IFP caucus conducts oversight visit at Moroka police station
IFP Members of Parliament conduct oversight visits in Johannesburg, making several stops in Soweto as part the outreach programme in Gauteng pertaining to delivery of essential services.
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) National parliamentary caucus conducted an unannounced oversight visit to Moroka Police Station on Thursday.
The oversight was to assess challenges related to service delivery at various essential departments including SASSA offices, Home Affairs and safety and security in a bid to listen to residents’ concerns which the party said would bring before Parliament and the Gauteng Provincial legislature for government intervention.
“We found out that there’s a lot that’s not being done in these stations which is why they are listed in the top 30.
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“We heard that the security is not up to standard, which has resulted in criminals stealing batteries from the police vans and there are no cameras around the police station.
“Also what they have raised as a challenge is that Protea Police Station, near the court is also listed under these particular stations,” said Deputy Chairperson in the province of Gauteng and Member of Parliament, Zandile Majozi.
Majozi who led the party members during the visit said there was no backup to help overwhelmed police stations to thrive. She said the minister needed to prioritise the 30 listed police stations with resources in order to accelerate response to crime.
“While I’m satisfied with the visit because it was unexpected, we have noted everything down. When we go back to Parliament, we are going to raise all these issues to all these departments so that in this financial year the minister and the national commissioner must find a budget for these top 30 police stations. They cannot frustrate, under-resource and overwork these police stations and still expect them to perform.”
Party recommendations will emphasise the need for digitising of dockets, which were found on the floor in the boardroom, the issue of servicing of sector vehicles as well as ensuring that the police stations establish Thuthuzela centres in order to house victims of violence.
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Party chief whip, Narend Singh added that the party was pleased with the visit at Moroka and would address these issues to the benefit of the community.
“When you see docks still being written by hand in this day and age, we need to move to a digital age and I’m sure we can have our people in blue capture and digitise them. It’s easier for the courts and for investigations. We are also concerned about Gender Based Violence (GBV) but what we were impressed about is that they have a GBV desk and separate areas where they interview victims of abuse and GBV,” he added.
