Community members have expressed their disappointment and dissatisfaction towards Reiger Park Police Station due to the inaction of officers in recent months, depriving them of service delivery.
Video footage showing the station gates shut and police officers leaving the community to fend for itself went viral on social media.
This has turned the station into a laughing stock across South Africa.
Last week another incident occurred where a lack of action by police officers of the Reiger Park police station saw no arrests being made, even as a group of men were stealing a copper cable in front of the station.
Embarrassing as this is, community members are seen laughing at how ineffective our SAPS system has become.
While SAPS has responded by initiating disciplinary action against the police officers who were on duty, there is a lot more that needs to be done.
The leadership of this station needs to be probed for these and other incidents, where community members are claiming that cases that they try to open, particularly those relating to domestic violence, are ignored.
The DA’s visit to the station, which was part of the #DAGautengPoliceWatch campaign, noted that this station, among others, is severely under-resourced, especially given its recent spate of gang and zama zama violence.
To this end, the DA has asked for an inquiry to be done into several Gauteng police stations where gang violence is rife, including Reiger Park.
Gauteng MEC for Safety and Security, Faith Mazibuko, must step out of the shadows and take a proactive approach to the state of police stations in the province.
It is, after all, the MEC’s responsibility to lead the fight for policing needs and priorities to be met for her province.
This must be done to discharge her oversight role and assist those police stations most in need of resources and a culture change.
Reiger Park SAPS is one of many police stations that need prioritisation.