SAPS donates resources to policing forums in Mpumalanga
Several community policing forums across the province received three Toyota Quantum taxis and three Volkswagen Polo hatchbacks.
The provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Manamela, handed over some essential resources, including three Toyota Quantum taxis and three VW Polo hatchbacks, to several community policing forums (CPFs) in the province on Saturday May 18.
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“We need to acknowledge that the CPF is one of the biggest stakeholders in the SAPS. We received a budget of over R3m from the national SAPS office to acquire these resources for CPFs. It was not only Mpumalanga, but all the provinces that received these funds. On that score, we managed to the buy vehicles, reflector jackets, blankets and even refrigerators and kettles for victim-friendly facilities,” Manamela said.
“CPFs have become the ears and eyes for the SAPS in most communities, and they need to be supported accordingly. They mobilise communities for awareness campaigns on crimes such as rape and murder. This handover is not something new we do to support CPFs. In the past, we have managed to allocate vehicles for forums, and we saw how they were a great help in some challenges. We send a message to community of Mpumalanga to continue to work together with the forums to provide information on crimes.”
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One of the receiving CPFs, the Ehlanzeni District CPF’s deputy chairperson, Douglas Mnisi, said he is pleased to have received some resources. “The reflector jackets will help us to be clearly noticeable and identifiable in our various communities, especially during night patrols. It will become clear that we are not part of the criminals.
One of the major challenges we faced was the lack of transport, with which police stations can only help up to an extent. We will be able to respond to crime scenes quicker because of the vehicles, and transport victims to stations as some areas are serviced by stations afar,” Mnisi said.
Manamela was joined by the acting executive mayor of the Ehlanzeni District Municipality, Cllr Terrance Shabangu.
