AJ, Jafta J, Khampepe J, Madlanga J, Mhlantla J, Nkabinde J, and Zondo J, upheld the appeal against the lower court. Justices Cameron and Froneman dissented. This couldn't be a mere coincidence that all black judges saw things differently from their white colleagues. It is highly possible that socio-political and cultural experiences played a role in arriving at this ruling. Another instance relates to a case in which a full bench (three judges) of the Gauteng High Court decided to offer a political commentary on a matter involving Eskom. Nailing their political flags to the mast, the three judges contended that the 'new dawn that engulfed the country in 2018 did not miss Eskom Holdings SOC Limited (Eskom). It brought life to Eskom in that in January 2018, Eskom's old and inactive leadership was replaced by new leadership with new life to undo years of maladministration and corruption within the organization.' 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It is not an accident that we have courts that foreground 'colonially borrowed languages; languages that are hardly understood by [their audience], and languages, which even these speakers handle with difficulty and grammatical inadequacies.' The sooner we demythologize members of the judiciary, the better for us. * Professor Sipho P. Seepe is an Higher Education & Strategy Consultant. ** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL, Independent Media or The African.
