- Police Minister Bheki Cele visited the construction site of the Makhaza Police Station on Tuesday 11 March to assess the building progress.
- During the visit, he also handed over six vehicles and two minibuses to the group.
- The vehicles would be handed over to the six districts in the province for use in emergency cases.
Excitement was evident among Community Policing Forum (CPF) members when Police Minister Bheki Cele visited the construction site of the Makhaza Police Station on Tuesday 11 March to assess the building progress.
During the visit, he also handed over six vehicles and two minibuses to the group.
Cele was accompanied by National Police Commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola and his provincial counterpart, Maj-Gen Thembisile Patekile, provincial minister of Police Oversight and Community Safety Reagen Allen and CPF provincial chair Fransina Lukas.
The vehicles would be handed over to the six districts (City of Cape Town, Overberg, Cape Winelands, Garden Route, West Coast and Central Karoo) in the province for use in emergency cases.
Lukas praised Cele saying the vehicles and buses would make a difference. She stated that they’ve been fighting for long to get the vehicles.
“Finally after so many years our cries are heard. We’ve been crying for resources. Last year, when the budget was presented the province received a sizable amount of budget and we give credit and applause where it’s due,” said Lukas.
She stated that CPF members are the community volunteers and work out of passion. “This is the start and should never end here. Next year, we want a huge budget allocation. In future we want to see the CPF chairpersons driving themselves.
“They must be given permission to drive themselves so that we won’t have them stuck from home while they have to perform their duties,” she explained, adding that the vehicles would be driven by the police officers.
“Only if there is a serious problem the station call the district and request for the transport. Or if there is a special meeting, maybe in town and certain members need transport, the car can come and fetch them. And buses, the other one is for patrollers in the Metro and another one for Southern Cape regions. If there is a special event within the Metro and the CPF volunteers are needed the bus can go and fetch them and bring them back again,” she explained.
Lukas urged the minister to grant them a stipend as a motivation. She stated that they are living in difficult times and they need something to put on the table.
Commenting on the construction progress, Cele assured the community that within three weeks everything would be done. He stated that the total cost of the facility would be about R124 million and would be completed in 2026.
“What is left now is the installation of water by the City and electricity by Eskom. We’ve heard that in three weeks everything will be done. But today, we are just here to hand over the tools of trade to the CPF members,” explained the minister.
He stated that the government allocated about R70 billion for the CPF nationwide and the Western Cape received about R12,1 million.
“Those two buses that you are seeing there are for the patrollers. They are there to collect the patrollers especially when it’s raining. And please don’t use them for public transport.”