Gauteng Traffic Wardens are a legitimate and lawful crime prevention unit

09 October 2025

The Gauteng Provincial Government notes the recent allegations concerning the legality of the Gauteng Traffic Wardens (GTW’s). These allegations follow the testimony of KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner, Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, before the ad hoc committee’s inquiry into police corruption.

The provincial government has no intention of litigating sweeping statements. However, it rejects the assertion that the formation of the Traffic Wardens showed contempt for the rule of law and categorically dismisses the allegation that the Gauteng Traffic Wardens are an illegal entity.

In December 2023, the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Mr. Ronald Lamola, officially designated the Crime Prevention Wardens as Peace Officers in terms of Section 334 of the Criminal Procedure Act of 1977. This legal designation granted them the same legal status as Gauteng traffic officers.

The Gauteng Traffic Wardens initiative was always grounded in the principles of the South African Constitution, which mandates cooperative governance and requires all spheres of government, national and provincial, to "cooperate with one another in mutual trust and good faith."

The provincial government created the Traffic Wardens program to support and assist the national police (SAPS) in their duties, not to replace them or interfere with the authority of other government bodies.

This was in response to statistics that showed that the police-to-citizen ratio in the province was one officer for every 541 residents in a population of about 16 million and growing.

To achieve this, the province explored a cooperative policing model that is already used successfully in other parts of the country. This model has allowed other spheres of government to develop policing protocols with the South African Police Service (SAPS), enabling locally funded policing initiatives to operate legally under SAPS authority and supervision.

he Gauteng Government had always understood, even at the conceptual stage, that a potential pathway existed despite legal impediments. This pathway was Section 334(1)(a), which empowers the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services to confer peace officer status on any person by virtue of their office, granting them power under the Criminal Procedure Act for any offence or designated class of offences.

Policing in South Africa had already demonstrated that decentralised structures with limited powers could coexist with the SAPS. Examples include the provincially funded Western Cape Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP), which deploys officers alongside the SAPS, Traffic Officers in provinces, and the various Metropolitan Police services.

The traffic warden program followed a similar, cooperative policing framework. Its mandate was to collaborate with other law enforcement organisations, focusing on Townships, Informal Settlements, and Hostels (TISH) as priority areas. In these areas, the wardens provide visible policing, improved response times, and implement localised crime prevention strategies.

The characterisation of the Gauteng Crime Prevention Wardens as "illegal" , therefore, distorts the facts and ignores the constitutional duty of the province to protect its residents. The Traffic Wardens are a legitimate, legally designated unit, established out of necessity and in the spirit of cooperative governance.

The Gauteng Provincial Government remains committed to collaborating with the relevant national departments and all relevant stakeholders to finalise operational protocols, thereby ensuring the Wardens continue to make an effective and lawful contribution to public safety in Gauteng.

The impressive work done by Gauteng Traffic Wardens as peace officers under the supervision of the SAPS proves that it’s possible to adopt a structured cooperation that allows the work of the SAPS to be supported without the police being replaced.

Issued by the Gauteng Provincial Government

For media enquiries:

Elijah Mhlanga, Spokesperson for Gauteng Provincial Government on 083 580 8275 or at  Elijah.Mhlanga@gauteng.gov.za

Sizwe Pamla, Spokesperson for Gauteng Premier, Panyaza Lesufi on 0609756794 or at sizwe.pamla@gauteng.gov.za

For media releases, speeches and news visit www.gauteng.gov.za