One cop, 100 cases: problematic Honeydew police station on Solly Msimanga's to-do list

High crime rates, under-resourced and short-staffed. These are some of the findings of former Tshwane mayor and the DA's candidate for premier of Gauteng, Solly Msimanga, after a visit to the Honeydew police station.

Msimanga released a statement on Monday after his inspection. These are his key findings:

High crime rates

The station handles more than 23,000 cases of crime and has the most residential robberies, sexual abuse and hijacking cases. 

Vehicles

Msimanga said the station has 80 vehicles, which is not enough as the station covers a large community, including Cosmo City and Zandspruit informal settlement. Making the situation even worse, he said, the informal settlement does not have tarred roads, making it difficult  to access.

Staff shortages

Twenty-nine police officers resigned in 2015, which left the station with 341 officers. This shortage sees one investigating officer with more than 100 dockets, which eventually leads to a backlog, stunting the progress in dealing with crime.

Government does not own the building

Another shocking discovery was that the building used as the police station is not owned by the government, but is rented for R100,000 a month. Msimanga lamented the waste of money, which he said could have been used to build a government-owned police station.

Victim of gender-based violence

Msimanga said the station does not have the facilities to deal with victims of gender-based violence, and lacks a specialised unit to address drug-related issues.

Speaking to TimesLIVE, Msimanga said more needs to be done.

"We are living in a country where violence against women and children is so common that it is almost an everyday thing, yet some police refuse to open a case against the perpetrators."