Gauteng premier defends crime-fighting efforts amid DA protest

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has defended his crime-fighting efforts and accused the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the province of 'crying at the wrong funeral'.

Lesufi revealed that his administration has delivered more than 700 vehicles donated to the SAPS, while also ensuring the installation of 12,000 CCTV cameras, among his list of crime-fighting interventions.

Lesufi was reacting to the DA, which, on Wednesday, delivered a memorandum to his office, demanding urgent action to address what they describe as escalating crime rates in the province.

The DA further claimed that many of Gauteng's 144 police stations are severely ill-equipped to deal with rising crime challenges.

The party has cited deficiencies in infrastructure, staffing levels, vehicle availability, and inadequate holding cell capacity. DA provincial chairperson, Solly Msimanga, led the protest, openly accusing Lesufi of failing the public by not fulfilling his promise of a safer Gauteng.

"Premier Panyaza Lesufi has repeatedly stated that fighting crime is an apex priority for his administration. However, the lived reality for Gauteng residents, as discovered by the DA during its Anti-Crime Campaign, paints a different picture. Crime continues to spiral out of control, while SAPS stations remain severely under-resourced and understaffed," Msimanga said.

However, Lesufi's spokesperson, Vuyo Mhaga, in a statement, said the DA's demonstration at the Premier's Office is a blatant act of political opportunism and a desperate move from a party that's running out of options.

"Today, we are witnessing an organisation that is confused about its role and suffers from an identity crisis. Knowing full well that the SAPS is a national competency and that matters of resourcing should be raised and debated within the Government of National Unity, of which the DA is a member, they have chosen the easy option of picketing outside the Provincial Office of the Premier, which has no mandate over the SAPS," said Mhaga.

Lesufi was not available to accept the DA's memorandum of demands as he was reported to be attending a prior official engagement with Mhaga.

"The DA, which has been a proponent of devolving policing powers, meaning they are fully aware these matters need to be ventilated at the GNU Cabinet meetings of which they are a part, is now exposing how hurt and bitter they are after choosing to opt out of the Government of Provincial Unity.

"The Gauteng 7th Administration is on record declaring crime as the enemy of our province. We declared that if we can’t collectively fight crime, we might as well kiss our province goodbye," Lesufi's office said.

Mhaga claimed that in the first three months of 2025, the province recorded multiple wins in fighting crime, with a 7.9% decrease in crime, which has been proven by the recent provincial crime statistics.

"Gauteng recorded a 7.9% decrease in crime, according to statistics released by the Gauteng Police Provincial Commissioner, Lt. General Mthombeni. He stated that 'this decrease is a positive trajectory, especially when considering the province’s high population density and various other factors.'

"The police re-arrested 1,007 of the most wanted criminals in our province, and all municipalities have signed Municipal Council Resolutions to establish joint resource-sharing agreements between law enforcement agencies, provincial police, and private security firms," Mhaga further stated.

As a strategy, Msimanga has called for Lesufi to push for the devolution of policing powers from national to provincial, while also urging Lesufi to hire more police, buy more vehicles, and fix broken and under-resourced police stations.

siyabonga.sithole@inl.co.za