New Zone 13 chairperson Kenneth Mgaga chastises the Alex CPF leadership
Newly elected Zone 13 chairperson Kenneth Mgaga has described the leadership of the Alex CPF as ‘money mongering’ individuals that have no interests of the people of this township at heart and hence the high crime levels.
Newly elected ANC Zone 13 chairperson Kenneth Mgaga has come out guns blazing in support of the commander of the Alexandra Police Station Brigadier Lindiwe Magudulela in the face of soaring crime levels in the township.
He was speaking in an interview with Alex News following his election to head Zone 13 of the ANC. It encompasses areas such as Alex, Mayibuye, Klipfontein, Rembrandt Park, Edenvale, Marlboro, Kelvin, Buccleuch and Woodmead.
When asked about the ‘elephant in the room’- namely, the soaring levels of crime in Alexandra- Mgaga admitted that crime levels had reached alarming proportions in the township and the community had every right to be alarmed and concerned, including on the matters around the late responses to crime scenes on the part of the police.
“I am equally concerned by the crime levels but the blame for all this does not end at the door of the commander but resides elsewhere within the hierarchy of the police service. That police station is under-resourced and that affects even the morale of her staff.
“The poor woman is doing her best under the circumstances. What we are going to do as the new leadership of the ANC is to seriously lobby the powers that be in the police service hierarchy to ensure that the station is beefed up with enough resources that can enable the Brigadier [Lindiwe Magudulela] to carry out her work diligently,” Mgaga told Alex News.
Mgaga said without enough resources to enable her to perform her duties, even the best administrator will also fail if put in her shoes. “This is not a problem of the Brigadier but a problem of the entire police service and its allocation of resources and its failure to prioritise high crime areas and provide them with enough human and other resources to do their jobs,” Mgaga said.
Mgaga berated the leadership of the Community Policing Forum, describing it as ‘infested with leaders that have no interest in serving the community but their own nefarious interests’. “This must come to an end.
“We want people with selfless interests who are more than willing to serve the community. What we have now are a bunch of money mongering activists masquerading as community messiahs,” charged ‘a no holds barred’ Mgaga.
Meanwhile, the commander of the Alexandra Police Station Brigadier Lindiwe Magudulela said the police have done their utmost to curb crime in Alexandra in the backdrop of numerous challenges.
Magudulela said among the challenges are shortages of human resources and other operational resources such motor vehicles to ensure the police were highly visible and respond timeously to crime incidents.
“We will be receiving promoted commissioned officers in November and getting trainees from the college in December. All these will go a long way in boosting our crime fighting efforts,” she said.
Asked on the appointment of a spokesperson for the station, Magudulela said this had been delayed by the proposed restructuring that is expected to take place at the station.
“We just hope we can get a communications officer in the next month or so,” Magudulela said, adding that currently the station was being assisted by Constable Mabulane from the Joburg North cluster.
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