Rural police stations in dire state due to poor government support
The DA will write to the MEC for Transport and Community Safety, Florence Radzilani, to request an urgent infrastructure audit of all police stations and police barracks across the province.
Recent oversights at the Mototema and Masemola police stations exposed that the South African Police Service (SAPS) faces serious challenges to protect and serve our communities.
Motetema Police Station is a rural police station with 130 officers in the Sekhukhune District, serving 52 villages in both the Elias Motsoaledi and Ephraim Mogale Local Municipalities.
Challenges include:
The office accommodation is in poor condition, more than 5 detectives are cramped in one office
The entire police station building is dilapidated
The lack of a saferoom to store dockets,
No borehole to provide the station with water
The barracks which accommodate police officers are in a derelict state. See photos here, here, here and here)
The Masemola Police station 90 kilometres from Polokwane has been without electricity since December 2022.
This station currently provides no services other than certification of documentation.
The barracks at Masemola has no water or electricity.
It is unacceptable that our police officers who are already burdened with heavy caseloads, have to endure unbearable working conditions.
Regrettably, these issues are widespread in police stations across the province.
We will further call upon the MEC Radzilani to have a joint meeting with Public Works to address infrastructure challenges and to restore the dignity of our police force.
