DA visit to Berea Police Station highlights SAPS under-resourcing

4 September 2017

Today the DA conducted an oversight visit to the Berea Police Station in Durban and we are deeply concerned about the increased crime rate and inadequate resourcing of the police service in the area.

We will question the SAPS Transformation task team in Parliament’s Police Portfolio Committee tomorrow to explain how it proposes to address the under-equipping, under-training, under-staffing and under-resourcing at station level that hamstrings the SAPS' ability to fight crime and ensure safe streets and safe homes.

The DA will also write to the Acting National Police Commissioner, Lt-Gen Lesetja Mothiba, to determine what his plans are to combat this under-resourcing.

The station is under-staffed with only 135 police officers assigned to the station and 12 vacancies within that post. This is wholly inadequate for such a densely-populated area.

The station is also under-equipped with old vehicles and lacks the right vehicles to ensure rapid response to reported crimes in progress. Criminal gangs often outrun the police during high-speed chases because they make a getaway in a high-performance luxury vehicle while the police are outmatched.

Mbalula cannot go on burying his head in the sand and dragging his feet over these issues. He is betraying the very people who are forced to live in fear in our country. The DA will not sit idle while Mbalula grandstands on social media.

If Mbalula takes his duty as Minister and the need to fix the police service seriously, he must take the country in his confidence as to how he plans to prioritise the resourcing and optimal restructuring of the police to make it more localised so that all our people can enjoy safe streets and live in safe homes.

Issued by Zakhele Mbhele, DA Shadow Minister of Police, 4 September 2017