Seshego and Mankweng police stations are under resourced, says Lim DA
The DA have called on Safety MEC to account for under-resourced police stations
POLOKWANE – Katelgo Phala, DA Limpopo Spokesperson on Safety and Security has asked for an executive statement by MEC for Safety, Security and Liaison, Nandi Ndalane on the department’s plans to capacitate Seshego, Mankweng and other remote-area based police stations, enabling them to effectively combat crime.
In a recent written reply to a DA question on the state of affairs at Seshego and Mankweng Police Stations, Ndalane confirmed that Mankweng has 26 police vehicles whilst Seshego only has 20.
“Due to the ever-increasing population and the number of cases being reported at Seshego and Mankweng stations on a daily basis, the DA is deeply concerned that these vehicles are not enough to combat crime in these areas,” Phala said.
It is also extremely worrying that Seshego only has 37 investigative officers compared to Mankweng and Polokwane’s 40 and 64 respectively.
“This explains concerns raised by community members that police officers at these stations take forever to respond to crime scenes due to lack of resources.”
According to the DA, since January 2016, 15 investigators have resigned at Seshego Police Station while only 10 resigned from Polokwane and Mankweng combined.
Phala says according to recent crime statistics, Seshego recorded 6 634 criminal cases in 2016 which includes murder, sexual offenses, attempted murder, common assault and burglary whilst Mankweng reported 5 631 criminal cases.
She says these statistics prove beyond doubt that the two stations need to be capacitated with adequate resources to combat crime in the areas that they service.
The DA have urged Ndalane to prioritise both Seshego and Mankweng police stations as well as others in rural areas by providing adequate resources and deploying more police officers and investigators to help to resolve all the outstanding cases.
