By Mark Ogagan
Premier of South Africa’s Gauteng province, Mr. Panyaza Lesufi risks losing his job after the public protector’s damning report found it irregular that the province’s crime prevention wardens were appointed and deployed without legal authority.
Already, the country’s second largest political party, the Democratic Alliance (DA) says it will table a motion of no confidence against Lesufi, who is affiliated to the ANC.
The DA has a good chance of ousting Lesufi (Pictured) and his executive as the ANC is in a minority government with less than 50% of the seats in the legislature.
Should the DA succeed, it could spell trouble for the ANC’s 2026 local government campaign in the province and potentially see the two parties clashing again.
The investigation by the public protector revealed that the establishment, appointment and deployment of crime prevention wardens by the functionaries of the department was not premised on any supporting legislative framework that provided for guidance on the category of the officers, their appointment, training and their functions or duties.
The wardens project was thought by opposition parties to have been a convenient ploy by the ANC to gain votes in the 2024 elections. There has been a dispute about whether the amaPanyaza, as the wardens are known, should operate as peace officers, crime prevention wardens or traffic wardens.
DA provincial leader Solly Msimanga said the party previously cautioned that the Amapanyaza initiative was ill-conceived, poorly implemented and unsustainable.
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