Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi delivered his 2026 State of the Province Address, emphasizing foreign direct investment inflows and efforts to combat crime and improve services. He announced R27 billion in investments from international partners to create jobs. Lesufi also addressed water restoration in Midrand and ongoing challenges in other areas.
In his fourth State of the Province Address at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg on 23 February 2026, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi highlighted the province's economic strengths and priority interventions. Lesufi stated that Gauteng continues to attract foreign direct investment, with R27 billion secured in the previous year from countries including the United Kingdom, United States, Switzerland, France, and Australia. This influx, he said, cements Gauteng's role as South Africa's primary investment and industrial hub and will support sustainable job creation.
Lesufi stressed that tackling crime, corruption, and lawlessness is essential for economic growth. 'We are clear, that to grow the economy of Gauteng we must defeat crime there is no one who will invest in an epicentre of crime or invest in a province with this high number of crime statistics. We need to defeat corruption so that those that want to acquire services to create jobs are not requested to pay Coca-Cola before they can get permission of licenses. We also need to defeat lawlessness because we can’t have people building infrastructure and areas that they can’t build infrastructure,' he remarked.
On social issues, Lesufi noted the 'Tswa Daar' Anti-Substance Abuse Campaign, launched in late October the previous year, has drawn over 28,000 drug users into in-patient treatment. For alcohol abuse, consultations with the liquor industry aim to limit new licenses, following the confiscation of 540,000 litres of alcoholic beverages from illegal outlets. To address illegal mining, 450 members of the South African National Defence Force will deploy to Gauteng and other areas to counter zama zamas, particularly after violent incidents in the Sporong informal settlement in Randfontein.
Lesufi announced a ban on new informal settlements from 1 June 2026, to be enforced by a multi-disciplinary team. In service delivery, the province maintains 4,786 functional traffic signals, with over 500 awaiting repairs due to vandalism like stolen copper, and has fixed more than 25,000 potholes.
Regarding water supply, Lesufi confirmed full restoration in Midrand and surrounding areas after prolonged shutdowns caused by Rand Water system failures and ageing infrastructure. Progress has been made in Soweto, except for Meadowlands zones 3 and 4 and areas served by Doornkop Reservoir. 'The first suburb to be hit hard was Midrand lately we can now declare that water is has been fully restored in the Midrand area and surroundings... We once more sincerely apologise to all our residents in all our province who still go through the inconveniences caused by this unfortunate situation,' he said. The address occurs amid preparations for local government elections, focusing on infrastructure improvements with private sector involvement.
