Big changes coming to South Africa’s biggest shopping malls

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has plans to deploy heightened security forces to South Africa’s biggest shopping hubs to encourage visitors. 

Speaking during an interview with Newzroom Africa following his State of the Province address, Lesufi said that Gauteng residents have adjusted to living with the fear of crime.

“Around 7 when you knock off, you want to go to the shopping mall, and you are confronted by shopping malls that are closing purely because they’re scared of crime,” he said. 

He explained that the provincial government has identified key malls where security will be tightened, some of the country’s most popular shopping hubs: Sandton City Mall, Mall of Africa and Menlyn Mall. 

Law enforcement teams will be deployed to these malls, a project that will, in time, be expanded to other shopping malls. 

“We say let’s put all the relevant energies as law enforcement agencies so that they can be safe areas where people can go anytime and they don’t have the problem of crime,” he said.

By the beginning of June, Lesufi says that law enforcement will be visible at Sandton and the Mall of Africa. 

“We want to have permanent roadblocks, visibility of police, police not in uniform monitoring the situation, so that people can feel safe and come back,” he said. 

“I mean, you go to the movie houses, and there’s no one still watching an 8 o’clock movie there anymore. It might be outdated because there are other forms of streaming, but there are still some people who want to go out and watch a movie.”

He said that these people don’t go to a cinema at night because they are scared that they will be hijacked on the way home. 

“Check the statistics,” he said. “Of the 30 police stations across the country with the highest number of hijackings, 21 are in Gauteng. That simply means we are the capital city of hijackings.”

Lesufi said that if the high levels of crime cannot be stopped, the province will soon no longer be in a position to attract investment. 

Security forces to take over Gauteng malls

Part of this effort will be assisted by the premier’s controversial crime-fighting wardens (CFW), Amapanyaza. 

The establishment of Amapanyaza was ruled as irregular and illegal by the Public Protector in late 2025. The unit was established in 2022 while opposition parties questioned the premier’s authority to establish parallel police forces. 

The public protector enforced that the unit be disbanded and instead undergo 180 days of training and then be redeployed as part of the Gauteng traffic police. 

“We didn’t train them appropriately because we didn’t know that kind of work had to be legislated and gazetted. Now that we have it, you will see them when they return,” he said. 

The completion of the training aligns with Lesufi’s plans to deploy security at the malls. Despite their traffic police status, he said that when deployed, the unit will do “crime-fighting work.”

They cannot work as police, but they will ensure that “on each and every street where we’ve got a camera, someone is watching it and can notify the police.”

He said that the presence of the unit will assist the police by contacting them when there is an emergency. 

“So if somebody is about to attack you, at least you stand a better chance of notifying law enforcement agencies,” he said. “They are a force multiplier.”

Data from the latest release of crime statistics for South Africa reveal that the malls identified by the provincial government are located in high-crime areas. 

The Midrand police station, located near the Mall of Africa, was one of the top 10 police stations for community-reported serious crimes, with Sandton station, near Sandton City mall, following close behind at 19th. 

Brooklyn station, the closest to Menlyn Mall, and Midrand station were the 9th and 10th top stations for the worst rates of common robbery.