Lesufi must fall: AfriForum launches online petition for MEC’s removal

AfriForum are expected to hand over a memorandum to Gauteng Premier, David Makhura, on Thursday, calling for the immediate ousting of the revered Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi.

AfriForum launch online petition for #LesufiMustFall

The lobby group has launched an online petition titled #LesufiMustFall, with the tagline “your child deserves better“. This, it claims, is a necessary adjustment that will benefit the lives of children who rely on the education department for placement into appropriate schools.

It is not clear what the target of this online petition is, since there is no goal count active on the page.

This is why the lobby group is calling for the MEC’s axeing

In the memorandum that Makhura is expected to receive, AfriForum lists its reasons for why #LesufiMustFall. At the centre of it, the lobby group claims that the education department, under the guidance of Lesufi, mismanaged “the online registration system and placement procedure for grade 1 and grade 8 learners for the 2020 school year.”

AfriForum also wants Lesufi ousted because:

• during the Springboks’ World Cup game against Wales, Lesufi accused a group of spectators of draping the old flag around their shoulders. It later emerged that it wasn’t an old flag, but a new South African flag. This is one of the examples of mr Lesufi’s race-obsessed approach. The MEC of Education in Gauteng should focus on education matters and refrain from playing politics;
• the Gauteng Department of Education misappropriated more than R2-billion of our tax money. and
• his constant attacks on schools that offer Afrikaans single-medium instruction

Furthermore, the lobby group has noted that before heading over to Makhura’s office, they were going to lay criminal charges against Lesufi at the Johannesburg Central police station, in relation to the department’s misappropriated funds.

“This follows the Auditor-General’s 2017/2018 report, which states that the Gauteng Department of Education spent more than R900 million on irregular expenses. When previous financial years are taken into consideration, the Department is guilty of irregular expenses to the amount of more than R2 billion,” the group noted in its memorandum.

In response to this, Lesufi shrugged the group off as racists and sarcastically pleaded that they don’t harm his family.

The day racists praise you, you must know the revolution is lost! My only plea to racists please don’t harm my kids and my family, as for me you are free to do as you wish.I know you attempted on various occasions to harm and attack me. I’m unsinkable ✊?#AfriforumFF+SolidarityIRR pic.twitter.com/fFwzyJCyq9

— Panyaza Lesufi (@Lesufi) November 20, 2019