'He's going to divide us further': Inside Mashaba and Lesufi's spicy war of words over premiership

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has criticised discussions among ANC members to appoint Panyaza Lesufi as the new Gauteng premier.

Sunday Times reported there is a strong push for Gauteng premier David Makhura to vacate office to make way for Lesufi within a few weeks. Those who want Lesufi to take over have said the party cannot go into the general election campaign with Makhura as the face of government in the province.

Lesufi is the Gauteng education MEC and was recently elected ANC provincial chairperson.

Weighing in on the discussions, Mashaba said Lesufi was no better than Makhura.

“Replacing an ineffective premier with another one is not going to solve any problems for Gauteng residents. Lesufi is actually going to divide us further along racial lines, his speciality as education MEC.”

According to Mashaba, the ANC destroyed Gauteng and Makhura and Lesufi were both there when it was happening.

“Makhura wasn't alone when the ANC was busy destroying our province. Panyaza was there throughout. This man destroyed public schools in Gauteng. His main focus was racial division,” he said.

Lesufi clapped back at Mashaba's statement, saying : “I don’t own a hair salon please.”

He agreed with some that the “only time Mashaba speaks sense is when his mouth is shut”.

The hair salon dig is a reference to Mashaba's hair product brand, Black Like Me, which is popular in black hair salons.

“You have lost an opportunity to make honest money. Perhaps you will get an opportunity to consider opening one after 2024,” Mashaba responded.

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