Western Cape Minister of Community Safety, Albert Fritz, says the launch of a new mobile police station at Makhaza, in Khayelitsha, should be celebrated.
Residents have been complaining for years about inadequate policing and a lack of resources.
The Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry into Policing also found that there was a shortage of police services.
In 2014, the Commission recommended that a police station be built in the area and that more resources be deployed in the community.
The temporary mobile police station will be manned by 60 officers. It will also have 10 police vehicles.
Speaking at the launch, Fritz says, “It must be seen as a celebration of some things that people demanded from this area for a long time. A very basic police station. And I think that the right to a police station is a right that must be respected and I think the fact that the Minister listened and that today we have a mobile police station as a start and I think we must emphasise as a start, we must celebrate that fact.”
VIDEO: New mobile police station officially launched at Makhaza in Khayelitsha:
Hlogotlou police station
In November, Police Minister Bheki Cele opened the Hlogotlou police station in Monsterlus, Limpopo.
The new police station will service areas such as Hlogotlou, Mmotwaneng, Jerusalem and the surrounding areas.
During the engagement with Cele, residents told him to employ more officers.
Residents said the police station will help curb crime and that they won’t travel distances to report any form of crime in the area.
They also want the police station to be provided with resources such as police vans.
In the past, residents relied on a satellite police station that had limited resources. Cele said they built a police station as the crime levels were cause for concern.
“We do have a crime situation here and for now is projected going higher we are working on the police station to bring more police and work on the availability of working equipment like cars the police station has been promoted now to be a lieutenant colonel police station which means there would be more resources,” says Cele.
In 2019, Minister Cele opened a new police station in KaMhlushwa, Mpumalanga:
