Broken windows mar every floor of the staircase inside the Gamtoos building of Nelson Mandela Bay’s Algoa Park police flats. (Photo: Riaan Marais) Last month, a political oversight visit to a run-down police barracks in Gqeberha led to state entities blaming each other over who was responsible for its upkeep.
However, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) stepped up last week, and Minister Dean Macpherson has instructed a team from the department’s local office to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the Algoa Park facility.
He has promised the DA delegation that wrote to him a swift response to the laundry list of challenges facing the two shabby blocks of flats and the law enforcement officers inhabiting them.
/file/attachments/orphans/APFlats8_492325.jpg "DA mayoral candidate for Nelson Mandela Bay Retief Odendaal, accompanied by the party’s provincial leader Andrew Whitfield and MP Yusuf Cassim, conducted an oversight visit to the Algoa Park police flats. At the Gamtoos building, several broken windows along the staircase highlighted the facility’s many serious health and safety concerns. (Photo: Riaan Marais)")
In his written response, addressed to the DA’s Nelson Mandela Bay mayoral candidate Retief Odendaal, Macpherson acknowledged receipt of documents submitted to his office after the delegation’s oversight visit to the barracks.
“Thank you kindly for raising this matter in relation to the police barracks in Algoa Park, particularly the state of infrastructure and the risk it poses to its inhabitants and SAPS operations as a whole.
“Having reviewed the documentation enclosed in your correspondence, I have instructed that the Regional Office send a task team to the barracks and that a report is sent to my office within 10 business days on this matter,” Macpherson wrote to Odendaal on 8 July.
/file/attachments/2988/ED_594686_163141.jpg "Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Dean Macpherson has promised swift intervention on the decaying state of the Algoa Park police barracks in Nelson Mandela Bay. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)")
He said once the report was finalised, he would provide feedback on its findings and provide an “action plan”.
Odendaal, along with DA Eastern Cape leader Andrew Whitfield and provincial chairperson Yusuf Cassim, visited the flats on 6th Avenue, Algoa Park, following a string of complaints from surrounding residents.
A Daily Maverick team accompanied the delegation to witness the condition of the premises.
The facility’s notoriety in the local community has grown over the many years that its condition has steadily deteriorated.
Structures have fallen into disrepair while piles of rat-infested garbage lay around every corner.
Anyone, including criminal elements, can access the grounds freely as the security gate is missing and the guardhouse is unmanned.
One of the blocks of flats, Gamtoos, stands open as the front door has long been removed, frame and all. At the other block, Sterrenberg, resident police officers complained about extended spells of dry taps.
Neither of the 12-storey buildings has operational lifts, and no one is even certain if all the inhabitants are actually police officers amid claims that no senior police officials ever monitor who lives at the facility.
/file/attachments/orphans/APFlats3_883418.jpg "One of several decaying rat carcasses found among the garbage strewn around facilities at the Algoa Park police flats. (Photo: Riaan Marais)")
The flats, separated from the Algoa Park police station by nothing more than a fence, have also experienced an increase in vehicle break-ins.
When approached for comment on the condition of the buildings last month, DPWI spokesperson Lennox Mabaso referred all questions to the police, saying that they were responsible for the upkeep of the premises.
However, the police tossed the ball back into the DPWI’s court as the custodians of government-owned buildings, leaving the issue in limbo until Macpherson’s response last week.
Odendaal said the minister’s response was an important breakthrough after their oversight visit and the report they submitted to his office.
/file/attachments/orphans/APFlats2_115343.jpg "DA mayoral candidate in Nelson Mandela Bay Retief Odendaal conducts an oversight visit to the Algoa Park police flats. (Photo: Riaan Marais)")
“The inspection revealed buildings that are unfit for human habitation, with collapsing infrastructure, piles of waste, poor security and unsanitary living conditions that undermine the wellbeing of South African Police Service members.
“Minister Macpherson has confirmed that he has instructed a task team to inspect the barracks and submit a report to his office [...] and committed to providing the findings together with an agreed action plan,” Odendaal said.
He said this would be the first step towards restoring “safe and dignified accommodation” for law enforcement officials serving the community. He believed an improvement in the facilities would increase police morale and ultimately improve service delivery.
Odendaal said he was still waiting for a response from the police on their role in the day-to-day running of the barracks.
“We will continue to monitor and engage with both the DPWI and SAPS to ensure that the assessment results in urgent cleaning, critical repairs, improved security and a sustainable maintenance programme,” Odendaal said. DM