Given the slow pace of restoring mobility to the South African Police Service (SAPS) in Jan Kempdorp, it is little wonder that the Northern Cape has the worst police response time in the entire country.
Having raised our concern about the critical lack of operational police vehicles in Jan Kempdorp since 2021, we cannot applaud that the number of operational vehicles for patrols and policing has gone from two to four over the last four years.
This is not an achievement when the Jan Kempdorp police station needs 15 operational vehicles, while 11 vehicles stand idle as they wait for repairs. The promise that two brand new police vans will eventually be allocated to Jan Kempdorp policing by the end of this week, is also not worth applauding.
With the Jan Kempdorp police waiting for four years to be able to function with just half of the required policing vehicles, it is understandable why residents in the Northern Cape wait, on average, for over an hour for the police to respond during an emergency.
With just a handful of vehicles to respond to emergencies and to patrol the massive area between Jan Kempdorp, Ganspan, Valspan and Andalusia Park, our communities are left vulnerable and at the mercy of criminals. People deserve the security that, in the event of them becoming a victim of crime, the police will respond swiftly in their hour of need.
To reduce crime and make our communities safer, the DA will strive to fix the police fleet by lobbying for the decentralisation of procurement and maintenance of vehicles. Police officers need to be patrolling communities, not find themselves stranded without reliable vehicles to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to book.
While we appreciate the work done by the local Community Policing Forum (CPF) in Jan Kempdorp to bring down crime, it is not their responsibility to have to compensate for an under-resourced police service.
To rescue the Northern Cape from crime, voters must get behind the DA on 29 May and elect a government that is capable of creating a safe and secure society.