It was a momentous occasion for the police and community of Amangwe (Loskop) on Saturday when national and local police management gathered at the newly refurbished Amangwe Police Station for the official opening.

Among the dignitaries present were National Police Commissioner General Riah Phiyega and KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant-General Mmamonnye Ngobeni. The main aim of the day was to officially open the renovated Amangwe Police Station, which is one of nine Frontline Service Delivery (FSD) stations opened in the nine provinces.

“The Frontline Service Delivery Programme is based on the need to improve the infrastructure of our police stations and the quality of services delivered to you. With this programme we aim to ensure that SAPS service points are accessible and standardised to adequately support professional policing,” said General Phiyega.

The Amangwe station has been refurbished and new facilities have been installed. These include office accommodation, holding cells, ablution facilities, a victim friendly facility and a community service centre. “Our station commander here, Captain Busisiwe Ndaba, for the first time, now has her own office. When we came here in May last year, we found officers in the Community Service Centre sharing a chair. We have bought brand new office furniture, boardroom furniture for meetings.

“We have done some landscaping, paving, carports, plumbing and electricity upgrades including a generator to ensure continuous service delivery in the event of power failure,” said General Phiyega. She added that previously there was no perimeter fence.

“Now we have it, including security lights. We have also put a cattle grid to stop the animals from entering the police station and damaging property. We have so far spent about R7 million for the renovated and new facilities as part of the first phase. We are going to continue with upgrades to ensure full functionality of the station,” she added.

General Phiyega said that the station now has access to SAPS technological systems for effective crime prevention. We will also improve it further with other facilities such as CCTV cameras. “A huge thank you to everyone involved in ensuring that the upgrade project was a success,” she concluded.