The old Carletonville police station is still in such a shocking condition that it is doubtful whether it can ever be salvaged.
Residents recently claimed that they have seen lights on in the abandoned facility at night and are convinced that people have moved into the premises in Ada Street.
‘The last thing we want is for unsavoury characters to move into the building. That would threaten the safety of
the people in the businesses and houses in the area,’ they complained.
Ground stability issues resulted in the closure of the police station more than a decade ago. Then, in 2014, the
facility made national headlines when it was revealed that much of the fund earmarked for the repair of Carletonville
Police Station was spent on the upgrading of President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead.
Ms Ina Cilliers, the DA’s constituency head for Merafong and a member of the provincial legislature, has been trying
for years to get clarity on what is going to become of the police station.
On Monday, she and Mr Carlos Rebelo, another city councillor, accompanied the Herald to see what was happening at the police station. There was no security guard in sight. Although there was, indeed, evidence that people had stayed in the abandoned facility, no one seemed to be occupying it as a home at the time of the visit. In one of the old toilets, there was human excrement on the floor and it looked as if someone had recently started building a low wall in the old police mortuary.
Throughout the facility, anything of value, like the electrical fittings and wiring, toilets and basins had been stripped.
The asbestos roof insulation was strewn all over the floor where the ceilings had been ripped out. Many of the
doors were missing and very few of the windows were still intact. In the mean-time, most of the houses at the old police station were occupied. Some residents said they had been relocated there after their houses were damaged by
the massive sinkhole that occurred in Khutsong’s Xhosa Section earlier this year. While they said the housing was
conveniently close to town, they added that the vandalism and related problems had not been addressed before
they moved.
According to Cilliers, there was no one at either the provincial or the national level in the Department of Public
Works that was willing to take responsibility for the Carletonville police station.
‘They keep on referring questions to various officials at both levels of government,’ she said in frustration.
When the Herald asked the Merafong City Local Municipality for more information, the spokesperson said the
Department of Public Works is responsible for the finalisation of the project.
‘The emergency housing for people who were affected by the sinkhole formation in Khutsong was arranged in conjunction with the Department of Public Works.
‘As this is only emergency housing, the people who have currently been accommodated there will be repatriated
once the process has been completed,’ he replied.