Poor communication affects policing in many areas in KZN: Officials

A lack of communication and a poor working relationship between communities and the police is affecting policing in many areas of KwaZulu-Natal. That’s the assessment of government officials who held a multi-sectoral crime prevention and service delivery imbizo in Inchanga, in the outer west of the Durban metro.

The government brought all departments to the area in an effort to remove some of the bottlenecks in the way of efficient service delivery.

Inchanga residents say they walk long distances to access the nearest police station. A mobile police station set up to assist the community is said to be lacking resources.

Video: KZN government hosts a community Imbizo to tackle crime

One Inchanga resident says, “We have a lot of challenges as the youth of this area. Crime is one of the main ones. We have young people who do all sorts of things including dealing drugs. Unemployment is one of the huge problems here.”

Another one adds, “We need more mobile police stations, and we need police to have more visibility.”

To help improve the fight against crime, vehicles were handed over to community policing forums in the area, as part of a province-wide initiative.

The government is also committed to ensure that the mobile police station has the resources and functions properly.

KZN Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube says, “Also, we are going to make sure that the mobile police station that was introduced a few years ago starts working. Because that mobile police has been here for two years but it hasn’t been working effectively we are hoping that immediately that mobile police station will start working and as a result of that we will see police visibility increasing and see crime coming down.”

KZN Community Safety and Liaison MEC Sipho Hlomuka says “It’s the responsibility of the police to combat crime. And police cannot fight crime alone. They need greater involvement of the community.”

Inchanga also faces many challenges in providing basic services. Locals say that water and electricity cuts are regular occurrences in the area.

Meanwhile, the community has vowed to work on improving cooperation with the police, to help solve the crime problem.