Serious structural concerns for current Kwa station

Update

MOSSEL BAY NEWS - While the KwaNonqaba Police await feedback on when their new station will be built, they must continue to work in a station with "serious structural concerns".

These are the findings of an inspection the Garden Route District Municipality's (GRDM) health services had conducted on Monday 14 September.

After nearly two decades of needing a new station, the first administrative step towards a new building was a land exchange between the Mossel Bay Municipality and the Department of Public Works on 17 August.

While local and national government has deemed this exchange a positive step towards building the long-awaited station, the current station's conditions remain dire for both personnel and the public they serve.

The GRDM's health and district air quality control chief, Dr Johann Schoeman, said municipal health services conduct surveillance inspections of premises within its mandate, including police stations, to identify conditions that may pose a risk to public health. He said the district takes health conditions at public facilities seriously, and that Monday's inspection had found "serious structural concerns ... identified at the premises".

"The Community Service Centre [formerly the charge office], where members of the public are served, was found to be clean; however, structural concerns relating to the floors and roof were noted," said Schoeman.

"The ablution facilities used by members of the public were found to be unhygienic, with structural concerns also identified."

Schoeman added that the station has no holding cells, so the inspection focused on the areas relevant to municipal health services, including areas where members of the public are served and the ablution facilities available to the public and staff.

The station was found non-compliant with health standards in 2019, and again in 2024. Two years later, the premises is still not fully compliant with certain municipal health-related standards.

Schoeman said the GRDM have again communicated the health-related shortcomings identified during the inspection to the relevant authorities, and that the district will conduct follow-up inspections where necessary to assess whether identified health risks have been adequately addressed.

While the current station falls on land belonging to the Mossel Bay Municipality, the municipality said, in response to questions Mossel Bay Advertiser had sent earlier this week, that in terms of the applicable lease agreement, responsibility for the maintenance of the existing KwaNonqaba Police Station building and premises rests with the National Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, and not with the municipality.

A response to a media enquiry to the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure said that the landlord is responsible for the maintenance of the station.

As for the progress made in terms of the new station, the municipality said it, the department and the South African Police Service were in the process of completing the necessary internal procedures, including the finalisation of the land exchange agreement so that construction can proceed.

Public Works said while there were no feedback on the budget available for the new station, the SAPS had communicated that it is processing the matter. The department said this probably includes reprioritisation of resources and application for the budget.

Questions were sent to the SAPS regarding the new and current stations; however, no response had been received by the time of publishing.

Previous articles:

‘We bring you the latest Garden Route, Hessequa, Karoo news’