Today, l conducted an oversight inspection at Honeydew SAPS, the police station with the second highest amount of violent crimes being reported in the country.
This police station is facing serious challenges due to a lack of adequate resources.
According to the 2017/18 crime statistics, the Honeydew Police Station had 23 922 reported crimes in total and is the fourth worst police station nationally.
This police station has the highest number of reported residential robberies in Gauteng, the second highest for reported sexual assault and third highest for carjacking crimes.
Honeydew SAPS has only 80 police vehicles that cover a huge area which includes Cosmo City and Zandspruit Informal Settlement.
Zandspruit doesn’t have adequate infrastructure such as proper roads which makes it difficult for police to do proper visible policing.
This police station has 341 police officers which is wholly inadequate for the areas that they are policing.
In 2015 about 29 detectives resigned and currently 80 percent of the investigative officers are new recruits.
There is currently a very high volume of cases; 16 investigating officers are carrying over 100 dockets which creates a backlog.
The resources at this police station are overstretched and there is an urgent need for two new police stations to ensure that proper policing takes place.
The police officers displayed their commitment and dedication in fighting crime despite facing these enormous challenges.
The police station is located on a private property in which the lease agreement is on a month-by-month contract at a cost of over R100 000 a month.
This money could have been used to build a new police station and equip it with the necessary resources instead of paying exorbitant rental fees.
We also visited a victim of gender-based domestic violence, Takalani Madzihiga .
Her story demonstrates the failure of Honeydew SAPS to deal with crimes related to gender-based violence.
This police station doesn’t have an Family Violence , Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) unit to deal with gender-based violence and lacks a specialized unit to deal decisively with drug-related issues.
This police station is an example of how the failing ANC government is unable or unwilling to ensure the safety of its residents.
The DA is the only Party that is committed to ensuring that violent crime is rooted out in each and every community.
The DA has a plan to make our police service honest, professional and effective in fighting crime.
We will focus on:
- Allowing capable provinces to take over from the national government and be responsible for running policing;
- Fighting corruption within the police. Retraining police officers to serve and protect with pride;
- Hiring people with a passion for policing;
- Instituting an effective drug-busting force within the South African Police Service;
- Ensuring that law and order is maintained in our communities, and that there are effective arrests, prosecutions and convictions of criminals; and
- Ensuring that police serve protection orders within one month by expanding the number of sexual offences courts.
Only the DA can ensure a capable and professional police service that will ensure the safety of our people in their homes and on the streets.