Gauteng SOPA 2026: Opposition has no faith in current govt to solve pressing issues

Some opposition parties in Gauteng believe the current government has run out ideas to solve the province’s pressing issues.

On Monday night, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi delivered 2026’s State of the Province Address (SOPA).

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Lesufi’s speech focused largely on issues affecting Gauteng, including water woes, illegal mining, the mushrooming of informal settlements and rampant crime.

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Gauteng leader Nkululeko Dunga said he was not convinced by the solutions put forward by Lesufi of how to solve these issues.

Dunga said the deployment of the army in Gauteng is an indictment on Lesufi’s government.

“It’s definitely a motion of no confidence, in particular him as an individual and premier, because in the establishment of this particular minority government, he decided to take the Department of Community Safety to be directly under his office as a premier. And now, all of a sudden, he is a premier holding a strategic position and the president of the country sees it befitting that he must then deploy the SANDF [South African National Defence Force] because of his incompetence.”

ActionSA Gauteng leader Funzi Ngobeni said the issues raised by Lesufi in his SOPA were not new.

“We are of the view that many of the problems he highlighted are problems that are not new, created by bad governance for many years. That’s why we dealing with informal settlements, illicit trade of cigarettes, illegal foreigners - all these issues didn’t arise yesterday.”

SOPA COST R5 MILLION

SOPA in 2026 has cost the Gauteng government about R5 million.

It featured red carpets, a live orchestra band, fancy decor, about a thousand invited guests in a large dining hall.

Some opposition parties called the pomp and ceremony of the event unnecessary extravagant and out of touch with the daily struggles of Gauteng residents.

Speaking on the sidelines of the SOPA, Gauteng Legislature Speaker Morakane Mosupyoe said the final breakdown of costs has not been finalised yet, but the approved budget was R5 million.

“In any case, we were not going to spend anything outside the allocated budget, so we ended up paying around less than R2 million for the venue [alone].

“But what is good about this particular place is that we had in-house service of everything, including catering, security - we had to add up our own security and everything else, but we had a full service,” noted Mosupyoe.

“The other advantage was the fact that they recently hosted the G20 and they were practically ready for an event like this.”