By Akani Nkuna
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has attributed the high levels of crime in Gauteng as a major obstacle towards government’s development endeavours.
This follows the release of findings by the Quality of Life Survey linking the lack of service delivery and crimes.
Lesufi said on Tuesday that “the level of crime is completely unacceptable”.
“Even though it is not explicit in [the Report], the level of crime is linked to service delivery because anything that we need to do is either disrupted or delayed [by criminals],” he said
The Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) held a briefing to present its findings following the 7th survey into the quality of life in Gauteng for the 2023/24 financial year.
“Crime remains worrying, and the nature of crime is expanding. Over a quarter of people report psychological violence,” said GCRO reported on X.
Extortionists and mafia groups in Gauteng were believed to be huge contributors to delays in infrastructure development in the province, particularly in townships.
“If you have to build a house, you will have what they call construction mafias delaying [by extorting you], that is crime. If you have to upgrade a water pipe, it is going to be delayed or disrupted because there are 30 percenters that want a certain portion of the contract. It is crime,” Lesufi said.
The survey has established a decay in the quality of life in Gauteng.
Despite a slight improvement poverty levels, they remain higher than what they were before the Covid-19 pandemic.
“More than 60% of respondents are dissatisfied with the safety and security services provided by the government… More people over the age of 18 felt that the crime situation in their area got worse compared to 2021,” said GCRO.
Lesufi has acknowledged that these statistics were worrying, saying that the government had instigated measures to combat the scourge of crime.
“To me it means massive intervention at a level of fighting crime and that is the aspect that we have escalated as government,” he said.
The premier also emphasised that service delivery should not be compromised for the sake of security, however, these two fundamental aspects should be implemented and enjoyed concurrently by the province’s residents.
“There needs immediate attention in strengthening local authorities, and then strengthen your service delivery departments so that they can render services. It is a balance that is very delicate but very important to do,” he said.
Lesufi also reiterated the need to put strategies in place to strengthen the resources and finances of local authorities so that they became self-sufficient and delivered to communities.
Amongst the many concerns impacting the Gauteng economy negatively was the early evening closing of local shopping centres and malls as a result of crime, particularly in the townships.
“The economic hub of the country goes dead after 8pm purely because of crime. Whereas the economy, people can go to movies, but they cannot because crime is too high,” he said.
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