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The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Mangaung has requested the Executive Mayor, Cllr Mxolisi Siyonzana, for an urgent meeting regarding services not delivered and will demand the Metro Police Commissioner to step down or face disciplinary action in accordance with the disciplinary process for senior management. This is after the Metro missed yet another crucial deadline.

The DA noted with disappointment that the Mangaung Metro Police Service (MMPS) was scheduled to be launched on the 24th of August 2021, but nothing happened. This week after the Police published the crime statistics and the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, described the crime statistics for the first quarter of 2021/2022 as “dismal” when compared to the same period last year.

The MMPS was first approved in council December 2012 and 9 years past and the force is still not operational. This is a great concern for the DA as the residents of Mangaung continue to reside in fear due to vandalising of municipal infrastructure as well as other by-law violations. There is no enforcement of municipal by-laws and traffic violations that occur daily.

A progress report for the MMPS was tabled to council in June which stated that the MMPS was gazetted in April 2020 by the MEC responsible for Police in the Free State. The municipality could not operationalise the metro police due to the process of labour consultations, qualifications and alignment of resources.
An operationalisation implementation process plan was developed covering towards the official launch of the Metro Police which included the following programmes:

• Organisational Design, Recruitment and Labour Consultation
• Screening and training
• Procurement of uniforms
• Procurement of Vehicles and Branding
• Facilities
• Municipal Courts
• Civilian Oversight Committee

To this day, no Civilian Oversight Committee has been appointed by council nor are there a municipal court in existence for Mangaung. A civilian oversight committee is responsible to create processes for risk governance, monitoring and reporting, create clear defined duties to improve effectiveness and most importantly build a trust relationship between residents and the Metro Police.

The safety of residents in Mangaung is a priority for the DA. The DA is the only alternative for residents for effective change to be implemented and make the Mangaung Metro a safe place to reside.

Issued by The DA