Is Zuma coming to officially open Diepsloot Police Station?

Presidential spokesman Bongani Majola revealed to Fourways Review that the President was only waiting for an appropriate date from the police. “We have not found a date for him to open it, so I am neither confirming nor denying,” said Majola in an SMS to Fourways Review on 18 January.

The two-storey facility for the men and women in blue, which started operations last year, is still to be officially handed over to the community.

But now, Zuma fever is starting to grip Diepsloot residents who expect the President to witness their poor living conditions and are openly discussing his visit. “We will tell him all our problems if we get a platform, but he can also see for himself how we are living here,” said a resident of Ext 2.

Diepsloot Police Station spokesperson, Warrant Officer Daniel Mavimbela, confirmed that preparations for the official handover of the police station had already taken off the ground.

Mavimbela could neither deny nor confirm that Msholozi, Zuma’s praise name, will cross the streets of Diepsloot.

“Kindly note that we have started with the preparations for the official opening of the police station. Rest assured that once we get our ducks in a row, the details of the said event shall be communicated, including the date of the event,” said Mavimbela in a written response to Fourways Review’s set of questions e-mailed to him.

“Now it is a matter of the date and not about whether or not he is coming,” said a well-placed source within the Diepsloot community who declined to be identified.

DA councillor in Diepsloot, Refilwe Mathebula, said she was looking forward to Zuma’s visit to the township which, she said, might open his eyes about the suffering of the people in the informal settlement.

‘I just hope the President will take a tour of the township as well,” said Mathebula.

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