Johannesburg - Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi conceded that more has to be done when it comes to combating crime, which has taken a lot of innocent lives in the province.
Lesufi was speaking during his maiden State of the Province Address (Sopa) in Johannesburg last night.
"If I had a choice, I would not deliver this Sopa, as our people have lost confidence in what we say. They think we talk too much and do less. My preference would have been to take you to different sites of Gauteng to showcase the work we have done. Let me assure, we will talk less and do more. We are getting Gauteng back to work,“ Lesufi said.
He further said: "Today, let’s openly admit, our province is a home of heartless and merciless criminals. They do as they wish."
Lesufi said the issue of fighting crime should be their apex priority.
"We should unleash all our resources at our disposal to tackle crime. To this end, we are increasing our Budget for fighting crime from R750 million to a multibillion (figure) in the next three years.
"Starting from April 1, 2023, we will start to connect suburbs, townships, business districts, schools, and other public places with hi-tech, face- and car-recognition CCTVs.
"We will arm our residents with e-panic buttons that will be linked to our law enforcement agencies, CCTVs, and our new state-of-the-art Integrated Command Centre," he said.
Lesufi said gender-based violence (GBV) was on the increase.
"We have allocated a specific fund to respond to GBV, including strengthening the green doors project and working with Ikhaya Lethemba.
"Operation Okae Molao has had demonstrable results. Police Minister Bheki Cele has hailed this programme and has encouraged all other provincial commissioners to replicate our model in intensifying their provincial operations. I want to thank the provincial police," he said.
Lesufi thanked the commissioner, Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela, and his team. As a sign of appreciation, as the Gauteng government, we have donated 75 cars and mobile police stations to the police.
He said as of April 1 this year, they will use 60% of the R34 billion goods and services budget to support township initiatives.
"We are establishing a digital database (the township business register) of all businesses in townships. We are told that the reason our spaza shops are struggling is because they don’t have collective buying power," Lesufi said.
The non-government sector received more than R2bn from the provincial government.
He said with this amount of funding, they should be impactful in the fight against social ills.
However, Lesufi said this sector, not all of it, was riddled with squabbles and accounting irregularities.
"We are now appointing an independent audit team to audit all our non-government organisations (NGOs) and redirect them to the new mandate of our provincial government. Our mandate is simple: care for the elderly, the vulnerable, and the poor," he said.
When it comes to roads, transport, and residents of Gauteng, they are pleased to report that e-Tolls have been scrapped.
"Together with the ministries of Finance and Transport, we will make a joint announcement in this regards. Together with the national government, we are on the verge of agreeing on all matters that will finally allow us to gazette switching off the gantries. Matters related to debt repayment and the money collected from paying customers and as well as funds not collected from non-paying customers," Lesufi said.
The Star