Premier pledges to wage war on crime in the Joburg CBD

Installing cameras on Small Street in the Joburg CBD, deployment of 350 officers, rollout of e-panic buttons by April and more drones in partnership with the army.

These are some of the new promises made by Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi during his state of the province address on Monday. The address was predominantly focussed on fighting crime in the province with about six pages of his speech dedicated to measures taken to deal with criminality.

Lesufi said as part of a plan to revitalise central business districts in Gauteng and rid them of crime, lawlessness and vandalism, the notorious Small Street in Johannesburg would be the first for targeted intervention by his government.

"From now on, Small Street will be under 24- hour surveillance with CCTV strategically deployed along the area. We are putting up a permanent deployment of 350 law enforcement officers. When we get it right in Small Street we will surely succeed in other CBDs in the province," he said.

The premier also announced that following a successful piloting of e-panic buttons which operate through a cellphone App, these would be rolled out from April 1st to residents to use to seek help when faced with crime or medical emergencies.

He also said after the success in the use of helicopters and drones to fight crime in hotspots and inaccessible areas of the province, more would be deployed to wage a war against criminals who are terrorising communities.  

"We have learnt many lessons from our pilot through the project on how to leverage existing technologies in the private sector as an alternative to duplicating products and services," he added.

"This pilot project was so successful that we are acquiring an additional 30 drones in partnership with SANDF. Again, the potential for capacity building in this space is limitless, especially for previously disadvantaged groups. This also ties in with our 4th Industrial Revolution ideals."

Despite the deployment of crime wardens in the province, third quarter crime statistics for 2023/2024 released by police minister Bheki Cele on Friday showed that priority crimes such as murder had increased across the country and that Gauteng polilce stations were among top 30 where the crimes were reported.

Lesufi said the rollout of the new number plates with a track and trace system would help reduce the number of stolen and hijacked cars and the use of fake and duplicate registration numbers.

He said the new number plates will be rolled out on government cars and later with the general public. The premier also highlighted his government's efforts in dealing with the scourge of gender-based violence which he said remains an area of concern for Gauteng residents.

"We rolled out 23 Green Doors, the victim’s empowerment centres (VECs) at police stations, and shelters, to support survivors of GBV to just under 500 000 households. We unleashed 34 sexual offence unit cars to respond to gendered-based cases speedily," he said.