Toti and Illovu Township residents are demanding answers about why a valuable resource to assist Toti SAP’s fight against crime is still lying unutilised.
The Illovu SAPS satellite station, which was refurbished by funding from local churches and completed in September 2012 at a cost of about R70,000, continues to lie vacant.
The station, which was a police reservist camp years ago, was badly vandalised and it took three months to revamp the interior and sewage infrastructure. It is ideally situated on the R603 to police one of the area’s main exit points and service KwaMakhutha, Illovo, Illovu and Winklespruit.
At the handover ceremony in September 2012, Toti police station commander, Col Den Mkhize promised to base permanent staff there within a month. At a Community Police Forum (CPF) meeting in April 2013, he said 13 staff members had already been deployed to man this station. However, 12 months later the station is still standing empty, at the mercy of vandals, to the dismay of the community.
“This matter was raised for over a year at CPF meetings,” said spokesman, Louise Marais. “The public deserves answers as to what is being done to have this station functioning adequately. What happened to the officers who were trained for this satellite police station? The Illovu station was a permanent item on the CPF agenda since January 2013, but in January this year Col Mkhize insisted that it be removed from discussion. In January 2013 we were told the water and electricity needed to be connected, yet 12 months later the item gets removed from the agenda without a proper explanation – how is this even possible?
After the forums demanded answers from Col Mkhize, he reported in July 2013 that, prior to his appointment as station commander in Toti in February 2011, land had been donated at Kwashozi by the local indunas for a satellite police station. More than three years later, there is no sign of the Kwashozi satellite station being built.
“Col Mkhize said the distance between these two satellite stations is only two kilometres and having two stations so close together would not serve any purpose due to the large geographical area to be serviced, so that is why the Illovu station is not operational.” However, when Louise measured the distance between the Illovu satellite police station and Kwashozi, she found it to be about six kilometres. The distance between the Amanzimtoti police station and KwaMakhutha police station is 4.5 kilometres.
“We are unsure why Col Mkhize is so seemingly vehemently opposed to the opening of the existing satellite station as it was operational for many years. Since the closure of this satellite station, the Illovu township was developed, resulting in a huge increase of the population that this station would potentially serve.
Queries were sent to the KZN police media centre, but at the time of printing no response was forthcoming.
