Mere months after crime prevention wardens were appointed to help combat lawlessness in Gauteng, another crime-busting unit has been unveiled -- this time in the City of Johannesburg.

A tactical unit to combat crime was launched on Friday, 10 November by the City of Johannesburg, bringing to four the number of crime-fighting agencies in the city. The other three are the SA Police Service (SAPS), the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) and the crime prevention wardens, who operate across the province of Gauteng.

"The task of this new unit will be to combat and prevent crime. Our people are getting robbed and killed on a daily basis," Gauteng MMC for community safety Dr Mgcini Tshwaku said.

"It is going to be very hectic. We will be called controversial. We are going to be called killers but the criminals have declared war on our people," Tshwaku said.

Johannesburg Executive Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda said: "We are here today [to take] a step in the right direction. The MMC was able to identify a critical weakness that had to be filled, which is combating crime."

He said the establishment of the new unit was a response to the war which had been waged by criminals on communities.

"The law enforcement of the state is being eroded every day, not only in the City of Johannesburg, but across South Africa," Gwamanda said....