Hats off to Kempton Park SAPS
The Minister of Police needs to re-introduce specialised drug units in the Kempton Park area as a matter of urgency
WARD COUNCILLOR JACO TERBLANCHE writes:
I want to congratulate the station commander of Kempton Park SAPS, Brig Bertha Kgoroba, and her team with the success they achieved with their operations in past weeks.
Her effort and dedication made the area covered by Kempton Park SAPS precinct safer for the community to live in. I also want to thank residents who volunteer their time to assist the police with their duties. Their contribution is very important to the fight against crime in Kempton Park. I salute you.
Some of the other areas of improvement include reviving the relationship between the Kempton Park court prosecutors and the SAPS Kempton Park. These are important stakeholders: society needs to work together to eradicate crime in Kempton Park.
More can also be done to fight drugs in the Kempton Park area. The Minister of Police needs to re-introduce specialised drug units in the Kempton Park area as a matter of urgency.
In addition, all departments (eg justice, SAPS, home affairs, social development) must work together. The SAPS has to inform home affairs when foreign nationals are arrested. Home affairs in turn would need to provide the correct intelligence to the court so the court can make the correct decision if the person is a flight risk.
Rehabilitation of drug users should be a priority in our society. Ideally, government needs to provide a rehabilitation centre or contact point in each municipal ward to make these facilities more accessible to the community.
A help desk should be established at clinic level to assist the community with quick admission to these centres. This will give hope back to people and give them a chance to change their lives.
By-law enforcement by the municipality is a critical component to the fight against crime. The CBD in ward 16 has changed from a beautiful suburb to squalor. There are properties with 50 to 100 back rooms built on a stand with only one or two toilets and bathing facilities.
The municipality does appoint attorneys to apply for court interdicts at the high court but all of these cases end up being withdrawn due to technicalities. This development has a negative impact on the economic growth in the area.
Local businesses are closing down or relocating to other areas because it is becoming unsafe for their customers to visit them or to operate.
I have invited the executive mayor of Ekurhuleni to visit our area so he can see first-hand the degradation of Kempton CBD. Hopefully from this visit, he will intervene.
