News24 reports that the Public Protector (PP) has found that establishing and deploying the controversial Gauteng crime prevention wardens (CPWs) to conduct policing was irregular, unlawful, and inconsistent with the Constitution.
Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka, released her report on Wednesday, just hours after Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi disbanded the “Amapanyaza” without providing reasons. Gcaleka’s investigation found that the Gauteng Department of Community Safety’s conduct in establishing, recruiting, appointing, and deploying wardens without a supporting legal framework was unlawful and in breach of the Constitution.
The report follows a complaint filed on 23 September 2023 alleging that Lesufi was acting outside the law and that maladministration occurred in the establishment and deployment of the CPWs. The PPP recommended that Lesufi, who championed the wardens, must, within 180 days, ensure CPWs operated as traffic wardens under the National Road Traffic Act, in line with an agreement involving the justice and police ministers. During Lesufi’s press conference on Wednesday, he said the wardens would be absorbed into the province’s established policing and security structure.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Noxolo Sibiya at News24 (subscription / trial registration required)
- Read too, ‘We have swallowed our pride’: Lesufi says Amapanyaza will be pulled off the streets, at The Citizen
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