DA leader John Steenhuisen has lashed out at Gauteng Premier Panyanza Lesufi for the deployment of crime prevention wardens, labelling them as vigilante drunkards who were taken from shebeens and bought cheap uniforms. He said this during his visit to Soshanguve over the weekend where he was leading a crime awareness rally following a spate of violent crimes in that community.

Steenhuisen said that Lesufi took taxpayers money and bought cheap uniforms for his cadres before unleashing them into the community. "What did Panyaza Lesufi do? He took your tax money to buy ill-fitting PEP stores uniforms for untrained cadres and pretended that they were 'crime wardens.' What kind of person pulls a drunkard out of a shebeen, gives him a uniform and a weapon, and then unleashes them onto a community?" he asked. He said the DA will replace cadre deployment with merit-based appointments from the South African Payroll Association. "Unlike Lesufi's untrained vigilantes, the DA-run Western Cape has trained over 1,200 highly skilled Law Enforcement Advancement Plan officers who have helped to reduce murder by up to 40% in some of the most dangerous places, " We will replace his useless crime wardens with a fully-fledged Gauteng police force that will keep you safe."

The crime prevention wardens known as Amapanyaza were the brainchild of Lesufi and were introduced last year. In December the Justice Department designated Amapanyaza the powers of Peace Officers, this move helped clear up the confusion regarding their powers and duties. Department spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said AmaPanyaza will now work within a specific framework. "It was important that we define those responsibilities clearly and also to expand what is already there, as we know currently, we do have Gauteng Police Traffic officers. This was a way to ensure that at least the framework under which Amapanyaza work will be specific framework of the National Road Traffic Act."