Residents of Tolwe, near Senwabarwana in Limpopo, expressed worry over the incomplete R46-million police station project that has lingered for seven years. Initiated in 2018, the project aimed to construct a new police station for the area.
Currently, the local police operate from a dilapidated building without essential amenities, forcing suspects to be held at the Senwabarwana Police Station, 80 kilometers away.
Nestled within a small, worn building resembling a family home, the Tolwe Police Station serves three villages and 265 farms. The R46-million project, intended to enhance infrastructure, now stands abandoned, leaving the construction site incomplete. The community questions the undisclosed expenditure from the allocated funds.
Daniel Mariana, a resident, urges national government intervention to complete the stalled project.
“The stoppage of the project also affects us. Even police officers are not safe; they can be robbed because it is not safe due to the incomplete building. R46 million was set aside and we don’t know what happened because they still owe people. They left with money without paying workers. We need intervention so that the construction of this police station is completed. When it is like this, it pains us.”
Mariana emphasizes the need for accountability regarding the funds allocated to the project.
“The police station is not giving us service. Even when you call the police, they don’t come on time; they come hours later. The current police station building is too small. What is for the government to complete the construction of the new building because it costs a lot of money, R46 million.”
In a written response, police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe cites the project’s halt due to the contractor’s liquidation. Mathe asserts that the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure is in the process of appointing another contractor.
The remaining construction work is expected to take eighteen months to complete after the site handover.
