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During oversight visits to seven police stations in the QwaQwa and Phumelela areas, the DA was confronted by the crippling consequences of management failures on the effectiveness of policing.

Although promises have been made to deal with the virtual collapse of services at the SAPS garages, there is no visible improvement. The Phuthaditjhaba SAPS garage is still in a derelict state with a collapsed fence, and no security, while parts, engines and vehicles are being stolen. Stations have reported up to 50% of their vehicles unavailable, for years. The garage reports that it is able to service vehicles, brakes and tyres, but has been without oil for several weeks.

The Warden Station Commander indicated that he has never seen 6 of his allocated 9 vehicles since arriving there a year ago, as they remain in the SAPS garage. One patrol vehicle has been borrowed from Harrismith.

The blame for the long delay in the repair of vehicles is said to be because of the long waiting periods for authorisations from Wesbank, for either parts or the outsourcing of repairs. Major repairs are outsourced to five service providers in QwaQwa, but stations complain about the quality of the work done, because the vehicles are only on the road for a few days before they break down again.

The lack of human resources is further impacting on service delivery. Warden police station has a backlog of 1366 dockets and only one allocated detective. There are also no support staff for the detective unit. Another detective has been borrowed from Phuthaditjhaba. The critical N3 highway patrol unit was removed to Villiers and Harrismith, leaving approximately 70 kilometres between these towns unpatrolled. It is here where bodies are thrown out of vehicles and hijackings take place.

Some stations are fortunate to still have a few active reservists who were recruited about 10 years ago. New applications have been submitted but no responses are received from Province. SAPS personnel are under extreme stress from having to perform without the necessary resources. All stations report that they need mobile stations for outlying, or very busy areas, although they currently do not have the manpower to man these stations.

While stations are open 24 hours, they face threats of attacks by criminals. The last time officers received any training in firearm competency or fitness was before the Covid-19 pandemic which is a contravention of the Firearms Act.

All stations report that they must call the Family and Child Service to conduct DNA tests on victims of rape and sexual assault since they rarely have rape kits available. For fingerprinting and other forensic tests the Local Crime Record Centre must be called. Detectives complain that after cases are handed to the NPA, prosecutors often negotiate with the accused, instead of driving the cases to conviction.

The DA will continue to do oversight and hold the Minister, and the Provincial Police Commissioner, accountable for this complete failure to properly train and resource the SAPS in the Free State.

We salute the SAPS personnel who attempt to protect communities under difficult circumstances without management support.

The DA’s Community Policing Private Bill that was submitted to the Free State Legislature can assist with oversight and accountability for this poor state of policing.

Issued by Leona Kleynhans - DA Spokesperson for Police in the Free State Legislature