Fred Esbend
More than 600 Port Elizabeth families face an uncertain future as controversy
over the proposed relocation of police headquarters from the city to King William’s Town mounts.
The latest estimated cost for the move is now standing at a whopping R105- million, according to Democratic Party MPL Bobby Stevenson.
Eastern Cape MEC for Safety and Security Dennis Neer initially said the move
would cost R50,6-million.
Plans to have 638 police officers and their families relocated to King William’s
Town, near the Eastern Cape Legislature at Bisho, were announced more than two
years ago.
Describing the move, which is aimed at better policing management, as “madness
in a climate of lawlessness”, Stevenson said the figure of R105-million was supplied to him with “documentary proof” and questioned how it would be carried
by the financially beleaguered province.
Stevenson asked: “Why are we being kept in the dark? Members of the legislature
who have a constitutional duty to provide oversight of the police are not being
properly informed and have to rely on questioning and other sources to try and
ferret out the true facts.
“Will this money come from public works while our roads are crumbling, or will
it come from health while our hospitals are in a state of collapse?
“It cannot come from safety and security as its total budget is only R7,9- million!”
He said of the R105-million costs, R30-million would be spent on renovations to
the new police headquarters at Zwelitsha, R53-million on personnel costs associated with moving 638 policemen and women, R11-million towards transport
costs, R7-million on computer lines and R4-million for furniture.
He asked whether this could be justified in a province which had a police vehicle shortage of 23%; 37 of the 194 police stations had either no water or
electricity; 11 stations had no direct Telkom lines; 42 of the 194 stations lack
computers; and a personnel shortage of 22%.
“It is madness in a climate of lawlessness, when crime stands in the way of investment that is needed to create jobs, to waste millions on something that
does not need to happen,” Stevenson said.
Neer said the prime objective of the move was to have police headquarters closer
to the Bisho legislature to allow for a more efficient police service to the
province.