Lesufi’s outbursts a salutary lesson

Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi has always loved publicity. He deploys speedily to the scene of any school crisis – be it supposed racism or everyday knife-play – knowing the cameras and microphones will be in attendance.

That is the way of politicians – appearance over substance, every time.

Lesufi has angered many people in his rush to get out his quotable quotes and implement his vision of transformation on the way to what some political analysts believe will be much greater things within the ruling ANC.

But he overstepped the mark at a departmental press conference in November 2019 when he accused Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum of “following” him and his family, and that they tried to “assassinate” him.

Now, clearly under threat of legal action – because he could not substantiate his allegations – Lesufi has been forced to withdraw his statement and forced to say he “regretted” it.

This is a salutary lesson for politicians particularly that their supposedly lofty positions do not grant them immunity to accountability, especially when it comes to telling the truth.

In a country like ours, outbursts like Lesufi’s could be damaging to fragile race relations and it is to be welcomed that he has been corrected.