Sol Plaatje must turn streetlights on for festive season
| by Michael Kaars, Cllr – DA Councillor of Frances Baard District Municipality |
| Date: 07 October 2020 |
| Release: Immediate |
| It seems that municipal services are not the only thing to have disappeared in and around the Hartswater area following the dissolution of the Phokwane Council in May this year. This, after a stabbing incident over the weekend has shone the spotlight on barely-there police services in the area.The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called on the Northern Cape Police Commissioner, Lt.Gen. Risimati Shivuri, to investigate the dysfunctional South Africa Police Service (SAPS) in Phokwane municipal area.Our appeal to Shivuri was prompted after a police officer on duty allegedly refused to take down the statement of a local woman, who had apparently been stabbed at a tavern, in her mother-tongue of Afrikaans on Saturday. While I, together with fellow DA councillor, Sinah Lewis, took the stab victim (see pic here) back to the police station on Monday, in another attempt to have the woman make a statement, we found that there was no police officer on duty to assist us (see pic here). Instead, we found another couple who wanted to report the theft of a handbag, who had already been waiting for fifteen minutes without any sign of assistance (see pic here).While I proceeded to contact the Brigadier, I was informed that SAPS would send someone to take down the victim’s statement later. The current SAPS situation in Phokwane is unacceptable and intolerable.Police services in and around Hartswater have completely collapsed. It is little wonder that the police are not winning the war on crime. SAPS services, which are meant to be a 24-hour service, specifically available in emergencies, are either partially functioning or completely absent. If residents cannot even lay charges, what hope is there of ever catching the perpetrators.The DA wants Shivuri to assess the situation and ensure that policing in Phokwane is urgently restored. Just because the municipality has gone to the dogs, it doesn’t mean that police services should also fall by the wayside and threaten the safety and wellbeing of the local community. |
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