Residents of Nyanga township in Cape Town have asked Minister of Police Bheki Cele to build a police station for the Philippi Browns Farm area, currently being serviced by Nyanga police.
“These are two different areas,” said Nyanga resident Mahlubandile Moyana, 49.
“Each area must have its police station so that it can be clear in which area the crime has been committed. As things stand, more crime has been committed in Philippi Browns Farm, but when the stats come out, it says Nyanga,” said Mahlubandile.
“I am not saying Nyanga is better than other areas, but Philippi Browns Farm is playing a huge role in Nyanga being known as one of the most dangerous townships in Cape Town.”
Nyanga Community Policing Forum (CPF) secretary Dumisani Qwebe said that during a recent imbizo in their area, residents raised the issue of the police station that urgently needs to be built in Philippi Browns Farm.
“If the minister can build a police station for the Browns Farm community, there will be a lot of change in terms of crime. Now everyone commits crime knowing it will take time to reach the Nyanga police station and maybe SAPS won’t come quickly to their area,” he said.
Anele Madondile, CPF chairperson for Sector 4 in Philippi Browns Farm, agrees with Nyanga residents who say Philippi is playing a huge role in the high crime rate in Nyanga.
“[If a police station is built at Browns Farm] I believe that gender-based violence cases will also drop,” said Mahlubandile. “Some victims don’t report because sometimes they don’t have money to take a taxi to the police station. Even the hotspot for smash and grabs and other crimes will drop, should we get our police station.”
Minister Cele said the SAPS is trying to get land to build the Browns Farm police station.
“The reason that we haven’t built the police station is the land. As soon as we get it, we will start building it,” said Cele.
Pictured above: Nyanga police station.
Image source: Buziwe Nocuze
