It is unclear what the cause of the delay is in the allocation of land for the Kwa-Thema Police Station.
Kwa-Thema – The walls of the Kwa-Thema Police Station are holding on by a thread, and residents demand urgent action from the government. On Tuesday morning, residents from Ward 74 staged a silent protest outside the police station.
“The police station has fallen into total disarray. It is barely functioning. The officers are working under terrible conditions where health and safety are marginal,” said Lorna Beharie, the PR councillor for Ward 74.
Officers have had to move from the main parts of the building to work in the cafeteria because the roof was collapsing.
The station also has no holding cells because of the failing roof. When it rains, most of the building gets drenched, leaving some to fear electrocution.
“And none of this is new,” she added.
The South African Human Rights Commission confirmed the station is not safe. In 2017, the Department of Labour submitted a report the police station was unsafe for employees to occupy.
In January, the Ekurhuleni council agreed to give land to build a new police station in Kwa-Thema. At the council meeting in Germiston, all political parties backed the ANC’s plan to give the land where the old station stands to the police.
Because of the urgency of the matter, it was supposed to be done at the end of February, but the land was not yet allocated.
“We have all these wonderful plans and maybe pretend to care, but they do nothing,” she said.
Ruan Robertson, a DA member of the provincial legislature, said the Kwa-Thema Police Station is one of the worst he has visited.
ALSO READ: Local author amplifies inclusivity for minority groups in higher education with new book
“One of the horror stories I heard is that when the officers need to charge someone, they have to sit in front of them in the charge office.
“In one incident, an accused man could grab the officer’s gun, as he was sitting behind the officer, and held the officer hostage with her own gun,” he explained.
Whenever the officers make arrests in Kwa-Thema, they have to transport the detainees to other police stations because there are no holding cells to keep them.
Furthermore, the temporary mobile offices, meant to house the detectives, were vandalised in 2020, and only a shadow of a structure remains.
At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
Stay in the know. Download the Caxton Local News Network App here.
