No help is coming.
There can be nothing more frightening than needing urgent police assistance and knowing it won’t come. It is a classic theme in horror movies.
The one thing people should have confidence in is our police service. Imagine getting zero response from the local police when a serious violent crime is being perpetrated.
In parts of East London, a city where crime is high, it seems there is little chance of the police showing up after dark, when the scourge is at its worst.
In May, the labour department condemned the Beacon Bay police station, declaring it unfit for use because of the health risks caused by its cracked walls, mould-infested ceilings, faulty wiring and signs of significant water damage.
That police station employs 43 SA Police Service members and serves Beacon Bay, Nompumelelo and Ducats.
With so much focus on the police, it is unfathomable that an entire police station serving communities in a metropolitan area can be allowed to become effectively dysfunctional
The response from police management was simply to move the station’s employees into a mobile container in the parking lot — which must have been almost as good for their morale as working in a building falling down around their ears.
The communities which rely on this police station for assistance say they get none after dark.
Phones go unanswered — probably because they are still in the condemned building. And police members who work there admit no-one works in the container after 8pm.
But police spokesperson Capt Hazel Mqala insists the temporary police station is fully functional.
She speculates that police on duty perhaps “close the door at night for their safety, but they might be inside. People could just knock”.
What an utterly bizarre response.
The workings of the police and allegations of political interference and machinations affecting investigations into high-profile individuals have resulted in a commission of inquiry and overlapping investigations by the public protector, parliament and other agencies. The guardians are under scrutiny.
With so much focus on the police, it is unfathomable that an entire police station serving communities in a metropolitan area can be allowed to become effectively dysfunctional.
Political analyst Clyde Ramalaine wrote that the recently instituted Madlanga commission — investigating allegations of criminality, corruption and political interference in the criminal justice system — could be a possible turning point.
“South Africa stands at a precipice, its guardians exposed, its institutions tested, and its people impatient for action,” he said.
The untenable situation at the Beacon Bay police station makes everybody in the communities it is supposed to serve feel vulnerable and afraid.
The office of the provincial police commissioner needs to intervene and make sure this metro’s guardians step up and do their job of protecting its citizens.
Daily Dispatch
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