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A full year after the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape asked the South African Police (SAPS) to prioritise the allocation of additional vehicles to Jan Kempdorp, it has come to light that the number of running vehicles has now declined further from two to just one out of 25 vehicles allocated to the precinct. See pic of the remaining vehicle here.

The affected community is spread over a wide area that includes Jan Kempdorp, Pampierstad, Valspan and Ganspan, making it impossible for the police to attend to emergencies or crime scenes. In some cases, they only arrive four days later, if they even arrive at all.

It is therefore little wonder that crime remains high in this area and that many violent crimes are never resolved. Drug related crimes have also picked up significantly, with no action being taken against known drug dealers. It is also understandable why residents are feeling increasingly unsafe in this area.

The DA has launched a petition in the community to demand that the vehicle crisis are addressed urgently. We will continue to place pressure until the crisis has been resolved.

No one should be denied rapid police response. No one should be denied justice because a crime against them couldn’t be investigated due to mismanagement of police resources.

It is time to get policing in Jan Kempdorp moving again. We will intensify pressure on the state to fix this and ensure that the matter is also escalated to a provincial and national level.

Issued by Annette van Wyk, Cllr from Phokwane Municipality