Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi has launched the province’s war on crime, saying it has become his government’s apex priority.
“Let’s openly admit, our province is a home of heartless and merciless criminals. They do as they wish. If this situation is left unattended, it will be the end of all of us,” said Lesufi.
Speaking at the state of the province address, Lesufi admitted the province was suffering from “completely unacceptable crime statistics”.
“We should unleash all our resources at our disposal to tackle crime. To this end, we are increasing our crime-fighting budget from R750m to multi-billions in the next three years,” said the premier.
Lesufi announced that from April 1, the province would connect suburb, townships, business districts, schools and other public places with hi-tech, face and car recognition CCTVs.
“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 2023/24 budget cycle,” Lesufi said.
The premier added they would procure 400 new police cars, recruit 6,000 young people to monitor and patrol the streets and join forces with almost 10,000 private security members to combine resources to fight crime together as part of the interventions in the province.
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 to infiltrate areas that are difficult to patrol and police.
— Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi
“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 to 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 they come from,” said Lesufi.
Adding to the security features in the province, the premier said his government felt the need to revamp their legislation in three crucial areas to strengthen their fight against crime.
“Registration of cars, because cars are a common denominator in violent crimes; either stolen or getaway vehicles. Elimination of illegal guns and the need to migrate our province to use less cash in business transactions,” said Lesufi.
The premier also issued strict instructions to their law-enforcement agencies to pull over motorists who drive cars without number plates or fraudulent temporary permits, adding the abuse of fake blue lights is on the increase. His administration was establishing a special unit to eliminate this.
“Those with illegal guns are now playing God. They decide who lives and who dies. Together with the private security industry, we have found a solution that will assist in tracking stolen guns and locate them wherever they are in our country,” Lesufi added.
He said they would first migrate the province’s law-enforcement agency’s guns in this system and the public would follow.
“To contribute to our desire to use less cash in business transactions in our province, we urge our retailers and other businesses to join the hospitality industry in eliminating cash transactions. If we all do so, we will see less business robberies, cash heists and ATM bombings,” the premier said.
Lesufi added if he had a choice, he would not deliver the state of the province address, as people had lost confidence in unfulfilled promises by politicians.
“They think we talk too much and do less. My preference would have been to take you to different sites in Gauteng to showcase the work we have done. Let me assure you, we will talk less and do more.
“We are getting Gauteng back to work,” said Lesufi.
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