Only three vehicles to police large area

A white elephant with no use to the community is how Westenburg residents describe the Westenburg police station.

Residents claim it takes the police almost an hour to respond when they call in case of emergency and when the police finally arrive at the scene, their excuse for taking so long is: “there were not enough vehicles available”.

“No wonder criminals are breaking into our homes and stealing from us during the day! They know the police are useless. It is not just Westenburg that is effected by this, it is also Nirvana and Rainbow Park,” one Westenburg resident says.

Police officials who spoke to Review on condition of anonymity, confirm that there is a serious shortage of vehicles at the police station.

According to these officials, there are 16 vehicles allocated to the Westenburg police station, but only seven of these vehicles are in working order.

They claim eight vehicles are in the workshop for services and one vehicle has been standing at the station for more than a month, waiting for a new tyre.

“Out of the seven vehicles that are working with, one is for the human resources team, three are for the sector managers and the rest must be used for crime prevention.

“This is ridiculous! How can we monitor the whole Westenburg policing area with only three vehicles? It is making it impossible for us to serve and protect our communities,” the officials say.

The Westenburg policing area is a large area that covers the lower parts of Polokwane’s central business district, Ladanna, Ladine, Laboria, Superbia, Westenburg, Nirvana, Rainbow Park, Ivy Park, Greenside, as well as smallholdings and farms around the N1, including Doornbult, Leeuwkuil, Percy Fyfe and Bergnek.

Col Ronel Otto, provincial police spokesperson, says the servicing of vehicles is a priority for the police to ensure service delivery to communities as well as police officers’ safety.

“Although the aim for the servicing process of the vehicles is to do it as speedily as possible, there are sometimes delays experienced with the delivery of parts as well as the administration process,” Otto explains.

She adds that one of the biggest priorities of the SAPS is to ensure that all police stations are properly equipped to deal with service delivery and that urgent attention is paid to eradicate delays in the servicing process of vehicles.