COMMENT: Gauteng faces despair as leadership fails its people
Alan Fuchs, DA Gauteng Member of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA)
Across Gauteng, where thriving communities should define the province, an overwhelming sense of hopelessness grips millions. This despair is not due to natural disasters or unforeseen misfortunes but is a direct consequence of governance failures.
Apartheid was a calculated system of oppression, designed to strip millions of dignity. Families were torn apart, dreams extinguished, and futures stolen. The dawn of democracy was a time of hope for many. Instead, what unfolded was not rebirth, but rather decay. The ANC has entrenched corruption, mismanagement, and a refusal to embrace policies that foster real progress.
Gauteng, once considered South Africa’s economic powerhouse, now teeters on collapse. Roads are cratered with potholes, blackouts leave communities in darkness, and water infrastructure is crumbling. These are not mere inconveniences; they are damning evidence of a government that has abandoned its people.
Corruption festers at every level, enriching the elite while the majority suffer. Imagine the single mother in Soweto, waking before sunrise to queue for water at a distant tap. Picture the graduate in Alexandra, armed with a degree but condemned to unemployment because the state has failed to create jobs.
Think of the business owner in Johannesburg who watches helplessly as rolling blackouts force them to shut their doors. These are not statistics, they are the real, human costs of failure.
More infuriating than the government’s incompetence is its arrogance. Rather than confront their failures with honesty, leaders prance across stages, bloated with self-importance, and spew tired slogans that bear no relation to the reality faced by ordinary citizens.
A perfect example is Panyaza Lesufi’s finger-pointing, faux revolutionary speech in Alexandra on the occasion of the Gauteng ANC’s January 8th “celebration”.
He and his comrades have turned a blind eye to collapsing, overcrowded schools, hospitals and infrastructure. Their positions shield them from accountability, while ordinary people struggle for survival.
South Africans are living this nightmare. It is the child who goes to bed hungry because the money meant for food grants has been looted. It is the grandmother who dies in a hospital hallway because there are no doctors or medical supplies. It is the worker laid off because failing infrastructure and power outages have brought industries to their knees.
But this does not have to be our fate. South Africa remains a land of potential, filled with resilient, hardworking people. If Gauteng is to recover, the ruling party must be removed from power. An alternative government, one committed to accountability and competent leadership, would systematically and progressively undo the rot. The DA has already demonstrated in well-governed municipalities and the Western Cape that clean, effective governance is possible. South Africans deserve leaders who are ethical, capable and committed to building a future that works for all.
This is a call to action.
The time for passivity has long passed. We owe it to ourselves, to our children, and to the generations yet to come to demand better, to hold leaders accountable, and to improve the material circumstances of millions of South Africans.