DA leader Mmusi Maimane has vowed to lobby parliament for the establishment of a new police station in Port Elizabeth’s Chatty Extension.
He was speaking in Nelson Mandela Bay on Tuesday on a quick visit to the Bethelsdorp metro police satellite office.
Thousands of Bay residents have been relocated to Chatty Extension over the years through housing projects.
A new police station was, however, never built.
“We are calling upon the national police minister who has promised before that they will build a police station.
“We are asking that the police hold up their end of the bargain by putting up a fully fledged police station there,” Maimane said.
He said he would also “toyi-toyi” in parliament for additional money to increase the number of metro police.
There are 129 metro police officers in the Bay.
“If I toyi-toyi there in parliament, I will toyi-toyi that they bring more money so that you can have more metro police officers,” Maimane said.
“What we have seen is that if we increase visibility, we can have young boys and young girls walking freely here.”
Maimane was accompanied by mayor Athol Trollip, DA provincial leader Nqaba Bhanga and the mayoral committee member in charge of safety and security, John Best.
“As a nation we are caught up in a war – we have the highest murder rate compared to other countries in the world for a country that is not at war,” he said.
Maimane said the co-operation between the police and metro police continued to be at the top of the DA’s agenda.
“A co-operation between metro police and the South African Police Service is always crucial.
“It’s the officers on the ground who know who the criminals are, it’s metro police who know which vehicles to look out for and ultimately enforce bylaws,” Maimane said.
Best said plans were under way for the city’s third metro police satellite office in Humewood.
“We currently have two police stations and we are very close to opening a third satellite station – a very small one – in Humewood,” he said.
Best said they were also awaiting accreditation for the Motherwell Thusong Centre, which would also house some metro police officers.
“We will have four responding offices – we want to spread our offices throughout the city and we have applied for more metro police officers.
“We urgently need another 250 metro police officers but naturally our budget does not speak to this.”
Officials were looking at ways of funding 200 metro police officers and 50 traffic officers to enhance capacity.
“The successes have been unbelievable – the metro police are doing very well,” he said.
Best said officials were also considering partnering with businesses for fundraising.
Trollip commended the department for the strides they had made.
“Executive director Keith Meyer joining our metro police force has made an incredible difference for our relationship with the SAPS. The proportion of civilians to safety officers in the city is just too high.
“We try to combat that by having a mutual relationship with the SAPS and I want to thank metro police chief Yolanda Faro for fostering that.”