Police have denied washing their hands of a spate of robberies and break-ins at parliamentary villages housing MPs and leaving MPs at the mercy of criminals.
The police said on Saturday they were attending to the security situation at these complexes together with Public Works.
Police spokesman Lieutenant-General Solomon Makgale said they would meet with the Department of Public Works soon.
And Public Works director-general Mziwonke Dlabantu said interim security measures had been put in place while a permanent solution was sought.
Last week alone, three houses belonging to DA MPs were broken into in Acacia Park.
Makgale said:
“We provide a vehicle for patrols and security at the gate for access control.
“Our take is that security, with the co-operation of the residents, could be managed better as we have previously arrested some of the residents for theft.”
He said some of the people living in the complexes were not MPs.
IFP chief whip Narend Singh complained that their lives were not safe in Acacia Park and other parliamentary villages.
Kenneth Mubu of the DA said this was a critical matter that had to be attended to before it was too late.
Both Mubu and Singh said it appeared the police had washed their hands of the issue of security for MPs in these villages and shifted the blame to Public Works.
Other MPs shared this sentiment.
Mubu, who serves on the portfolio committee on public works, said the lack of action by the police had put the lives of MPs in danger.
A few months ago a female MP had her son arrested for robbery in a house belonging to another MP.
Mubu said the three break-ins this week had shaken them. He said it appeared those behind the burglaries were relatives of other MPs.
Dlabantu said it was an issue they were sorting out with the police. “I am putting in interim measures, including private security patrols, until the matter is resolved. We don’t have to wait for a tragedy.”
Sunday Independent