Lesufi in Europe to 'study' hi-tech street lights that might fight crime in Gauteng

Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi has cleared the air on his visit to Europe, saying it is to “search for the best technology to serve our citizens better”.

The premier is in Finland studying hi-tech street lights with car-recognition closed-circuit television (CCTV), drone docking station, air quality control and monitoring road conditions remotely, among other things

He shared a video online, saying “the future is here”.

“Say goodbye to the old light poles and meet the future,” said Lesufi. “A 5G new street light pole with high tech CCTVs, drone docking station, air quality control, loudspeakers for emergency evacuation, e-panic button and electric car charging station. The future is here, touch it.”

Responding to suggestions he was “selling dreams”, Lesufi said: “Turning a pie in the sky to humble pie. I am studying future crime-stopping gadgets and devices.”

Lesufi and Finnish minister of development co-operation and foreign trade Ville Skinnari have signed a letter of intent during the trip.

The Gauteng provincial government said the two met in 2020 to discuss exploring collaboration and co-operation between Gauteng and Finland and identified energy, skills development and water management as key areas.

“The future will move ahead without us if we don’t start preparing for it now. Technology is easy, the challenging part is the people and governments,” said Lesufi.

During his state of the province address, Lesufi said fighting crime was top of the Gauteng government’s agenda.

“The issue of fighting crime should be our apex priority. We should unleash all our resources at our disposal to tackle crime. To this end, we are increasing our budget for fighting crime from R750m to multi-billion in the next three years,” he said.

He added that the provincial government will start to connect suburbs, townships, business districts, schools and other public places with hi-tech face and CCTV cameras.

“We will arm our residents with e-panic buttons that will be linked to our law enforcement agencies, CCTVs and our new state-of-the-art integrated command centre.

“We will unveil two new helicopters at the beginning of the next financial year and add four additional helicopters within the 2023/2024 budget cycle,” Lesufi said.

He said the private security industry pledged to add theirs to the pool of helicopters for patrolling.

“To ensure our police are not sacrificial lambs in the battles with criminals, we are at an advanced stage to procure 180 state-of-the-art drones that will infiltrate areas that are difficult to patrol and police. These drones are equipped with technology that can capture the direction of a bullet and where it comes from.”