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4 months ago
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The Public Protector found that the establishment and deployment of Gauteng’s crime prevention wardens, known as “Amapanyaza”, was unlawful and unconstitutional.
- The Public Protector has found the establishment and deployment of Gauteng crime prevention wardens unconstitutional.
- Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi disbanded the wardens just hours before Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka disclosed her findings.
- The Public Protector’s remedial action includes reassigning them as traffic wardens and ensuring legal compliance within 180 days.
The Public Protector has found that establishing and deploying the controversial Gauteng crime prevention wardens (CPWs) to conduct policing was irregular, unlawful, and inconsistent with the Constitution.
Public Protector, Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka, released her report on Wednesday evening, 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.
This was recently echoed by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, before a parliamentary committee, where he highlighted the lack of legal provisions for the wardens’ operations, branding them “illegal”.
WATCH | Lesufi dissolves Amapanyaza traffic wardens after legal uproar
The report disclosed that Faith Mazibuko, former MEC for community safety, had applied to former justice minister Ronald Lamola in June 2023 to designate CPWs as peace officers under the Criminal Procedure Act.
However, the application lacked the necessary empowering legislation.
A technical committee later confirmed no legal authority supported the CPWs’ designation.
The Public Protector criticised actions which contravened constitutional provisions, stating: “The Department’s conduct was inconsistent with section 41(1)(f) and (g) of the Constitution which states that all spheres of government and all organs of state within each sphere must not assume any power or function except those conferred on them in terms of the Constitution and must exercise their powers and perform their functions in a manner that does not encroach on the geographical, functional or institutional integrity of government in another sphere.
“The law neither empowers nor confers upon the provincial government any authority to exercise policing powers. Any conduct that seeks to assume any power or function not granted by law, or to perform functions or powers that fall exclusively within another sphere of government, shall be unlawful and unconstitutional.”
The Public Protector stated that the complainant’s allegation that the functionaries of the Gauteng Department of Community Safety and Security irregularly established, appointed, and subsequently deployed the wardens without empowering the legal framework to perform policing powers was substantiated.
The findings confirmed that the department acted irregularly in establishing and deploying the wardens, constituting maladministration under Section 182(1)(a) of the Constitution and the Public Protector Act.
Remedial actions
The Public Protector recommended the following measures:
- Lesufi, who championed the wardens, must, within 180 days, ensure CPWs operate as traffic wardens under the National Road Traffic Act, in line with an agreement involving the justice and police ministers.
- The Gauteng MEC for Community Safety must regularise CPWs’ appointment as traffic wardens within 180 days and take immediate action to prevent delays.
- The head of the Gauteng Department of Community Safety must improve staff training within 60 days to enhance legal and operational competency.
- The police and justice ministers must support the lawful retention of CPWs as traffic wardens within 60 days.
- The national commissioner and Road Traffic Management Corporation must ensure CPWs meet training and legal requirements.
The Public Protector stressed the binding nature of these recommendations and urged relevant agencies to implement them promptly.
During Lesufi’s press conference on Wednesday, he said the wardens would be absorbed into the province’s established policing and security structure.
