Crime prevention wardens programme's been a waste of time, say political parties in Gauteng

Political parties in Gauteng say the crime prevention wardens programme has been a waste of money and was illegally constituted.

At a media briefing on Wednesday, the Gauteng government announced that it would be disbanding the programme in a phased process over the next 36 months.

It said that qualifying wardens would be retrained as traffic police officers, while those who failed would be redeployed to other departments where they would provide security services.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Gauteng said this was long overdue, while ActionSA’s national chairperson, Michael Beaumont, said that resources from the programme should go towards strengthening the country’s already established law enforcement agencies.

"It’s not a surprise. At the end of the day, we all called it what it was, an election gimmick that was produced before the elections and designed to use the budget for service delivery of the provincial government in order to capture support for the ANC, ahead of that national provincial elections. It didn’t work."

ALSO READ:

- AmaPanyaza established without any legal mandate - Public protector report

- Lesufi insists Crime Prevention Wardens were not just an election campaign

- Disbandment of Gauteng's crime prevention wardens not due to criticism: Lesufi