The DA in the Northern Cape is extremely concerned about the police’s response time in this province, which is currently the slowest in the entire country – almost 25 minutes slower than the North West, which shows the second worst response times in the country.
RNews previously reported that Bheki Cele, minister of police, said in response to a parliamentary question from the DA last week that it takes the police in the Northern Cape an hour and ten seconds on average to respond to a crime that takes place.
Dr. Isak Fritz, the party’s prime minister candidate in the province, says it is frightening that residents in the province are left to their own mercy for more than an hour.
“However, given the serious lack of operational vehicles available at police stations in the province, the police’s delayed response to crime is not surprising.”
Fritz says inspections carried out at various police stations last year revealed that many vehicles are either standing on bricks at stations, or at the provincial garage waiting for parts from service providers from other provinces.
“It is unacceptable that the Northern Cape has a vehicle repair contract with service providers in Johannesburg and Durban – which drastically slows down the repair process of these vehicles.”
According to Fritz, it was previously done by Maj. Gen. Koliswa Otola, the provincial police commissioner, confirmed in a meeting with the DA’s provincial spokesperson for transport, security and liaison, Ofentse Mokae.
“With the third quarterly crime statistics revealing an increase in especially violent crimes – such as attempted murder, aggravated robbery and assault with intent to seriously injure – policing must be urgently strengthened to adequately tackle the increase in crime.
“It is of key importance that the repair of police vehicles is decentralized so that the police can immediately respond to crime, especially because the province is becoming more and more dangerous as criminals take advantage of the police’s weaknesses,” says Fritz.
