Efforts are underway to root out crime in the Browns Farm community, says JP Smith, the City’s Mayco member for safety and security.
He was addressing a community meeting at Ruth First Community Hall on Tuesday 23 May.
While the area has had a satelite police station, Smith described it as dysfunctional. The current police station is situated. However, it does not have electricity and closes at night.
“The Browns Farm police station has to be closed at night, which means it is totally dysfunctional,” he said.
He added that the City tried to find alternative accommodation “but we couldn’t find any because some councillors did not want to move out and people who run a soup kitchen didn’t want to move. They give us all sorts of reasons. Even here, at Ruth First Community Hall, there were no empty rooms”.
Smith added that the City would offer accommodation for as little as R1 a year to the national government to make this plan a reality. “We do that because the Police Department is our partner. We want to help provincial Commissioner Lt-Maj Thembisile Patekile, who is working so hard, to do the right thing.
Smith said Browns Farm is one of five areas, including Dunoon, Lwandle, Mfuleni and Belhar, that the City would ensure got facilities within three months.
Ward 34 councillor Melikhaya Gadeni welcomed the proposal but stated that they were looking for a permanent solution.
He stated that they also have limited law enforcement officers on the ground and that made it easy for criminals to do as they pleased.
“We only have 18 law enforcement officers that are operating in the whole Nyanga precinct. We also welcome the visibility of the neighbourhood watch members who are assisting to fight crime,” said Gadeni.
He urged the City, when they install CCTV cameras, to put them in strategic areas, not only in the community halls and schools.
Gadeni identified the corners of Sheffield and New Eisleben roads, and corners of Govan Mbeki and Sheffield roads as some of the hotspot areas.
Resident Mkhululi Mawonga said Smith’s report offered hope to the community. “For people who stay in Browns Farm, it is too far to go to Nyanga to report a crime. Sometimes people don’t have money to make a call or taxi fare. “If we can have our own satellite station it can be better and also relieve the burden from Nyanga station,” said Mawonga.
He urged the City to speed up the processes.
Provincial police spokesperson Brig Novela Potela confirmed the plans but did not want to go into details. “We will communicate with the community at a later stage in terms of how the facility will operate,” she said.