What was meant to be a R35 million state-of-the-art police station for the rural community of Katjibane in Mpumalanga seven years ago is today nothing but an abandoned, incomplete and crumbling foundation.
A resident, on 11 May 2021, walks through the R35 Million Pungutsha Police Station that was meant to begin construction in 2014. Picture: Jacques Nelles
Construction of the Pungutsha Police Station in the Dr JS Moroka municipality started in 2014 and was supposed to be completed in eight months. Instead, the site was abandoned less than a month later.
Heaps of hardened mortar, bricks, and reinforcement steel bars strewn all over the overgrown construction site are the tell-tale signs of a seemingly hasty departure.
When the frustrated community rioted and demanded answers, millions of rands more were splashed on a temporary facility.
The temporary police station, complete with paving as well as electrical and plumbing fittings for the six prefabricated cabins adjacent to the abandoned site, was, however, never occupied.
The empty temporary buildings for police officers to use after construction of the R35 Million Pungutsha Police Station was halted. Picture: Jacques Nelles
Vandals have since moved in to strip the facility’s fittings, beginning with the perimeter welcome sign’s lighting.
Community’s dream dashed
For years, Pungutsha Traditional Council headman Thomas Maluleke said, the community had pleaded, marched and rioted countless times for a police station.
“There was a sense of success when the construction of the police station finally started but little did we know it would be a pipe dream. That site, now an eyesore, is a sad reminder of our dashed hopes,” he said.
The nearest police station to the village is Mmametlhake Police Station, on the northeastern border of Limpopo and Mpumalanga, about 25km away.
This means to get a simple affidavit or to certify documents, residents have to fork out R60 in taxi fare for a return trip to Mmametlhake, a luxury for the mainly unemployed residents surviving on social grants.
Katjibane Task Team coordinator Joseph Seboya lamented that such simple activities were now full day activities for the community.
“Everything has to stop for you to get an affidavit. Government cannot even send just two police officers to the temporary facility, on which they spent millions of rands, for a simple service of affidavits and certifying documents,” he said.
Seboya said robbery, stock theft and domestic violence was rife in the village, but that they were helpless because it takes Mmametlhake police hours to arrive when called.
Even the guards disappeared
Simon Macheke, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) ward 27 treasurer, said their information was that a security company was being paid to guard the facility but two chairs and a water bottle were the only sign that there was once guards.
Picture: Jacques Nelles
“The guards ran away in March when the community rioted about the police station yet again, and they never returned but the security company is pocketing money. Vandals have started stripping the facility and there is nothing we can do but watch in despair,” he said.
Department of Public Works spokesperson, Thamsanqa Mchunu, said he was unable to respond, as information had to be sourced from officials working on this matter on the ground.
Mpumalanga department of public works, roads and transport spokesperson, Moeti Mmusi, said infrastructure was key to the fight against crime and that this was why MEC Vusi Shongwe was concerned about the missing police station.
The entrance to the R35 Million Pungutsha Police Station that was meant to begin construction in 2014 in Katjibane, 11 May 2021, Mpumalanga. Picture: Jacques Nelles
“Such matters are obviously of concern because they directly impact on service delivery,” he said.
But the provincial department is yet to explain why the temporary facility was never occupied, in a community that was so desperate for the SA Police Service.