22 December 2008

By Keotshepile wa Mogotsi

CRIMINALS are in for a big Christmas surprise this festive season, with a new police station in Kagiso. The station was recently opened by Minister of Safety and Security Nathi Mthethwa.

The well-built new police station is a stone’s throw from the dreary mall of Kagiso and is expected to fight crime hands-on like never before in the area.

It will handle cases in one-stop shop, with everything done in-house. Previously, prisoners at the old Kagiso police station were driven to and from appearances at the Krugersdorp court; the new police station does everything under one roof.

It has adequate holding cells, waiting cells, magistrate’s court, offices, and reception. The building, however, has a sense of a rehabilitation centre rather than a prison. It was built after a number of complaints were received from the residents of greater Kagiso, who saw a need for a bigger and operational police station that can accommodate a number of complaints from the growing number of households in the area.

According to community members, emergency response times from the old station were rarely swift; the small municipal building that had been converted into a police station only housed a few police officers which limited police services to the community; complainants at the reception would line up in snaking queues; and suspects were cramped like sardines in cells.

Expectations
However, with the recent opening of the new station, residents have been freed from worry and given new hope that crime will drop in greater Kagiso. The new building will serve the areas of Kagiso 1 and 2, Swanieville, Hillsview, Riverside, Joshua Door, extensions 12 and 14, and extensions 6, 8, 9, 11, and other nearby areas.

In his keynote address at the official opening, Mthethwa compared Kagiso with other townships that had played a big role in the fight against apartheid. “People of Kagiso demonstrated great heroism and preparedness even to pay the ultimate price in order to secure the noble goal of peace for our country.

“The opening of the new police station in Kagiso should be an example to other communities that where there is a need for a police station, they must also apply pressure to get what is rightfully theirs.

“The municipality must continue to ensure that the environmental issues relating to safety and security [are] addressed continuously,” said Mthethwa.

For years, the South African Police Service (SAPS) rented the Mogale City local municipality building for use as a police station. The small site offered limited services to Kagiso.

Also speaking at the opening, the housing MEC, Nomvula Mokonyane, said Kagiso had grown to four times its size, and there was a need for a new, bigger police station.

“I am quite humbled on behalf of the people of Kagiso and the provincial government of Gauteng, that the national commissioner is coming to officially open the police station. Kagiso has never had its own police station, and the [SAPS] has always depended on the site that was provided by the municipality of Krugersdorp to run their day to day services.

“The site did not have the space for efficiency, quality and professional service by the SAPS. Kagiso has grown four times since the police station was established further up in Kagiso Avenue,” Mokonyane said.

The provincial police commissioner, Perumal Naidoo, also spoke at the opening, as did the former chairperson of the Kagiso community policing forum, Hippo Lesheleha, who was over the moon to see what they had long fought for in Kagiso.