Devolving policing powers: A local solution to a national crisis

As communities across the North West province continue to endure the fallout from a centralised policing system that doesn't fit our local realities, it's time to face an uncomfortable truth: national control over policing has left provinces powerless to respond to their own safety needs.

- by Freddy Sonakile

Let's be clear: Crime doesn't look the same in every province. Yet provinces, despite being closest to the people, have no real say in how police resources are allocated or how stations are prioritised.

In Makapanstad, police officers worked out of a leaking building, with detectives juggling over 150 dockets each and community policing forums forced to operate without even a basic office, adding that Letlhabile police station was so rundown that police and the public shared toilets, and even those often have no running water. Cells are inoperable, and staff shortages have all but crippled sector policing.

Mooinooi police station doesn't have a backup generator, leaving communication systems offline when the power goes out, and suffered the embarrassment of an impounded dagga truck being stolen right in front of its premises.

At Boitekong, a neglected, isolated building is surrounded by mushrooming informal settlements, with caseloads of 200-300 per officer. Sun City police station, long identified as a priority, remains a dream deferred, despite being highlighted on the Infrastructure Priority List, which the provinces have no power to influence.