The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Matlosana will write to the North West Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General SJ Kwena, regarding the SAPS station in Orkney, Klerksdorp which has become completely dysfunctional and failing to provide effective policing to the area.
The SAPS in Orkney are hiding their failure to serve and protect behind Covid-19 restrictions whilst communities are victimised and experience high levels of crime.
Houses are burglarised and stripped of all belongings and there is an increase in muggings and petty thefts. Women get assaulted and don’t even report these incidents anymore as the police are unable to help them.
The Zama-zamas remain active and continue with their illegal mining activities and turf wars unabated.
For the past six months, the refuse transfer station has been stripped of all paving bricks, this has been reported but SAPS has taken no action to investigate this.
Local clubs and taverns are always open, playing loud music throughout the night and the SAPS never attend to complaints on this. Curfew is never adhered to and all calls from the neighbourhood watch are always ignored.
Community members complain that when they call the station no one answers their calls. When calls are finally answered, the police station claims that they do not have adequate resources such as police vehicles to offer assistance to the community.
There have been several complaints made to the Station Commander, Colonel Hans Badenhorst, but no improvements have been made on his part to improve the situation.
These issues and challenges can also be found in the nearby area of Kanana, which is experiencing high levels of crime that go unattended by their local police station.
The building that the station operates is not in a good state, it is a rented building, surrounded by hostels with no fence and access control. There have been cases of robberies around the rented vicinity. The building was once declared unsafe by the Department of Labour and the Ministry of Police has for years been promising a new building, to date this has not materialised.
The DA will request its Spokesperson on Community Safety, Freddy Sonakile, MPL, to write to the Provincial Commissioner to conduct an oversight inspection to the station and assess the stations’ performances, available resources and any shortages which hinder them from doing their jobs effectively.
The people of Orkney and Kanana have a right to feel protected and safe, this can only be achieved if the police are properly trained and well-resourced as well as passionate about serving and protecting the community.