By Khanyisile Mbambo
The Phoenix Police Station, which houses over 300 personnel and services thousands of residents, has been left high and dry with no access to water and ablution facilities for almost two months.
This, after several water pipes at the police station burst, during the devastating floods in April. Detainees at the station have been moved, and are currently detained at Greenwood Park SAPS and Verulam SAPS, while the children from the Victim Friendly Centre are sent to other places for safety.
According to reliable sources, the toilets were being flushed with water from a JoJo tank, until that also ran out, recently. Irate police officers said they have been subjected to work under inhumane and unhygienic conditions for far too long.
A police officer who did not want to be named told the Phoenix Tabloid that some female members have resorted to squatting behind the buildings, while the male officers relieve themselves wherever they can around the police station.
The officer said: “It’s going on two months without any water in the station. It’s absolutely unacceptable for anyone to work like this. We were told to go to the Phoenix Plaza if we need to use the toilet. We have no facilities for children, members of the public can’t access the toilets and there’s just an appalling lack of urgency from management regarding this issue.”
According to the officer, maintenance work to get the burst water pipes fixed, commenced several weeks ago and there’s been no progress to date. “There’s no feed back from management, we are just forced to keep quiet, make do with the situation and go home. It’s so hard not having access to water for a day, let alone two whole months. We really hope that this matter is treated with urgency and the problem is resolved soon,” the officer added.
Another officer, who spoke on the basis of anonymity, said female staff members started getting infections due to holding in their urine throughout the day. “We are constantly getting sick because of the unhygienic conditions that we are being forced to work under. Covid-19 has taken the lives of so many SAPS members, we need to have sanitary working conditions because we interact directly with the public on a daily basis. We should be able to wash our hands and use the toilet facilities without worry of disease or infections,” she said.
The officer added: “The admin workers go off at 12pm, but what happens to those working 12-hour shifts, who need to be there for the community. How are they expected to leave the police station to go to the Phoenix Plaza while members of the public are piling in for assistance. This is a government organisation that services hundreds of people throughout the day and night. This is not fair on the members and alternative measures should have been put in place.”
DA spokesperson on Community Safety in KwaZulu-Natal, MPL Sharon Hoosen and MPL Bradley Sigh, conducted an oversight at the police station last Thursday, after receiving complaints from members of the public and police officers regarding the situation. Hoosen said the issue was concerning considering the amount of police personnel housed at the station.
She said: “The moment I was informed about the police station operating without water and ablution facilities for such an extended period of time, I contacted the provincial police commissioner who informed me that the Department of Public Works was working on the matter and that the issue would be resolved soon. The oversight visit was to identify what the issues were, and work as a collective to find solutions to accommodate members in the interim, as we received confirmation that there’s been further delays in the fixing of the water pipes. Prisoners are being transported to other police stations which is inconvenient considering how busy this police station is. We have been further informed that the provincial commissioner will be visiting the station which is a positive because he will then ensure that there are interventions made from his side to ensure that there are resolutions with regards to this water crisis that the station is experiencing.”
MPL Bradley Singh said that whilst there is a maintenance issue, there’s been no alternative measures put in place for members of the station. “There’s enough space at the police station that could have been used for mobile toilets. Whilst people are coming to the station on a 24-hour basis, there’s no ablution facilities available for them which is unacceptable. We can’t have a situation where members of the SAPS are relieving themselves in the bush, that’s our main concern. Furthermore, if we weren’t approached by disgruntled members of the community, requesting us to act and intervene, we wouldn’t have known about this situation,” said Singh.
Singh added: “There’s been no maintenance or pipe replacement at this institution for 36 years and we are now sitting with this problem because the department has failed to ensure that infrastructure is maintained. We are also concerned about the sewer, which is another problem that’s brewing at the station. We will soon find raw sewage flowing all over the station when the sewer pipes give up. While the department has failed, we have pulled in private donors to provide water until this issue is resolved. We will also be engaging with Public Works to ensure that funding becomes available to permanently sort the infrastructure at the Phoenix police station because we cannot accept this. While we might criticise the police, it’s important to note that at the end of the day, they are still our police and we cannot allow them to work in conditions that are inhumane.”
