{"id":89185,"date":"2025-09-04T14:57:58","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T14:57:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/gauteng-establishes-political-task-team-says-lesufi"},"modified":"2025-09-04T15:40:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T15:40:04","slug":"gauteng-establishes-political-task-team-says-lesufi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/gauteng-establishes-political-task-team-says-lesufi","title":{"rendered":"Gauteng Establishes Political Task Team Says Lesufi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>For the first time, Gauteng will have its own police task team dedicated to investigating political killings, premier Panyaza Lesufi said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The unit, which is expected to launch within four weeks, will focus exclusively on high-profile assassinations of councillors, municipal officials and taxi industry leaders, Lesufi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a major breakthrough for Gauteng. For the first time, we will have a provincially based political killings task team, properly resourced and mandated to conclude unresolved cases,\u201d said Lesufi.<\/p>\n

The task team will compile and pursue a backlog of cases stretching back to 2010. Lesufi said political killings in Gauteng were \u201cnot innocent\u201d but often linked to power struggles, corruption and organised crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cToo many councillors, officials and whistle-blowers have been gunned down with little justice. Families deserve answers, and this task team is how we will deliver them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lesufi said that in Tshwane at least 12 councillors had been assassinated in recent years, while Johannesburg has recorded three similar killings in just six months. The premier said many of these cases remain unsolved, deepening fears among public servants.<\/p>\n

Lesufi said the unit\u2019s mandate will extend to taxi industry-related murders, which he described as \u201cdeeply political and destabilising\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot exclude the taxi industry. Violence in this sector is not just economic, it undermines governance and safety across our province,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Lesufi said the ANC does not believe the killings are random. \u201cThe party\u2019s view is that these killings are not coincidental.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was assigned to meet police minister Firoz Cachalia to compile a database of unresolved cases dating back to 2010.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the findings pointed to the need for a specialised, province-based task team within the police and other law enforcement bodies.<\/p>\n

After engagements with Cachalia and provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Tommy Mthombeni, Lesufi welcomed national police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola\u2019s confirmation that such a unit will be established.<\/p>\n

Lesufi appealed to communities, political parties and public servants to come forward with information.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot do this alone. We urge anyone with knowledge to step forward. We owe it to our democracy, and to those who paid the ultimate price, to ensure political killings do not become a permanent feature of Gauteng.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. For the first time, Gauteng will have its own police task team dedicated to investigating political killings, premier Panyaza Lesufi said on Wednesday. The unit, which is expected to launch within four weeks, will focus exclusively on high-profile assassinations of councillors, municipal officials and taxi industry leaders, Lesufi said. \u201cThis is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":89184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-89185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nGauteng Establishes Political Task Team Says Lesufi - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For the first time, Gauteng will have its own police task team dedicated to investigating political killings, premier Pa ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/gauteng-establishes-political-task-team-says-lesufi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gauteng Establishes Political Task Team Says Lesufi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For the first time, Gauteng will have its own police task team dedicated to investigating political killings, premier Pa ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/gauteng-establishes-political-task-team-says-lesufi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-04T14:57:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-04T15:40:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1756987572.705627.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"666\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/gauteng-establishes-political-task-team-says-lesufi#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/gauteng-establishes-political-task-team-says-lesufi\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Gauteng Establishes Political Task Team Says Lesufi\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-04T14:57:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-04T15:40:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/gauteng-establishes-political-task-team-says-lesufi\"},\"wordCount\":387,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/gauteng-establishes-political-task-team-says-lesufi#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1756987572.705627.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/gauteng-establishes-political-task-team-says-lesufi#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/gauteng-establishes-political-task-team-says-lesufi\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/gauteng-establishes-political-task-team-says-lesufi\",\"name\":\"Gauteng Establishes Political Task Team Says Lesufi - 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