Cape Town - Khayelitsha, in Cape Town, needs two more police stations, a commission of inquiry heard on Thursday.
“The first thing that comes to mind is (to build) a police station in Makaza and a police station in Site C,” Khayelitsha Development Forum (KDF) chairman Ndithini Thyido testified before the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry into policing in the area.
There are currently three police stations serving a population of close to 500 000.
Thyido disagreed with complainant organisation, the Social Justice Coalition, that an apparent increase in vigilante killings was evidence of police inefficiency in the area.
Thabani Masuku, for the police, asked Thyido whether he believed there was a breakdown in trust between residents and the police.
“My answer would be no,” he said.
The KDF had a cordial relationship with the SA Police Service in the area. The problem did not lie mainly with police, but with the city.
“We need amenities,” he said.
These included toilets and adequate street lighting.
The KDF is tasked with co-ordinating and monitoring development in Khayelitsha.
The inquiry, headed by retired Constitutional Court judge Kate O'Regan, and advocate Vusi Pikoli, was set up by Western Cape premier Helen Zille after residents lodged complaints about police inefficiency, which was the apparent cause of a spate of mob justice killings in the area.
Sapa