Schoemansdal is Best Performing Police Station
Media Release
02 November 2008
Schoemansdal Police Station has been named the best performing station in Mpumalanga.
The station was awarded during the annual MEC’s Excellence Awards held at Witbank on Thursday.
It was declared the overall winner as it also won awards for being the best managed station within the categories of Captain to Superintendent, Best Female Station Commissioner and Best Station on Community Policing Forum (CPF) functionality.
The MEC’s Excellence Awards were launched in 2003 by the then Safety and Security MEC Thabang Makwetla, and are aimed at acknowledging performance and enhancing policing in the province.
Mpumalanga boasts 86 police stations which were judged on best performing station managed by superintendent, best station managed by senior superintendent and above, best station managed by female commissioners and best station that has good working relationship with CPF.
The stations were evaluated by the Department of Safety and Security in consultation with CPF Provincial Board, Business Against Crime and police labour unions [Popcru and SAPU].
Receiving the awards from the department’s MEC, Mr Siphosezwe Masango, an elated Schoemansdal Station Commissioner Superintendent Dorah Xaba attributed their success to a good relationship with the community.
Superintendent Xaba added that sector policing contributed to their achievements.
She appreciated her supportive team who worked hard regardless of shortage of vehicles in their station.
“Our local municipality (Nkomazi) is always involved in the implementation of our crime prevention programmes. Our crime rate has also significantly gone down as a result of corporation from our stakeholders,” said Ms Xaba.
Meanwhile, MEC Masango commended the station for its good performance saying irrespective of challenges, the station had excelled in providing policing service to the community.
He said that the awards would go a long way towards improving policing in the province, adding that stations that did not perform well would be assisted in bridging gaps identified to ensure service delivery.
He however requested police to serve communities equally and without prejudice whether they were black or white.
He said information surfaced that there was possible racism allegedly being practiced at certain police stations.
Those stations, he said, unfortunately had previously received excellence awards.
“Racism is a monster that has the potential to break down and destroy the work that was done by us and our predecessors. Racism in essence becomes an enemy of the state and as a result it should be dealt with as an urgent as well as most pressing matter.
“It is only logical that racism is creating an unsustainable situation and should be exposed as well as disposed,” added MEC Masango.
It was sad, said the MEC, that it was not only stations managed by captains to superintendents, but also stations managed by senior superintendents and higher levels that were involved in racism.
He called upon the management at station levels and community policing forums to work together in preventing racism from escalating as it was their core responsibility to ensure that a conducive environment within the stations and towards the public was maintained.
He congratulated SAPS for empowering women to become station commissioners, and called on all station commissioners to personally get involved in dealing with complaints related to unsatisfactory service delivery at their police stations.
“Station commissioners should expect to be penalized in future for not providing a platform for registering complaints,” concluded Masango.
Issued by the Department of Safety and Security, Mpumalanga Provincial Government
Enquiries: Joseph Mabuza: 082 678 4150
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