Centane residents need more police vans

Centane – Community members from Nombanjana location, in Centane, have appealed to the South African Police Services (SAPS) to assist them with police vans, since their community is serviced by only two vehicles.
One of the community members, Vuyo Flente, said their district consisted of 44 locations. He said if there was a problem, they were forced to wait for a long time before the van arrives. Flente said this was one of the problems which resulted in a high rate of crime in their area.
“We are serviced by one police station that is situated in town. Our locations are very far from each other, that is why criminals are taking advantage, because they know that the police would take (a long) time to arrive,” said Flente.
He said this is very disturbing because police officers wanted to do their work, but it was hard for them to do their job properly due to this problem.
He added that the community would appreciate a mobile police station so that there could be police officers nearby, in case they need them.
Police spokesperson, Brigadier Thembinkosi Kinana, stated that Centane police station had more than two vehicles which were fully operational to attend to community complaints.
He said while all adequate measures were taken to ensure that all police establishments were provided with human and material resources, it had to be noted that there were factors that contributed to the exit of members, like deaths, transfer, search for greener pastures or when members take early pension or retired, not much could be done to reverse such actions.
“Centane SAPS policing precinct is a vast area, covering about 44 administrative areas and, as a result, it poses a challenge when it comes to provision of enough personnel.
“The vastness of the area also weighs heavily on the vehicle fleet, as SAPS members have to travel long distances to attend to complaints, while dealing with inadequate road infrastructure. This results in constant wear and tear to the fleet,” said Kinana.

Written by: Babalwa Ndlanya of Mthatha Express