Mervyn Naidoo
ARECENT investigation conducted by the DA on the state of metro policing in the greater Durban area revealed the service was “disheartening and appalling”.
“The city’s streets have become dangerous because enforcement is poor and non-existent in many parts of Durban, especially during peak hours.
“And, while there are many dedicated men and women working for the service, morale is low because of the abhorrent working conditions,” claimed Haniff Hoosen, the DA’s mayoral candidate for eThekwini.
Hoosen said he and other members of the DA visited various metro police stations around the city.
“One of our biggest concerns is that the metro police service is badly under-staffed. During peak hours many policemen, even senior officers, do traffic duty.
“This leaves criminals and reckless road users to do as they please because there are generally no officers to do patrols,” Hoosen claimed.
“One of the biggest problems facing the metro police is the lack of political leadership, that’s the reason it is in disarray.
“How else do you explain R50 million spent on bodyguards for ANC councillors?”
He said the recent increase in strikes and the need to protect council workers and contractors who were doing maintenance work around the city had turned officers into security guards.
The Sunday Tribune saw an e-mail sent to the DA by a senior metro policeman who asked the DA to help.
Complaints
“Every morning all our resources are deployed to service delivery protests and protection of municipal employees.
“Metro police have not recruited a single member since 2007. And the stations we work out of are dilapidated,” complained the policeman.
Officers are being forced to use vehicles with high mileages and the servicing of vehicles takes months.
No speed timing devices or breathalysers are available at some stations.
Station management are left in the dark when budgets are drawn up and some stations are operating with half the staff complement they ought to have.
The Tribune was at one of the stations the DA visited.
One of the managers there said their junior authorised officers (AO) were required to do normal policing duties which, at times, resulted in confrontations with armed and dangerous criminals.
“But these AO’s are not issued with firearms or bulletproof vests.”
The officer complained that some of the vehicles sitting in their pound had been there for more than five years because they got no directives.
“We were not consulted about the budget for our station, and our policemen work 40 to 60 hours each week.
City’s plans
“It would be cheaper for the city to employ new policemen and fill up the staff complements than pay the exorbitant overtime costs.” they claimed.
Tozi Mthethwa, eThekwini’s head of communication, said they had plans to employ 600 members over the next three years to enforce the city’s by-laws, and in preparation for the Commonwealth Games.
“Security management services will be expanded and we will also increase our CCTV cameras as part of our crime prevention drive,” Mthethwa said.
Officers protecting and escorting internal and external contractors are necessary to protect the city’s assets, and it’s part of their duty, according to Mthethwa.
She said additional firearms and bulletproof vests had been bought, but the city had stringent supply-chain management processes in place. However, they expected delivery soon.
Mthethwa said 90 percent of their vehicles were available to policemen and they had bought 180 new vehicles, which would be delivered shortly.
“We have four speed timing cameras, which are all mobile and working. The unit also has breathalysers available.
“The budget preparation process had input from all line departments in the municipality for the 2016/17 financial year,” she said.
“And it is not true that metro does not have a police strategy in place. The municipality’s Integrated Development Plan is a key strategic document which guides and informs all decision-making related to delivering services.”