COP shops are supposed to be safe places but in Ga-Rankuwa, Tshwane, the station locks its gates at 6pm.
There has been no electricity since October and cops fear thugs will attack.
Daily Sun first published the story in May and on Wednesday, 8 June, residents and Democratic Alliance (DA) members picketed against the blackout at the cop shop.
Resident Simiso Mhlanga said: “This station has become useless to us.” There are no services and if you have an emergency, you don’t know who to call as the phones don’t work.
When we try to get help from Akasia, we are referred to this spook huis.
Simiso said residents signed a petition presented by the DA, hoping it would send a strong signal to the authorities to put the lights back on.
DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga said: the party was determined to fight for service delivery. “We will write a letter to the ministers of police and public works, the premier and the MEC for community safety to say they have 72 hours to respond to us or we’ll march to their offices.”
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“We are asking the community to work with us on this one. We are here as concerned residents of Gauteng, not the DA,” he said.
DA Gauteng spokeswoman for community safety Crezane Bosch said the party engaged with the community to see first hand what the situation was. Bosch said this was unacceptable and the DA would put pressure on the relevant government departments to take action.
“We were informed by residents that the station closes every night and the police only return the following morning,” she said.
Lieutenant-Colonel Mavela Masondo said they were still waiting for a report. on the matter before commenting.
