Masiphumelele’s residents protest in September for more police officers. Photo by Masixole Feni.
16 November 2015
Deputy Minister of Police Maggie Sotyu is to visit Masiphumelele to listen to residents’ concerns about policing as well as to hand over the new satellite police station, says a Masiphumelele community leader.
The deputy minister’s office could not be reached today to confirm the visit.
But community leader Tshepo Moletsane said that Sotyu would come at 10am this Friday, 20 November.
Last week SAPS Provincial Head of Communication Brigadier Potelwa told GroundUp that a mobile Community Service Centre had been arranged for Masiphumelele, but its installation had been delayed by violence . SAPS was “doing a security assessment of the situation” to decide when it would be safe to install the mobile station, she said.
Meanwhile community leaders and residents in surrounding areas have called for a permanent and not a satellite police station.
In a petition at the weekend addressed to Dan Plato, MEC for Community Safety in the Western Cape, Western Cape Police Commissioner Major General Thembisile Patekile and Ward Councillor Felicity Purchase, the residents and community leaders said officials had promised a police station in Masiphumelele for “more than ten years”.
The petition, signed by more than 60 residents of Clovelly, Noordhoek, St James, Kalk Bay, Glencairn, Fish Hoek, Scarborough, and other areas, was endorsed by Moletsane and nine other community leaders.
The signatories, including ANC MP Ben Turok and Anglican Bishop Geoff Davies, demanded a permanent police station rather than a mobile one. They said a mobile police station would result in a reduced police presence in neighbouring areas.
“Criminals and drug dealers threaten the people of Masiphumelele to the extent that ordinary life is not bearable. Inevitably this crisis spills over into the rest of the Valley, with road closures, marches and other actions that are deeply disturbing,” they said.
The petition suggested two sites in Masiphumelele where the station could be built.
“We want an end to promises and vague undertakings,” the signatories said. “The people of Masi and the adjoining valley have a right to request that the elected office holders and responsible officials at local, provincial and national level get together to solve the logistics of the promised Masi police station now.”