The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma congratulates the new Premier of Gauteng Province, Mr. Panyaza Lesufi as elected on Thursday, 6 October 2022 in a special sitting of the provincial legislature.

After eight years of dedication, selfless leadership and commitment to the development of our communities, Mr David Makhura decided to hand over the baton to the new leadership. This bold and courageous move by the former Premier will go a long way in ensuring continued service delivery to our people. This well-executed handover of power to the new leadership is exemplary and should inspire and propel our democracy going forward.

The new leadership under Premier Lesufi will surely be able to continue the good work done in this province under the stewardship of the former premier. We need to ensure improved governance, oversight, accountability and institutional stability towards effective and efficient functioning municipalities across the province which meet the aspirations of the population we serve.

We wish Premier Lesufi well in his new role and look forward to working and supporting him to institutionalise and implement the District Development Model (DDM) in an effort to ensure that municipalities are supported to deliver quality services to the people.

We wish to thank Mr. Makhura for the work he has done in putting the province on a positive trajectory and wish him well in all his future endeavours.