New crime-busters deployed in the hood
CRIMINALS have been warned of a new breed of crime-fighters who have been introduced in every neighbourhood in Gauteng.
Premier Panyaza Lesufi, who unveiled the unit during a media briefing in Midrand on Friday, said 4 000 crime-prevention wardens were deployed to every ward in the province on Friday.
The wardens, he said, were part of a new Gauteng government initiative to ward off crimes in townships, informal settlements and hostels, CBDs and businesses.
The crime-busters were ready to hit the ground running by patrolling for 24 hours in every ward and working in tandem with law enforcement authorities.
They would have two shifts; the first one from 6am to 6pm, and the second from 6pm until the next morning.
Wardens would be armed and their other tools of the trade would include motor vehicles, vans and radios.
On Sunday, the province hosted an official pass-out ceremony for the wardens at Giant Stadium in Soshanguve.
Lesufi made an undertaking four months ago that the province would recruit at least 6 000 wardens to fight crime head-on in the province.
The government, he said, was unable to train 6 000 wardens due to a number of factors, which included unavailability of a venue to train such a huge number at the same time, and verification of criminal records, resulting in the removal of other candidates.
He announced that a new recruitment process had started to make sure that the government reaches its target of 6 000.
Those who graduated on Sunday underwent training in constitutional law, criminal law, the Criminal Procedure Act and crowd management, among others things, he said.
Wardens would be appointed under Section 334 of the Criminal Procedure Act, which declared them as peace officers who would be able to present evidence in a court of law.
“There will be no single township, no single informal settlement, no single hostel, no single ward that will be left without being attended to,” Lesufi vowed.
He said the government was deploying the “force” to strengthen the work of the police so that “our people can begin to walk freely in our parks, in our streets and on their way to work, either going to train stations or taxi ranks”.
He said priority would be given to police stations with high crime rates and a high level of genderbased violence.
“We will work closely with the SAPS and also we will work closely with other institutions that have similar programmes,” Lesufi said.
He added that the initiative was the first in a province, and that other provinces had already shown interest in learning from Gauteng and implementing it.
He expressed concern that there was crime happening “literally every minute in our province”, perpetrated by protesters of service delivery vandalising public infrastructure.
“We need to ensure that people can trust our province; they can invest in the province. We need to ensure that those with plans to reside in our province can trust that their families are safe,” he said.
Lesufi expressed confidence that Gauteng was ready to demonstrate its commitment to facing and confronting criminals head-on.
One of the wardens, Brendon Petersen from Toekomsrus, said he was unemployed and struggling to get a job before becoming part of the unit.
He said he went for fitness training, which was “hard, intense and mindset changing”.
He expressed the hope to translate the lessons he learnt into making sure his community was safe.
“I am ready to hit the street and I am ready to make my community a safe environment,” he said.
Another warden, Ntokozo Ngubane from Benoni, said: “We are here to serve our communities. We have lots of crime happening in our communities. Our young children are using substances, so we are trying to avoid those kinds of things.
“We will be going to schools and our clinics because our public clinics are not safe anymore.”