LESUFI ACCUSED OF POLITICAL INTERFERENCE BY RE A AGA ORGANISATION

Community- based movement Re A Aga Community Projects has accused Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lessufi of political interference.

This after it emerged that the Premier had initially presented himself as a mediator in a dispute between Re A Aga community project and the group of firms based in Rosslyn in Pretoria North, near Ga-Rankuwa but has so far done nothing to facilitate progress in this regard.

The dispute between Re A Aga Community Projects and the Rosslyn firms and factories centres around the fact that on 4 September 2025 Re A Aga Community Project marched to the said Rosslyn firms and factories and delivered a memorandum wherein they demanded the immediate employment of local South African youths instead of foreigners.

“We were supposed to receive a response within seven days after delivering our memorandum but the management of the Rosslyn factories and firms requested an additional 14 days before they could respond to our demands and we agreed to their request for an extension, but even after the said extension date had expired, the management of car manufacturer BMW and other factory owners had not yet responded to our demands,” explained President of Re A Aga Community Projects Mpho Kgosana.

Kgosana explained that the police had also positioned themselves as mediators in the stand-off between Re A Aga Community Project and the Rosslyn firms and factories.

“Though we were reluctant to accept the SAPS as mediators, we agreed to the suggestion for the sake of peace and started communicating with officials from within the SAPS who acted as mediators between us and the owners of the Rosslyn firms and factories,” said Kgosana.

“But as time progressed, officials within the SAPS were told to back off from communicating with us, and the Station Commander of Akasia Police Station told us that we would now be communicating with him directly as he was now the mediator between us and the Rosslyn firms and factories,” he said.

Kgosana said two days before the meeting could be held with the Rosslyn firms and factories, whereby the said police station commander would act as the mediator, the commander informed them that he was also pulling out; that Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lessufi would act as the new mediator.

“Panyaza Lesufi has up to so far not responded to our emails wherein we were questioning his involvement in the matter and we are now surprised that the Rosslyn firms, including motor manufacturer BMW and Panyaza Lesufi are rolling out programmes and initiatives that were originally suggested by us, and doing so without our involvement,” lamented Kgosana.

“We then wrote letters to the Department of Trade and Industries Minister Parks Tau as well as to the City of Tshwane Municipality manager Johaan Metler asking as to why they were keeping quiet while the Rosslyn firms and factories owners and Panyaza Lesufi were acting unilaterally regarding the implementation of our demands, but our efforts have been in vain,” he said.

“We have now realised that there is huge political interference and manipulation that is at play in this matter and Lesufi is heavily involved,” asserted Kgosana.

He said the community had shown trust in Re A Aga Community Projects to steer forward the campaign to get them jobs at Rosslyn factories but since their efforts have now been scuppered, they as Re A Aga will no longer march to the Rosslyn firms and factories, but will march to Premier Panyaza Lessufi and demand a response from him regarding their demands.

“There is a lot of hidden stakeholders and gate-keepers in this matter and it seems like we have hit the dogs whose owners are starting to reveal themselves now, and we will now see the real people who are in control of Rosslyn firms and factories and are decision-makers there,” enthused Kgosana.

“Our memorandum was originally served on the Rosslyn firms and factories and we want to know as to how Lesufi comes into the picture in this matter and what his personal interest in the matter is”?asked Kgosana as he in the process pointed out that Lesufi wants to use the Re A Aga initiative to get jobs for the unemployed people at Rosslyn firms and factories as a weapon for his campaign in the forthcoming 2026 Municipal elections.

“Lesufi is playing politics and plotting against Re A Aga, which represents his own constituency, and we will therefore make sure that his election campaign doesn’t succeed,” he said.

“As Re A Aga Community Projects we are not politicians but watch dogs who want to make sure that government delivers on its mandate to get our people employed and we want to point out that Lesufi is a procrastination to progress because all the programmes that he is running, including Ama-Panyaza crime wardens, are not succeeding,” said Kgosana.