Gauteng Crime Prevention Wardens. (Photo: Twitter / Gauteng Government). Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi. (Photo: Gallo Images / Luba Lesolle) 
In an article in Daily Maverick on 21 September 2023, Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesfui accused us of fabricating and manipulating facts about the Gauteng Crime Prevention Wardens (GCPWs), claiming “most of the accusations and claims made against them are overstated, political, contrived and speculative”.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Response to Gauteng premier Lesufi on CPWs
However, last week an interview with a serving Gauteng Crime Prevention Warden confirmed key aspects of our investigation and shed new light on what the day-to-day work of a GCPW is like.
The warden, a young person who left their job to join the wardens, described to us their experience from the point of applying for the position, through three months of training and, since July 2023, active duty as a GCPW. They said they believed Lesufi is being misinformed about what is actually happening: “He is not aware of what we are experiencing… we appeal to him to come and talk to us directly.”
According to the GCPW (whose name and bona fides we have verified) he/she had applied to join the GCPWs in November 2022 after their local councillor told them about the programme. The warden says s/he was “always passionate about law enforcement” and is respected in the community. However, after being selected and, at 24 hours’ notice instructed to attend the training, they were shocked at the circumstances they and others found themselves in.
There are people with criminal records and anger issues. I fear some of my colleagues.
The warden claims that “there was no proper pre-screening of applicants”. They allege that the conditions at the Castle Inn in Cullinan near Pretoria, where a batch of more than 1,000 recruits gathered for training, “were very bad, we slept in tents, we were often without food. There were not enough toilets and water shortages, so people got sick.”
Most of the time was spent on physical drills, and only two of their days were taken up with formal “peace officer training” that was organised by the Road Traffic Management Corporation.
In particular the warden lamented the lack of screening and psychometric evaluation of recruits. “There are people with criminal records and anger issues. I fear some of my colleagues,” s/he said.
When the trainee cohort passed out in late June, it was without a certificate. “Even today I don’t have any formal identification (as a GCPW) besides my pocket book.”
Thrown in the deep end
Since July the warden has been deployed in their local area, which we cannot name to protect their identity.
S/he explains that GCPWs are divided into five geographic “corridors” and then deployed to local police stations closest to where they live. But, s/he says, the problem is that although they work with the police, and follow their instructions, they don’t report to the SAPS, but to Gauteng traffic officers and the Department of Community Safety.
“We are caught between the two entities. It feels like SAPS don’t want us. They think we are like spies.”
“We are thrown in the deep end and not properly equipped. The SAPS tells us we must kick open doors, jump over fences, we must comply and complain later.”
The warden says that GCPWs are called up twice a week to participate in the SAPS’
style="font-weight: 400;">Operation Shanela (a nationwide visibility campaign, meaning loosely “we sweep the streets”), on Thursdays and Saturdays, “in every corridor of Gauteng. All the wardens are called to attend the call-up instruction at a specific place, doing sting operations, roadblocks and arresting illegal immigrants.”
Sometimes I do commissioning at the police station, even though we do not have the powers of Commissioners of Oaths.
However, s/he says, most wardens lack the basic tools of the trade, such as functional walkie-talkies.
They are often insulted and sometimes threatened: “If we are under threat we must call 10111 like everyone else.”
One warden has already been killed, and s/he fears there may be more, given the violence and threats they encounter on the streets.
Although some of them were selected for firearms training and given bulletproof vests, this was recently paused.
The warden provided a copy of the contract of employment signed by all GCPWs which states: “During the on-the-job training phase of the contract period, the trainee will not be vested with any power or authority granted to a peace officer in the Department, until such time as the trainee is duly certified as a Peace Officer.”
This has still not happened. According to Chrispin Phiri, spokesperson for the minister of justice and correctional services, the legal process to authorise peace officers in Gauteng is still under consideration with the SAPS.