While the project has already experienced several delays, the official sod-turning of a fourth police station in the Mitchells Plain area is a welcomed step in the right direction.
With the Tafelsig area making up three of the nine policing sectors for the Mitchells Plain Police Station, it has remained a large contributor to the overall crime for the precinct.
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On Thursday 16 May, police minister Bheki Cele led a delegation to visit the sites of the Tafelsig Police Station for a sod-turning, and dedication of a temporary structure at the Mhakaza informal settlement in Khayelitsha which will form part of the permanent police station to service this area.
Cele says construction of the permanent Mhakaza station is set to be completed by January 2025, with Tafelsig Police Station set to be complete in November 2026.
High levels of poverty, unemployment and even serious illnesses such as Tuberculosis and HIV coupled with drug abuse, gangsterism and overpopulation are all contributors to the serious crime in the area, officials say.
Currently, much as is the case in communities across the Cape Flats, the area is in the midst of an intense gang war which sees several shootings and murders daily.
Sakienah Daniels, a safety volunteer says the crime has escalated out of control with five sub-community sectors of Tafelsig East, Tafelsig West, Hyde Park, Lost City and Silvercity.
“Gun violence is way out of control, not only in Tafelsig, but in the whole of the Western Cape. Now with gang violence in Tafelsig, they are fighting over turf. Every day there is shooting. There is not a single day that goes by that there are no shootings and murders,” she says.
Daniels says matters such as domestic violence cases being turned away and the overall level of service at their current station, brings to light the dire need for their own station for this area.
Charmain Marhorta, another safety volunteer in the area says this is development is 15 years later. “The shootings are happening right where the police station is going to be located. It is in the red zone. It is in the middle of warring turf,” she says.
Drive-by shootings at any time of the day and night has raised more concerns for residents.
“They don’t care if you are a gangster or not, they just shoot,” says Daniels.
Also part of the project, representing the community, Marhorta says the community are involved in the project and everything is running according to schedule.
Mogamat Rafiq Larnie, a resident who runs a non-profit organisation on the doorstep of the new station says there is great need for this station in their area.
“A police station is definitely needed here by us, the way things are going on now by us with shooting, killing, drugs and it is getting out of hand,” he says. “Once the police station becomes operational, I would like police to do their job properly and not become friends with the gangsters or drug lords, they must be here to provide a service for the community and that’s the oath the were sworn into. We will definitely feel safer when the police station is operating, but like I said, as long as they here to do their work.”
Services needed now
Mitchells Plain Community Policing Forum chair, Norman Jantjes, says the three Tafelsig sectors generate as much as 40% of all crimes in the policing precinct. “We believe it will make a big dent in the crime, if we can have greater visibility. It is a long-term project, but we are asking police to maybe decentralise so they can have a mobile police station there,” he says.
Recognising the crime landscape, police have had an operational base in the Tafelsig area managed by provincial and national units. This has since been removed. Jantjes says they need a more fully functioning satellite station, rather than just a base camp. “This project will only finish in the next two and a half years. We are very pleased (that another station will be built), but we need it to be fast tracked with some presence now already, by having a satellite station with its own detectives, officers, police officers and charge office. It must function like a police station,” he says.
Welcomed development
Western Cape Minister of Police Oversight and Community Safety, Reagen Allen, who joined the sod turning says these stations are long overdue, and called on more boots on the ground.
“These residents are currently using the services at Mitchells Plain station, which has a police-to-population ratio of 1:600 ,” says Allen. “These (communities), like other areas across the Cape metro, are plagued by high levels of crime and consistent police under resourcing. Tafelsig station is due to be completed towards the back-end of November 2026.”
Jantjes says in addition to the police station, a collaborative effort between government spheres in installing High Mast lights, CCTV cameras and more visibility is the answer to combatting crime.
With gang violence, extortion and overall serious crime being the daily experiences of residents, Mayco member for safety and security in the City, JP Smith, called on national government to take a different approach to policing.
The former City-owned land bordered by Andes Street, Oranjekloof Road and Van Rhyn Street was sold to the national government in 2014 with the station set to be complete by July 2020.
“We extend our appreciation to police for their efforts in bringing these projects to fruition in areas where new police stations were urgently needed and where the City has added its voice along with those of local communities for more resources. “We further call on the national minister to continue his investment in police resources within Cape Town by modernising the police through computer-aided dispatch and other technological advancements within the policing sector and by boosting the number of police officers and detectives at police stations,” says Smith.
