There have been months of complaints about how the Gauteng government irresponsibly unleashed a group of crime wardens onto the streets without proper training.
Some of the 6,000 crime wardens popularly known as “Amapanyaza” after their founder Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi, are armed with automatic assault rifles.
The highly funded unit cruises in luxury BMW 3-series vehicles and helicopters but has yet to make an impact on reducing crime in the province.
They were criticized for setting up roadblocks and checking the conditions of vehicles on the road without proper training in traffic management.
The public also complained about how Amapanyaza were simply deployed to township police stations where they were mainly responsible for certifying documents.
All of this despite the wardens not being commissioners of oath as required by the law.
In terms of the Constitution, the country has a “single police service” and crime-fighting units established under the provincial powers could not assume the functions of the SAPS.
Lesufi has been fielding questions about how the crime wardens were recruited, how they were trained and by whom.
The programme also caused a public spat between Lesufi and Police Minister Bheki Cele who said the SAPS could not recognize Amapanyaza because they were formed without the necessary legislation published in the government gazette.
The unit has been operating without proper legislation and is getting paid using public money.
Lesufi attracted more controversy when he told the crime wardens to “shoot when the enemy shoots at you”.
“We have concluded training those who are ready to carry weapons. We are ready to release weapons to you so you can shoot when the enemy shoots at you,” he said.
“You are going to be trained every day, every month, every year so those who think we have rushed you to go to the streets can eat humble pie.”
Lesufi has now secured the services of the army to train more recruits who will also be deployed to fight crime in the province.
In his ongoing mass recruitment of young people, Lesufi released employment letters for some 32,000 young people also recruited in various roles in the provincial government.
With elections a few months away, Lesufi is pulling out all stops to ensure the ANC wins the province after it failed to get a clear majority in Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane metros after the 2021 municipal elections.
The ANC’s grip on the province has been slipping since it won it by 68,74% in 2004 to 53,20% in the 2019 national and provincial elections.
Pictured above: Amapanyaza.
Image source: X
