Cape Town - The police ministry has finally announced that construction of a temporary police station, to be the Makhaza Park home station, will begin on November 1.
National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola made the announcement on Monday in response to several requests by Makhaza residents for the SAPS to provide a progress report on their appeal for a police station in their area.
Masemola accompanied Police Minister Bheki Cele, Deputy Police Minister Cassel Mathale, Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, provincial police commissioner Thembisile Patekile, Police Oversight and Community Safety MEC Reagen Allen and several other government officials at the second stage of the Khayelitsha crime prevention summit.
The officials were set to provide feedback to residents following the first engagement session of the summit hosted by the Khayelitsha Development Forum (KDF) in June.
KDF chairperson Ndithini Tyido said the objective of the summit was to facilitate a conversation between community-based safety structures and the SAPS to come up with solutions that could be implemented to address increasing contact crimes in Khayelitsha.
“We agreed with the SAPS on June 16 that we would converge as stakeholders and thrash out a response to the calamities that we are facing here. We wanted Khayelitsha to say how this community should be policed, supported and resourced,” he said.
Responding to queries by residents about the SAPS being under-resourced, Patekile asked them to be patient as his department worked to access more resources to be directed to local communities.
Patekile also expressed support for the neighbourhood watches (NHW), saying that he had directed officers stationed in local communities to assist and accompany NHW teams as they worked.
Sibanye NHW member Phumza Mbalane said: “The one thing I wanted to hear as a response to these engagements was that we are going to get our station in Makhaza. It has been a long struggle.”
Allen said: “Cele has once again come to the province to engage residents, but what residents want and need is action. Unless the province’s chronic under-resourcing is addressed, we will continue to experience mass shootings.
“Most recently the multiple shootings claimed the lives of 11 people over the weekend. Since March, 29 people lost their lives in mass shootings in Khayelitsha.
“Khayelitsha’s police to population ratio is one officer for every 628 residents. Cele’s continued mismanagement of SAPS will lead us further away from fighting crime,” Allen said.