‘Reward him with a golden shower at the ballot box' | DA slams Lesufi over ‘stupid’ hotel bath remark

Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi’s recent remark that he also experiences water shortages and was once forced to bathe at a hotel was “stupid” and should earn him a “golden shower at the ballot box”, Democratic Alliance chief whip George Michalakis said on Tuesday.

Michalakis made the comments during a joint sitting of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces, where MPs debated President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent State of the Nation Address (SONA).

The debate continues on Wednesday at 2pm, with Ramaphosa expected to reply on Thursday at 2pm.

With local government elections approaching, Michalakis said Ramaphosa’s SONA risked ending up like the “dry water taps in Johannesburg” if the economy does not grow significantly.

He also criticised Lesufi, who did not attend this year’s SONA debate, over his “hotel bath” comments amid Gauteng’s water crisis.

“This year marks a municipal election where water will be a central theme,” Michalakis said. 

“It’s ironic, Mr President, that you told the minister (Pemmy Majodina) who lives to dress up for SONA that she should rather be in Gauteng to sort out the water.”

Ramaphosa last week instructed Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa to urgently attend to Johannesburg’s water crisis instead of attending SONA.

“Despite this, for the premier (Lesufi) - to paraphrase my colleague Honourable (Mark John ) Burke - Pemmy must still drop. For him, the solution to the water crisis is to shower at a hotel,” Michalakis said.

“May he be rewarded with a golden shower at the ballot box for such a stupid comment, because it is clearly only at the ballot box where solutions can be found.

“The premier should not apologise for not being here. He should apologise for his blatant arrogance towards the people of Gauteng.”

Lesufi recently visited a reservoir in Brixton, Johannesburg, with government officials and said he, too, had been affected by the outages.

“I also experienced water shortages and in certain instances had to go to a hotel to bathe and attend my commitments,” he said.

“People think that if there is no water, we and our families get special treatment. We don’t. We go through the same inconveniences as any other person.

“There is no special pipe designed to serve certain people. Our families, relatives and constituencies suffer the same pain,” he previously said.

Lesufi later apologised, saying his “hotel bath” comment may have been interpreted as insensitive to issues of social class.

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema said ministers and mayors lacked knowledge of town planning and water infrastructure.

“The fact of the matter is your minister and your mayors do not know where water infrastructure begins and where it ends. That is why they respond to burst pipes and leakages as they happen, running from one pipe to another,” he said.

Malema praised the EFF’s MMC for water in the City of Ekurhuleni, Thembi Msane, whom he said had been declared a “water champion”.

“When your minister was running around complaining about water, our MMC of water in Ekurhuleni was given an award in the same week and declared a water champion,” he said.

“Instead of benchmarking against the DA, which struggles to provide clean water to people in the city, benchmark against the EFF department in Ekurhuleni on how to fix the water crisis.”

Malema said municipalities would not be fixed unless the equitable share model was revised.

“The idea that all municipalities can be self-reliant on revenue generation, in a country that is massively deindustrialising and facing high unemployment, is misguided,” he said.

He also criticised Ramaphosa over Majodina, accusing him of creating task teams instead of enforcing consequences.

“If you have the courage to remove her, remove her now to demonstrate that you have courage,” Malema said.

Meanwhile, Patriotic Alliance (PA) leader and Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie defended Majodina against Malema’s accusations that she had failed to address the water crisis.

McKenzie, whose party is part of the Government of National Unity (GNU), said Majodina’s only “crime” was “wearing red” and that she was working hard despite water shortages in Gauteng, including Johannesburg and Tshwane.

“The GNU is working because all parties are working very nicely together. The GNU is the best,” McKenzie said.

“We must ask real economists, not public economists. Real economists will tell you we have turned the corner,” he added.

simon.majadibodu@iol.co.za

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