Africa-Press – South-Africa. Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has announced that 4 000 crime prevention wardens will take to the streets, starting on 1 May, to protect residents and fight crime within townships, informal settlements and hostels.
Speaking to the media on Friday, he announced that the much-anticipated Crime Busting Unit had its “own limitations”, but that the wardens would graduate on Sunday.
Lesufi said the government had stepped into an “era of delivering” on the targets he had set when he took office in September 2022 and during his State of the Province Address (SOPA) in February.
In his address, Lesufi, said the province would now install CCTV fitted with facial recognition, e-panic buttons, and legal guns chipped with trackers to identify and locate firearms should they be stolen.
At the briefing, he added that “suburbs, townships, businesses, schools, and other public places” would be connected with hi-tech face and car recognition CCTV by next month.
So far, 6 000 e-panic buttons had been distributed to community patrollers who had tested the their efficiency.
The panic buttons would also be integrated into fixed poles with CCTV, Lesufi said, adding that the department had received numerous proposals for the introduction of a phone app with a panic button to alert private security.
“We will arm our residents with panic buttons that will be linked to our law enforcement agencies. These panic buttons will also be linked to our CCTVs and our new state-of-the-art integrated command centre.
“Whenever they feel threatened, every resident will press the button, and it will register at the office of our law enforcement agencies.”
Lesufi said that the training of the wardens was an ongoing process.
Responding to a question by News24 on what the training of the wardens entailed, he said: “They got all the necessary training that was needed. I can take you through the areas of training they went through: respect for human rights, efficiency, responsiveness, integrity, and honesty. We are mainly releasing them to provide all the necessary support to the law enforcement agencies.”
The unit will launch a new recruitment process to reach the proposed 6 000 wardens.
The four-month-long process targeted at Gauteng residents was intended to tackle crime which had crippled communities throughout the province, as well as reduce youth unemployment, said Lesufi.
He added that the recruitment programme consisted of verifying the applicants’ nationality with the assistance of the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC). The verification of matric certificates and vetting criminal records was also conducted, along with confirming if they resided in Gauteng, reducing the number of applicants significantly.
Gauteng traffic department spokesperson Sello Maremani said they were well-equipped and trained to handle crime.
“They have done the constitutional law, as well as your criminal law, your Criminal Procedure Act, and most importantly, they will be declared as peace officers in terms of Section 334 because that specifically empowers them to deal with any kind of crime,” he said.
Two of the 4 000 wardens present at the briefing, Ntokozo Ngobane and Brandon Peterson, said their reasons for joining were due to unemployment and a desire to protect their communities.
Peterson said that the training had been intense, but had helped him work under pressure and enabled him to provide financial security and a safe environment for his children and family.
“It was very hard, I will not lie. It was very hard, it was intense. My mindset changed. I am more disciplined now and respectful. I am now more eager; I am ready to hit the streets. I am ready to make my community a safe environment.”
Lesufi urged the wardens to “work glove in hand” with the police and community to utilise their position for the good of the residents, rather than their own needs and desires, and contributing to existing corruption.
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