There are concerns that the peace wardens are not equipped to deal with hardened criminals.
Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi said the popular crime prevention wardens, amapanyaza will be pull off the streets and “repurposed.”
This comes after the unit faced criticism from KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, who described the unit as illegal.
Mkhwanazi recently told parliament that he had advised the police leadership in a meeting that Lesufi was making a mistake.
“They started a unit which by law should not exist the Mapanya Panya that is famous, I raised that and I said this is illegal.
“It is against the law; the Premier must be advised. He has good intentions, but this cannot be done. The law does not allow it.”
Mkhwanazi said police management had even consulted lawyers for advice and they also confirmed that the unit is illegal.
Lesufi buckles under pressure
Two weeks later, Lesufi said that its members will be redeployed.
“The wardens will cease to exist in the current format. This will be done in a phased approach.
“They will now be repurposed to be part of the Gauteng Traffic Police and Special Law Enforcement Unit (SLEU) and other strategic security partners,” he said on Wednesday.
Lesufi said the wardens will be subject to extensive and intensive training for the next 18 to 36 months.
“Those who can’t qualify for this training will be assigned to various municipalities for bylaw enforcement or the provision of security services in various government departments after acquiring the necessary training.”
What is the problem with the peace wardens?
He acknowledged that there were concerns about the mandate, training and qualifications of the members of this unit.
“We believe that the completion of this process will eliminate these concerns and it will be a fully-fledged unit that will assist us in fighting crime in our province.
“As the Gauteng government, we want to focus on tackling crime rather than spending time squabbling around mandate and legitimacy or getting caught within factional battles of law enforcement agencies in our country,” he said.
He said the provincial government will engage the minister of police, justice and constitutional development, and other agencies about the changes.
“We will also release resources for training and capacitation of the new mandate. We are convinced that with this new role crime prevention will become a reality in our province,” he said.
Lesufi said the peace wardens (traffic wardens) were never meant to replace the police in Gauteng.
“Instead, they assist law enforcement in preventing crime and enforcing laws. The programme is legal because it uses provincial wardens to assist the national police, thereby strengthening enforcement without overstepping constitutional authority,” he said.
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Tensions with SAPS
Lesufi said he had received written letters from national police commissioner Fannie Masemola complaining about the wardens. He said he now has to explain the formation of this unit to various state institutions, such as the Public Protector and parliament.
“We give the law enforcement authorities 700 new cars and I do not get a national commissioner who says premier, thank you.
“When we took over here, the law enforcement agencies in this province did not have a helicopter. We did not give them one or two, we gave them three helicopters. I do not get a national commissioner who comes to me and says premier, thank you so much.
“But when we have foot soldiers that are assisting law enforcement agencies, I get letters from the national commissioner or provincial commissioner to say pull out these people.
“We have swallowed our pride and we are pulling them out so that the focus is not about our differences, but it should be on what brings us together. We will retrain them to become an additional resource to push back crime,” he said.
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