While Gauteng police commissioner Lt-Gen Elias Mawela announced that 1,403 people were killed in the province between January and March, at least two police stations have been operating without electricity and telephones for more than two years, while another one has been locked.
Mawela released fourth quarterly crime statistics in a community meeting in Randfontein, west of Johannesburg.
The murder rate increased by 45.2%, meaning that 437 more people were killed compared to the same time during the previous year while 966 were killed in 2020, before the Covid-19 lockdown was effected. The number of rape cases also increased by 11.6 % (2,936) compared to 2,031 in 2021 and 2,030 in 2020. Kidnapping also increased across all districts with 1,563 cases reported this year.
Meanwhile, two police stations in Tshwane, an area marked among the top 40 troublesome districts in the province, were found to be operating without electricity for months.
On Tuesday, police officers at the Rietgaat police station in Soshanguve said their station had been without power for 30 months while GaRankuwa police station has also been in the dark for eight months.
A police officer who asked not to be named said they were forced to lock themselves inside the building in fear of being attacked.
“Criminals are aware of the situation and that also endangers our lives, we are not able to work freely as we will be extra cautious trying to serve the community as well as saving our own lives,” he said.
The officers at Rietgaat are sometime unable to register cases due to the absence of electricity.
He said the police station previously used electricity from the railway station which was vandalised two years ago, resulting in them losing supply.
Petros Masango, 47, from Libanon in Mabopane, said last month he was involved in a car accident and when he called the Riegat police station, he waited for more than four hours to get through.
He said he was told there were lots of cases that officers were dealing with and when he went to the station he was surprised to find it empty.
“I could tell something was wrong, I do not understand how a police station could operate for more than two years without power,” he said.
Gauteng police spokesperson Col Dimakatso Sello said police management was aware of the electricity issue at Rietgat.
“The police station does not get electricity from the railway station and the matter has been escalated to the relevant departments to be resolved,” she said, adding that there are alternative measures put in place to ensure that service delivery is not hampered.
Eskom spokesperson Amanda Qithi said Rietgaat was previously supplied by the City of Tshwane.
“Eskom is aware of the outage affecting GaRankuwa police station. Eskom has established through a series of investigations on site that the fault is on the SAPS side, beyond Eskom’s point of supply,” she said.
“It is therefore the responsibility of the SAPS to have the fault fixed. This has been communicated to the SAPS,” Qithi said
Tshwane municipal spokesperson Lindela Mashego said: “The City has received an application for the said police station to be on the City of Tshwane's grid. The request is still being processed and until then, the facility remains under the network supply of the power utility.”
On Tuesday, angry residents from Mohlakeng township near Randfontein who also attended Mawela's briefing said criminals were making their lives miserable while their satellite police station remained closed for the past two years.
Community leader Jimmy Mokolobate said there were only two vans to service the area and not enough officers.
“Our police station has been closed for a long time and they keep telling us it is because there is no manpower. We need more police visibility in the area because crime has become worse,” Mokolobate said.
Mawela admitted that the statistics reflected the dire state of affairs in the province.
“The crime situation of the period under review is of the greatest concern and disappointment for us SAPS Gauteng and for the people of this province,” Mawela said.
Violent contact crimes like assault, assault GBH and robbery accounted for 33% of all the crimes in the province, with Johannesburg and Tshwane among the top troublesome districts.
Mawela said a number of reasons had caused an upsurge in crimes including the lifting of Covid-19 lockdown regulations, community riots and the opening of liquor outlets for extended hours.
“We had anticipated when we were releasing the previous quarter crime statistics that 'the honeymoon' period was over,” Mawela said.
Car and truck hijackings also increased. Sexual offences also increased with rape being reported the most.
Mawela said going forward they would intensify their focus on the top 40 most troublesome stations, and Operation O Kae Molao would also continue.
