Mdantsane police are up in arms over vehicle reallocation

MDANTSANE NU1 police station is battling a critical shortage of vehicles due to breakdowns and a reallocation of two vehicles to Cambridge police station.

The Daily Dispatch has reliably learnt that 70 police members at the NU1 station share 10 vehicles while 16 are sitting at a police garage. The shortage has been made worse after two vehicles from Mdantsane were sent to Cambridge police station.

The move has angered some Mdantsane policemen who claim that their work has been compromised by station cluster commander Major-General Henry Vos, who allegedly allocated the vehicles. The officers accused Vos of prioritising the suburbs.

The Police and Prisons Rights Union [Popcru] in the province has described the move as “disc and has called for members to stand down.

However, acting Mdantsane police spokesman captain Mluleki Mbi said the vehicles were allocated to Cambridge on a temporary basis.

Mbi said Cambridge police station fell under the Mdantsane cluster and it was the responsibility of the Mdantsane Cluster Commander to ensure all police stations within the cluster had a sufficient number of vehicles.

“It is within his mandate to allocate vehicles to stations who experience challenges. Subsequently he has allocated two vehicles to Cambridge SAPS. This is a temporary arrangement and was done taking into consideration policing needs in Mdantsane. The public needs to be aware that this is a temporary arrangement and it is done in a way that will ensure that service delivery is not negatively affected in Mdantsane SAPS.”

The Dispatch has reliably learnt that the vehicles were meant to bolster crime-fighting efforts in the suburbs following a spate of burglaries and robberies.

An angry police officer who asked not to be named said their job had been compromised. “The station prioritised high-profile figures living in those suburbs in the process leaving the poor people of Mdantsane vulnerable.”

The policeman said with the two cars given away, it had become difficult for them to perform their duties.

“We can’t respond to crime scenes. Other police members must go to court to testify while others are struggling to follow on old cases.”

Popcru provincial chairman and Hawks investigative unit commander Colonel Loyiso Mdingi said: “This is discrimination of people based on class and colour. To take vans from a township police station serving poor people to a station serving wealthy people is not constitutional. We condemn this act.”