FILE PICTURE: Dejected cyclists Americo da Silva and Roy Pimentel outside Pretoria West Police Station after battling for more than a day to get help from police.
Image: Phill Magakoe
The Gauteng Provincial Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Community Safety has called for urgent intervention following its oversight visit to the Pretoria West Police Station this week, where it “uncovered” serious infrastructure and information and communication technology (ICT) challenges that are severely undermining effective policing and service delivery.
The committee, led by Dr Bandile Masuku, said it noted with grave concern that the station currently operates from three separate office buildings.
“This fragmented infrastructure arrangement has a direct negative impact on command and control, coordination among units and the overall operational effectiveness of the station due to the significant distance between the buildings,” the committee said in a statement.
It said the “structural challenge” compromises the station’s ability to respond swiftly and cohesively to crime-related incidents in an area already facing serious criminal threats.
“Equally concerning is the station’s outdated computer equipment and slow, unreliable network connectivity, which continue to hamper critical administrative functions, delay case processing, disrupt access to essential policing systems and undermine the overall efficiency of law enforcement operations,” the committee added.
Apart from the infrastructure problems the committee “uncovered” during its visit last week, it was also “alarmed” by reports of escalating incidents of hijackings and kidnappings in the precinct, as well as the “continued proliferation of illegal scrapyards and hijacked buildings that have become breeding grounds for criminality”.
“Of particular concern is the alarming revelation that a building located adjacent to the police station itself has been hijacked. This shocking reality raises serious questions about law enforcement visibility and the broader state of crime control within the precinct.”
In reaction to this “wholly unacceptable” situation, the committee has “formally” requested the province’s police commissioner, Lieutenant General Tommy Mthombeni, to urgently intervene and ensure immediate remedial action to address the station’s infrastructure and ICT challenges, strengthen operational capacity and restore confidence in policing services in Pretoria West.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) reported experiencing “first-hand” similar problems during its anti-crime campaign late last year in areas Gauteng, including Pretoria. It said that its engagements with members of the communities it visited “not only revealed the rising levels of crime but also the concerning under-resourcing of our 144 police stations and police officers meant to curb it”.
The DA highlighted Akasia police station in Pretoria North as “a glaring example of neglect” by the South African Police Service (SAPS), which is directly responsible for SAPS resourcing.
“The station is supposed to have 48 vehicles but has 24, of which only 13 are currently operational. Only five police vehicles are available for visible policing to cover approximately 150 square kilometres of the area,” he party said.
It also highlighted the issue of thousands of police vehicles in the province that were officially categorised as “not serviceable”. While acknowledging that SAPS resourcing falls under the national government, the DA criticised the provincial government’s failure to hold it accountable and ensure proper oversight.