WeeklySA_AdminCrime and grime bedevil police apartment complex.
Dozens of homeless people have taken over the major SAPS living quarters in Soweto. The 93 cops officially known to be residents of the building now find themselves sharing the facility with more than 400 unknown people.
Meant to accommodate close to 500 members of the force, the once immaculate triple story building in the suburb of Protea, a stone throw from the Soweto SAPS headquarters, is in a dilapidated state and had deteriorated into a den of iniquity and grime..
The rot, according to SAPS members living in the barracks, started “shortly” after the advent of democracy in 1994, when maintenance of the building was surprisingly “halted”. Previously entrance to the barracks was controlled; These days it’s a free for all with people coming in and out as they please. The building is falling apart, with the roof missing in places and broken windows all round, a result of the building being engulfed by fire on two recent occasions.
A visitor is greeted by heaps of uncollected rubbish, with paper wrappers strewn all over as you enter the premises. Apparently, there has been no proper refuse collection for years. It takes courage to visit the communal toilets.
Water leaks and broken taps are the order of the day. Apart from scores of children who were playing around the facility. WSAM was able to establish that some of the inhabitants are relatives of the members of the police, some are family members of retired SAPS staff who were left there when former employees went on pension, and others brought in by friends with no attachment to the police service whatsoever.
‘It would be some of the SAPS members are renting out the apartments and pocketing the money.’
“We definitely not safe here,” said a worried cop speaking on condition of anonymity. Come Fridays until Sunday nights, she added, the quarters are turned into a cacophony of sounds with music blaring non-stop from different stereos. “How are we supposed to have proper rest in such circumstances and still be fit the following day for our highly demanding job,” she asked.
Theft of clothing from the washing line as well as break-ins into private SAPS members’ vehicles parked in the barracks have also become a common feature. Fears abound that unless situation is attended to urgently, a disaster may be the in the offing.
What is of concern is that people on SAPS premises illegally pose a risk to the police officers. The situation at the Protea barracks is symptomatic of a disturbing trend in South Africa which has seen the illegal occupation or hijacking of buildings, many of which lack basic necessities such as water, lights or proper sanitation.
Shockingly is that most of these hijacked buildings have become a hub of criminal activity, and police buildings have not been spared either. The problem is widespread and not only confined to Soweto, with the SAPS head honchos in KwaZulu-Natal for example warning of this malfeasance as far back as 2018.
Then acting provincial commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi is on record that before the SAPS can clean up illegally occupied buildings in our communities “we must first start with our very own buildings”.
A total of 115 people were arrested for trespassing when a clean-up operation was conducted at the living quarters at Durban Central Police station, among those arrested being police officers who should not be living there.
