Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s directive to deploy the SANDF to Gauteng to stamp out illegal mining and rising gang violence.
“We are pleased that these soldiers have already arrived in our province,” said the Premier, delivering the State of the Province Address on Monday at Nasrec, in Johannesburg.
He said illegal mining in Gauteng has reached intolerable levels. Over 600 families, including women and children, fled from their homes in January 2026 due to the violence, threats, and attacks on the residents by “marauding gangsters”.
The ongoing illegal mining affects the communities of West Rand, Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and Sedibeng Districts.
“Dangerous syndicates use high-calibre weapons such as AK-47s to conduct hostile takeovers of illegal mining sites. Government will put a stop to this terror and protect law abiding residents of this province,” said the Premier.
He said the might of the law was demonstrated recently in the West Rand when all spheres of government confronted Zama-Zamas who thought they could victimise and intimidate the community of Sporong.
“This was followed by a joint operation where 75 AK47 rifles and rounds of ammunition were recovered. This municipality remains the biggest beneficiary of the recently announced deployment of the SANDF.”
Regarding the mushrooming of informal settlements in the province, Lesufi said; “We cannot allow our beautiful province to be reduced to a shanty town. Of late, major parts of our province are witnessing an abnormal rise in a number of informal settlements.”
“To stop this we have resolved that all law enforcement agencies and municipalities will not allow the building of new informal settlements in our province. We have established a multi-disciplinary team to attend to the mushrooming of informal settlements.”
The first informal settlement to be removed by this team was Plastic City in Ekurhuleni with over 2500 people.
“We thank the Ekurhuleni municipality for leading from the front. This is not being against the poor and the homeless. We are against the ‘Mkhukhu” mafias who are taking advantage of our people.”
He said the next informal settlement was Plastic View in Tshwane. “We went there with the SAPS, metro police and Home Affairs officials. However, we were not successful but we have agreed to return later this year.”
On Tuesday, the provincial government will be in Benoni at the Chief Albert Luthuli mega housing project where 188 walk up units will be handed over which will benefit people who were staying in the Chris Hani, Gabon, Zenzele informal settlements, Daveyton old section, Benoni, Actonville, Crystal Park, Mayfield Ext.1, 6 & 7, Etwatwa, Barcelona, Emaphupheni and Wattville.
“We have reported before that the government has identified the Makause informal settlement in Ekurhuleni as a key focus area for development and relocation to improve the living conditions of its residents.
“I am pleased to report that we have since acquired 200 hectares of land to upgrade this informal settlement. The process of land transfer and registration to City of Ekurhuleni is underway.”
The province is successfully piloting innovative alternative sanitation solutions in informal settlements. This will ensure that residents have access to clean, safe and dignified sanitation services. These systems are quick to install, use minimal water, and do not require conventional sewer infrastructure.
To ease morning and afternoon traffic congestion on the provinces roads, which affects the economy, the Gauteng EXCO has adopted the Transport Master Plan with the aim of opening new roads, amongst others.
“We welcome the adoption of the Integrated Transport Master Plan that begins to shift planning to action, using corridor-based investment and stronger integration of rail, bus, taxi and non-motorised transport.” – SAnews.gov.za
