Controversy erupts over Gauteng Premier Lesufi's plans to demolish informal settlements at midnight

Civil society organisation Real Democracy (RD) has condemned Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s recent statements threatening forced removals of informal settlers, describing them as reckless, inhumane, and reminiscent of apartheid-era brutality that would not be tolerated.

In a statement, RD chairperson, Srini Naidoo, expressed outrage at Lesufi’s declaration on Wednesday that the provincial government plans to demolish illegal informal settlements - particularly those occupied by undocumented foreign nationals - at 2 a.m. 

Naidoo quoted the Premier saying, “We will destroy those informal settlements… Those informal settlements must be crushed… I told the team, "We will dismantle these informal settlements.”

Naidoo called Lesufi’s comments an alarming embrace of “war on residents of informal settlements.”

“This midnight timing,” Naidoo said, “echoes the midnight raids and forced removals of the apartheid regime,” adding that Lesufi has offered no plan to relocate or rehouse affected families, signaling a disturbing disregard for human dignity and constitutional rights.

Naidoo further denounced what he said was Lesufi’s inflammatory rhetoric, labelling residents as “not documented in our country,” which, according to Naidoo, “deliberately spreads falsehoods and dehumanises the poor.” 

He highlighted the broader failure of the ANC government over 30 years to provide adequate land and housing, accusing Lesufi of resorting to state-sanctioned intimidation and violence against vulnerable communities.

Real Democracy has called on the South African Human Rights Commission to investigate Lesufi’s statements as potential hate speech and constitutional violations. 

“Should the Premier proceed with his unlawful threats,” Naidoo warned, “he must face urgent legal interdicts and criminal prosecution.”

“Our party stands firm,” he concluded, “we will defend the right of every South African to housing, dignity, and land — and we will not allow this war on the poor to go unchallenged.”

At a media briefing in Johannesburg on Wednesday, following the Gauteng Executive Council (Exco), Lesufi revealed that more than 400 new informal settlements have recently emerged.

He said that a newly established informal settlement built over the weekend in Ennerdale was evidence of an emerging pattern.

“The pattern is clear: identify land owned by the government, send a few people, and after 72 hours, once there’s no eviction, invite everyone who needs land to occupy it.”

“We are tired of this government now”, he said.

thabo.makwakwa@inl.co.za

IOL Politics