EFF Gauteng chairperson Nkululeko Dunga, centre. Questions about his removal as Ekurhuleni’s finance MMC were brushed aside as though concerns about financial management were merely partisan noise, says the writer.
Image: EFF Gauteng/X
The recent changes to Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s executive council do not bode well for the residents of Gauteng. The changes made were not done in a bid to improve service delivery, which is already hanging by a thread in the province, but rather for self-preservation for Premier Lesufi.
In a politically motivated move to save the minority government of provincial unity, the premier handed the finance portfolio to the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
In defending his decision to hand the province’s roughly R180 billion finance portfolio to EFF provincial chairperson Nkululeko Dunga, he did not hide behind the usual slogans about service delivery or good governance. He admitted the political reality that the ANC needed the EFF’s support to pass budgets, keep the administration functioning, and avoid the collapse of its fragile coalition.
But honesty about motive does not make the decision sound.
Lesufi has tried to calm concerns by suggesting that Dunga will not truly control Gauteng’s finances. The premier has made it clear that the real power over spending priorities remains at the centre of government, with the finance MEC expected to work within decisions already taken elsewhere.
In effect, the EFF gets the title while the ANC tries to keep hold of the purse strings. That may reassure some in the short term, but it also exposes the cynicism behind the arrangement. If the ANC believed Dunga was the best person for the job, it would not need to stress how little freedom he would have.
That is the real issue. This reshuffle was not designed to strengthen governance but to preserve power for Lesufi and his comrades.
Lesufi was equally casual about Dunga’s record. Questions about his removal as Ekurhuleni’s finance MMC were brushed aside as though concerns about financial management are merely partisan noise.
Lesufi threw Mayor Xhakaza under the bus by saying that he did not have the political experience to control and manage Dunga but that he would have no problem doing so. The risk is that if he fails, Gauteng will sink into the abyss. It seems that Lesufi is prepared to put the province at risk to hold onto power. That is a dangerous attitude in a province of more than 16 million people.
The reshuffle also suggests that internal ANC calculations may be at play. Lesufi praised Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko for having “stabilised” the Health Department yet moved her to the lower-profile Social Development. Many will see that as an attempt to weaken Nkomo-Ralehoko, who is his strongest rival for the provincial ANC leadership.
Most revealing of all is Lesufi’s insistence that the national ANC approved this move.
Nationally, the ANC presents the GNU with the DA as a stabilising constitutional project. In Gauteng, it is willing to lean on the EFF and possibly even the MKP when the numbers demand it. That is not strategic clarity but rather covering their bases.
The ANC wants the credibility of governing with the DA, where stability matters, while keeping open the option of populist partners, where numbers are tight. This clearly shows that they cannot be trusted.
Lesufi may have bought himself time, but this clearly shows the ANC no longer governs from conviction, only from survival. Gauteng cannot afford a government that treats financial stewardship as a coalition bargaining chip. Only the DA offers the integrity, care and credible leadership needed to rescue Gauteng from this cycle of patronage and manipulation.
Alan Fuchs MPL, DA Gauteng Member of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts