Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has declared Gauteng fully prepared to host the upcoming G20 Leaders’ Summit at the Nasrec Expo Centre, following several months of intensive coordination between the provincial, national and municipal governments.

He said the preparation process not only ensured readiness for the global event but also created a long-term framework for faster and more integrated service delivery across the province.

“This follows months of intensive and coordinated work between the provincial government, the national government and all municipalities, a collaboration that has not only ensured summit readiness, but has also created a powerful new template for accelerated, integrated service delivery that will benefit all Gauteng residents long after the summit concludes,” he said.

Lesufi noted that weekly intergovernmental meetings established to coordinate summit preparations would continue after the event as permanent service delivery sessions.

“The Tuesday meetings that we hold every week to prepare will continue even beyond the G20 so that we can convert them into service delivery meetings, not only to beautify our province, but to ensure that municipalities accelerate service delivery to their residents,” he said.

He noted that the summit preparations were closely aligned with Gauteng’s broader goals of improving the economy and public safety.

“The work in preparation for the summit has been anchored and properly aligned to the provincial government's core domestic agenda, to improve the economy of our province, but most importantly, to make our province safe,” he said.

The improvements come after concerns raised by President Cyril Ramaphosa about Gauteng’s deteriorating infrastructure, including water shortages, potholes, malfunctioning traffic lights, power cuts, sewer spills and uncollected waste, which he deemed unacceptable ahead of the G20.

“Today, we are proud to report back to [Ramaphosa] that we have resolved all these matters,” Lesufi promised.

He said the improvements required extensive coordination and budget reprioritisation.

“The work that we have done in the last four months – it has been a difficult moment. We had to pull other municipalities that were not ready. We have to reprioritise our budget to focus on this mandate. We had to bring other agencies that were working alone, so that all of us can have an integrated approach to resolve the challenges faced by our citizens,” Lesufi said.

He said that the province’s investment in repairing roads, streetlights, traffic signals, fixing potholes and other infrastructure was not limited to summit preparations but aimed at benefiting residents long-term.

“The investment that we have made . . . is not only meant for the G20 but it will benefit our people beyond G20,” he said.

Lesufi said the province’s preparedness reflected “an unprecedented collaborative effort” across all levels of government.

“[The] collaborative effort [included] all the MECs, all the executive mayors, MMCs and CEOs of agencies, [who] met weekly to set up targets and conducted weekly progress tracking, onsite inspections and visited strategic areas that we felt are very important,” he said.

He added that this integrated approach would now be used as a permanent model for provincial governance.

“We intend . . . to keep this mode of collaboration and adopt it as a blueprint that we will use indefinitely to build a better province for everyone,” he said.

Responding to scepticism that the current improvements would fade after the G20, Lesufi said, “We are obviously disappointed that the majority of businesses and our citizens believe this improvement is only meant for G20 and it will collapse immediately after G20. We want to assure our citizens, we want to assure business, we want to assure organised labour and the taxi industry, that this commitment of collaboration, of working together, will go beyond the G20 as we intend to bid for more international events, especially within the sporting world as well as the entertainment sector.”

Lesufi said significant infrastructure upgrades, including roads, traffic systems and transport coordination, were close to completion. He confirmed that the majority of potholes on major routes had been filled and that streetlights and traffic signals were now operational.

“Significant infrastructure upgrades designed to be permanent are now nearly complete. Our comprehensive programme is focused on delivering a seamless and positive experience for all delegates and residents alike.

Meanwhile, a dedicated integrated traffic management plan has been established involving all metro police and traffic units.

“All this is meant to ensure that we don't have long traffic jams or create traffic blockages and routes to the summit or strategic areas within our province,” he said. He said that the provincial transport department had also engaged taxi associations to communicate road closures and diversions ahead of the event, and to minimise the emergence of unofficial taxi ranks on roadsides.

Lesufi said systems were in place to monitor and maintain infrastructure and respond quickly to incidents of vandalism, which he said was an ongoing challenge.

“Even though we continue to struggle with vandalism and those that derive pleasure in destroying our cables, we've got a monitoring team that alerts when there is a pothole. We also have a monitoring team that is monitoring the streetlights and the traffic lights, and there is a team that is assigned to fix this as soon as they are reported,” he said.

On water security, Lesufi said Johannesburg Water and Rand Water had guaranteed uninterrupted supply throughout the summit.

“[We have been given] an assurance regarding the security of the city's water supply throughout the G20 Summit. This confidence is grounded in Rand Water’s confirmation of an uninterrupted bulk supply for the entire period, bolstered by our comprehensive operations plan. We are of the strong view that water will flow during and beyond the summit,” he said.

He added that maintenance teams and security personnel had been deployed to protect key reservoirs and infrastructure along all key corridors.

“We have activated robust contingencies, including battery backups and a 24-hour site security so that all water reservoirs are protected, as we feel there are syndicates that sometimes target these reservoirs or target water infrastructure with an intention of embarrassing government or sending a message that we are not ready for the G20,” he said.

Lesufi also outlined measures to ensure a stable power supply during the summit.

“In terms of electricity, a comprehensive and resilient energy plan is now in place to secure an uninterrupted power supply for the upcoming G20 Leaders’ Summit, but also for the overall energy supply to residents and business in our province.”

“Our robust energy plan includes multiple layers of security, high mass solar lighting and the protection of cables so that we can be in a position to enhance safety and emergency response,” Lesufi said.

Emergency generators have been installed to ensure power continuity at key sites, including at OR Tambo International Airport, the International Convention Centre, and major hotels.

“We have installed emergency generators that in case of power failure, these generators can come to our rescue. We have monitored the energy power . . . so that during the summit and beyond, we don't have energy challenges that can disrupt the flow of visitors in our province,” he said.

Lesufi noted that lessons learned from the G20 preparations would be used to strengthen Gauteng’s long-term infrastructure and energy resilience plans.