DA calls on ministers to refurbish rotting barracks
Dianne Kohler Barnard has called on the Department of Public Works to refurbish Durban's police barracks.
THE DA Shadow Minister of Police, Dianne Kohler Barnard, has called on the Minister of Public Works, Thulas Nxesi, to work together with the Minister of Police, Nathi Nhleko, to table a plan with the Portfolio on Police showing how they intend to improve the inhumane conditions that plague police barracks.
In a reply to a DA parliamentary question asked to the Nhleko on how many police barracks the department is preparing to upgrade in the 2014/15 financial year, it was revealed that there are no upgrades planned.
“This is unacceptable as the current state of the frequently rat-ridden police barracks is unlivable. It is not at all conducive to a functioning police service,” said Kohler Barnard.
Last year, following a DA oversight visit, it was revealed in Natalia Court Barracks in Durban, policemen and women were living in unmaintained barracks, where raw sewage was seeping through rusted and broken pipes. Another police barracks in Durban, Excelsior Court, was even declared hazardous and has subsequently been abandoned.
“Rotting carpets, leaking roofs and bird lice infestations due to birds nesting in the roofs of these barracks are some of the conditions our policemen and women must face. This is especially unacceptable following the gross wastage of public money by both the Department of Public Works and South African Police Service,” she said.
Ward councillor, Jethro Lefevre, has spent a lot of time and energy trying to get action from Public Works to deal with the buildings.
“It's a sad state of affairs and the greatest frustration is the inability to act because there is no legislation protecting the municipality from government not looking after its buildings. This problem has been going on for years now and I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel. Especially when the minister is saying that they're fixing the building but nothing is happening. I don't believe the minister knows what's going on in the department at all. It's disgusting that the government is forcing people to live in a health hazardous environment and then forcing them to pay tax. I'm quite perplexed that to date absolutely nothing has been done to sort this out,” he said.
Kohler Barnard said: “Our SAPS members are targets, for their firearms and when they are doing investigations. They deserve protection and equally they deserve better than these Public Works Houses of Horror. We just passed a R72 billion budget which should be used wisely.”
She said for the 2012/13 financial year, the auditor general reported that the Department of Public Works could not justify the R2.6bn that it racked up in irregular expenditure. Similarly, R153m has been noted by the SAPS, as irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure between 2009 and 2014.
“The DA will be submitting further questions on how the Minister of Public Works plans to address the poor living conditions in police barracks. The policemen and women, who risk their lives protecting South Africans, deserve to live in secure, clean living conditions,” she said.
