Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi is under pressure after the Democratic Alliance (DA) announced it will table a motion of no confidence following the collapse of his Amapanyaza programme. Amapanyaza were crime wardens which were part of Lesufi’s programme to increase visible policing in the province, however there were questions over its legality.

Lesufi heads a minority government in Gauteng after his party, the African National Congress (ANC) won only 34.8% of the vote in last year's provincial election, a sharp decline of 15 points compared to the 2019 election. Lesufi currently governs with the support of a number of minor parties.

The DA’s Solly Msimanga said the Amapanyaza initiative was: “ill-conceived, poorly implemented, and unsustainable,” arguing that it: “collapsed under its own weight.”

Lesufi announced the disbandment of the wardens, officially known as Crime Prevention Wardens, just hours before the Public Protector released a report finding their establishment and deployment unlawful. The report said the programme violated sections of the Constitution governing the separation of powers between national and provincial policing functions.

Msimanga said the premier’s actions violated the Constitution, accusing him of: “reckless and irresponsible implementation.”

However, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), a key ally of the ANC, has dismissed the DA’s motion as opportunistic. The trade union federation said the Public Protector: “did not find the Premier guilty of financial mismanagement or corruption” and that remedial steps were already under way to reassign the wardens as traffic officers under national law.

While COSATU stopped short of defending every aspect of the premier’s handling of the project, it argued that the DA’s motion was unnecessary. The union said Lesufi should be allowed to implement the Public Protector’s remedial actions rather than face what it called a politically driven censure. COSATU maintained that the wardens brought short-term benefits in community safety and youth employment, even if the programme itself was flawed.

The federation warned that: “reckless no-confidence motions” risk undermining provincial stability, noting that such tactics had previously: “weakened municipalities and left them on the precipice.” It urged all parties to focus on: “fixing what went wrong” rather than exploiting the issue for political gain.