Gauteng premier has apologised to President Cyril Ramaphosa after he expressed disappointment over bad state of Johannesburg.
Image: Timothy Bernad/Independt Newspapers
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has on Thursday, apologised to President Cyril Ramaphosa for the bad state of Johannesburg, after Ramaphosa expressed disappointment during his visit to the province.
Lesufi acknowledged the province’s pressing challenges and extended his apology to Ramaphosa.
“We need a leniency programme that can be enjoyed by all. And that's the approach that we are taking," he said.
"But I apologise to the president that he had that particular experience."
Lesufi was addressing the media on the first day of Ramaphosa’s oversight visit to the province, which seeks to tackle the challenges facing Gauteng and its municipalities.
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Earlier on Thursday, IOL reported that Ramaphosa said he was not impressed with the state of Johannesburg, particularly when he attended a G20 meeting in the City.
Despite his disappointment, Ramaphosa gave the province another opportunity to improve ahead of the final G20 in November.
South Africa is currently holding the presidency of the G20 presidency this year, with most meetings taking place in Gauteng.
Ramaphosa addressed a gathering of Cabinet and Gauteng Members of Executive Council (MECs) at the Johannesburg City Council in Braamfontein on Thursday.
“To be direct and tell it how it is, I should say one or two G20 meetings that I attended here were not very pleasing. The environment that one observed was not a pleasing environment,” Ramaphosa said.
Ramaphosa warned Gauteng that they should not regret making it the host of the meeting, however, he said there was a room for improvement.
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Driving to the Nasrec Expo Centre in Soweto two weeks ago, municipal workers could be seen cutting grass, trimming trees, and also removing garbage from the streets.
There was police presence on the highways and also on roads around the area. This is where the G20 foreign ministers meeting was held.
Lesufi has apologised to Ramaphosa over Johannesburg’s bad state.
“If you remember, BRICS was here. There were restrictions. They imposed the things that you couldn't do, either as a province or local authorities,” Lesufi said.
“It was regarded as an international classroom that was not managed by the state.”
He explained that sessions were arranged and the chosen venue, the Nasrec Expo Centre, is privately owned, arguing that it limited the government’s interventions.
“But now that we've discussed it, we know the areas that we need to improve. And I committed, and we have a cabinet, a local Cabinet, two members here, that we will not have the situation that they put us in,” Lesufi said.
He added that a team had already been put together to address the challenges facing the province.
The challenges facing the province among others include malfunctioning traffic lights, potholes, and deteriorated infrastructure.
“If you check there, we've already put CCTV cameras. We've already put a joint team between ourselves and the mayors to deal with this issue,” Lesufi said.
“But we're not dealing with this issue specifically for G20.”
He also said that the provincial government has identified the venues for future meetings, where they believe they can leave a lasting legacy.
“And we identified areas where we believe that they can leave a lasting legacy, a lasting impression to those that we used to know,” Lesufi said.
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