DA MPs raise concern over poor condition of satellite police stations
Members of the Democratic Alliance have visited a Durban satellite police station today, finding under-resourced office structures and uninhabitable mobile homes.
Shadow Minister of Police Zakhele Mbhele and Deputy Shadow Minister of Public Works Dianne Kohler Barnard undertook the oversight visit to the Prestondale Satellite Police Station, in uMhlanga, describing it as a slum.
Kohler Barnard says the station is an example of the state of many other satellite police stations across the country.
It's understood that there are plans to move the police officers who have been staying there, while the satellite station will be turned into a cluster station.
Umhlanga satellite station pic.twitter.com/dI30ZLnVY6
— Lethiwe M (@Lethiwe22) June 23, 2017
Kohler Barnard says the station commander has been organising the conversion.
"A local company has already offered to do that free of charge. They're doing a deal with public works as we speak. So it looks like a very elegant solution, to what, in another year, will be a 100% slum. This is a terrible place to work - nobody should have to work here and it certainly doesn't give any assistance to the residents," she said.
Members of the DA raise concerns about the state of satellite police stations pic.twitter.com/Nbo5dauq2y
— Lethiwe M (@Lethiwe22) June 23, 2017
Barnard says there has been a population explosion in the area but the SAPS hasn't kept up with the development by providing adequate resources.
She says she will be bringing up the matter in the National Assembly.
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