Rural police stations are ‘sitting ducks’ for weapons thieves

With scant resources and staff, experts agree that, rural police stations, tucked away in low crime and obscure areas, are sitting ducks for more than just criminal groups but also insurgents looking for arms.

Killing fields

In a country grappling with the proliferation of illegal firearms, where at least 58 people are murdered every day; theft of guns and ammunition from three police stations in less than a year should be an extremely worrisome occurrence.

Rural and under-resourced police stations have increasingly come under attack by daring criminals looking for guns and ammunition in consistent raids.

Beset by an array of crippling challenges, including budget cuts, lack of leadership, and infighting, the South African Police Service (SAPS) is seemingly limping from one disaster to the next.

This, according to police union The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru), has led to the uneven allocation of resources and low staff morale, with rural police stations becoming sitting ducks for criminals on the hunt for arms.

Under siege…

Daring thieves have made off with guns and an assortment of electronic equipment as well as police regalia, including blue lights and reflector jackets, in 136 burglaries at 29 police stations in Gauteng alone in the past five years.

• December 2019: Thieves broke into the SA National Defense Force’s Lyttleton Tek Base and stole 19 R4 rifles, designed for extreme combat warfare.
• September 2020: Three men hold up a Mpumalanga police station, fleeing with firearms. Mpumalanga police launched a manhunt after three unknown men entered Badplaas police station and held up two officers. It’s alleged the three men gained access by cutting the fence at the back of the police station. They found the to the safe and made off with guns, including rifles.
• December 2020: The following year, in December, brazen robbers held up Moyeni police station officers in the Eastern Cape and stole pistols, an R5 rifle and a police vehicle.
• May 2021:  Thieves breached security at the Hoedspruit Air Force base in Limpopo and stole cash and other valuables from the finance office.
• – siphom@citizen.co.za