State-of-the-art cop shop set to arrest crime
THE crime-ridden community of KaMhlushwa near Malelane in Mpumalanga is breathing a sigh of relief with a new police station set to open in the area soon.
For many years, the community had been forced to travel nearly 15km to get to the nearest police station in Tonga.
In his state of the province address two weeks ago, premier David Mabuza said the new police station would be completed by the end of this month.
This was a welcome relief to community policing forum (CPF) member Michael Mhlanga.
“We are battling house robberies in the area. The Tonga police station is too far and for those who do not have cars, they have to wait until in the morning if they want to go and report a crime,” he said.
“Many woman and children are being raped, especially on the streets and in their homes.”
Mhlanga said getting a police station would reduce crime in the area.
Another CPF member Paulos Magagula said: “Getting a police station would make a huge difference. As CPF members, we risk our lives to protect the community. Now that we will have a police station close by, it will be easier to negotiate our safety concerns.”
When the Sowetan team visited the area last week, construction workers were busy on site and the police station building was almost complete. “We are going to be much safer. We really hope that we will have a good working relationship with the police.
“We will also have to discuss getting paid as CPF members. We must also get something we will use to identify ourselves to our community.
“We have to get paid because we cannot chase criminals on empty stomachs,” said another CPF member Fanie Mkhabela.
Mabuza said during his state of the province address: “These additional resources will surely bolster the SAPS efforts to arrest crime in the province, but we cannot assume that they can do it all on their own.
“Fighting crime and addressing social ills require a collaborative and appropriately resourced effort.”
He said crime-fighting efforts would be “guided by the crime statistics recently released by SAPS – these will enable us to determine which serious crimes need immediate attention and where they are most pervasive”.
“These hot-spots are a factor of mushrooming informal settlements, illicit mining activity, the illegal sale of liquor to minors and the like.
“By adopting an approach that geographically prioritises the identified crime hot-spots such as eMalahleni, Pienaar, Acornhoek and Tonga, we will be able to concentrate our proactive and reactive programmes where they are likely to have the most impact,” Mabuza said.
“We are battling robberies here. Tonga police station is too far