By Mapaballo Borotho
- Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi faces backlash ahead of his State of the Province Address.
- Residents plan to protest ongoing service delivery failures, crime and ageing infrastructure.
- All eyes are on the premier to outline concrete solutions to Gauteng’s mounting challenges.
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi is facing significant backlash ahead of the State of the Province Address at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg.
Johannesburg residents have planned to gather outside the venue to protest over the ongoing service delivery failures.
They say they are tired of the heavy annual spending on SOPA, which yields nothing but broken promises.
The action is driven by a critical need to address failing infrastructure, specifically dry taps, unreliable electricity and deteriorating roads.
Residents will gather at Motsoaledi Grounds in Soweto and start marching to Nasrec from 11:00.
The uMkhonto weSizwe political party is spearheading the protest, arguing that the SOPA serves no purpose.
Meanwhile, it remains to be seen what the theme of Panyaza’s address will be this year, which promises will be made and which ones have been fulfilled from last year.
His State of the Province Address comes as Gauteng residents battle with dry taps due to the ageing infrastructure at the embattled Rand Water.
At the same time, residents have been living in fear in the province due to illegal miners who have been threatening and attacking civilians in their own homes, further proving that one is never safe anywhere in Gauteng.
Last week, it was announced that Gauteng contributed the most to contact crimes (murder, rape) in the country between October and December 2025.
This is just the tip of the iceberg in comparison to what most Gauteng residents go through on a daily basis, and eyes remain on the premier to address all of these social ills.