Nkandla villagers demand a police station

Through a broken window at Mfongosi satellite police station in Nkandla, a phone is visible in an empty office. Photos: Bongane Motaung

• Mfongosi satellite police station in Nkandla municipality has been abandoned.
• Villagers have to go to Ekhombe, more than 27 km away.
• SAPS says that the station is “operational”, but police officers have been deployed elsewhere.
• But GroundUp found offices closed, windows broken, and goats and cows using the premises.

The Mfongosi satellite police station in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal, has been abandoned. The gate is broken, goats and cows use the premises for shelter, and the offices are closed. Villagers from wards 9 and 12 have to use Ekhombe police station, more than 27km away.

They say police officers and vehicles are not available when they need them.

Ward 9 councillor Tshepo Ngubane said they need permanent police officers. “Villagers spend social grant money to get to Ekhombe police station while criminals take advantage because there is no police visibility.”

CEO of Ekhombe Hospital, Dr Bonginkosi Zungu, said criminals once targeted nurses at Mfongosi Clinic, which is next to the abandoned police station. Culprits pretended to seek medical attention at night and then went on to steal from nurses’ residential hostels.

Nokubonga Nxumalo from ward 12 in Esikhwane said they do not feel safe. “Crime victims fear to report because they are sceptical that a distant police station can protect them.”

But Kwa-Zulu Natal provincial police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said Mfongosi Satellite Police Station “is operational, although the deployment of officers varies from time to time”.

“Satellite police stations are designed to augment mother stations, and in this case, Ekhombe Police Station. The deployment of police officers at satellite police stations are determined by the management of the mother station having analysed crime patterns.”

When GroundUp visited Mfongosi police station, the offices were closed, and the windows were broken. The gate was broken, allowing cattle and goats to enter, and the veranda smelled of animals’ urine.

But Netshiunda said: “Apart from the structural deficiencies that need to be addressed, the facility is stable and the resources needed to be deployed elsewhere, which is the essence of policing.”

Cows and goats use the verandah at Mfongosi police station to shelter from the sun.

Netshiunda said the Mfongosi police station “still needs renovations whose process is underway”.

“Ekhombe police station is capable enough to police the area, with the satellite police station providing necessary capacitation when needs arise.”

Netshiunda said the community should report any complaints via SAPS complaints desks or to community policing forums.

But Chithokwakhe Myaka, who oversees police forums within the KwaNgono Tribal Authority, said the forums had raised the issue at meetings at Ekhombe police station for years.

“The crime rate is very high. But we don’t have a police station. We wish we could demolish these buildings,” Myaka said.

When GroundUp spoke to him, the community was searching for a man who went missing on 23 November 2025 on his way from Bangamanzi village. The incident was reported on Saturday, 29 November, but Ekhombe police said they could not start searching until Tuesday, 2 December.

On 21 November, a community member survived a gunshot while chasing livestock thieves. Myaka said the man had chased the criminals in his car, but they had got away. “If there had been police vehicles close by, criminals could not have fled,” he said.

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