Cameron flags gaps at Kempton Park and Tembisa as Gauteng lists lockdown results

Parliamentary oversight and provincial figures offered two different views of Ekurhuleni’s crime lockdown this week, with Ian Cameron, chair of Parliament’s police portfolio committee, reporting limited visible activity at station level while the Gauteng government released counts of searches, patrols, arrests and seizures carried out since 17 September.

Oversight visit: station conditions and staffing

Cameron visited Kempton Park and Tembisa police stations as part of an oversight exercise. He reported a lack of visible evidence of the crime lockdown at station level and raised concerns about staffing and basic conditions.

On the state of operations at those stations, Cameron said:

“There was zero visible sign of that lockdown at station level in both Kempton Park and Tembisa. Even if they wanted to, they don’t have sufficient members.”

He also criticised resourcing levels and contrasted funding for different policing priorities, stating that more than R2.4 billion was allocated for VIP protection while less than R1.7 billion annually went to specialised family-violence and child-protection policing.

Gauteng government outlines lockdown activity and outcomes

The Gauteng provincial government provided a breakdown of activities it said were conducted since 17 September. The provincial response attributed the following results to the lockdown:

• Searches: more than 30,000 people, vehicles, liquor outlets and business premises
• Patrols: 2,100 hotspots patrolled
• Visits: schools and malls visited more than 1,000 times
• Closures: 13 spaza shops closed
• Deployment: more than 4,000 law-enforcement officers drawn from 25 units and entities

Ekurhuleni-specific arrests and confiscations

The provincial figures for Ekurhuleni listed 469 arrests, including 286 undocumented foreign nationals. Other categories included:

• 39 arrests for drunken driving
• 34 arrests for drug possession
• 13 arrests for selling liquor without a licence
• one arrest for murder and four arrests for attempted murder
• 16 arrests for common and grievous assault combined

Confiscations reported by the province included three firearms, three replica firearms, 623 litres of alcohol and unspecified quantities of drugs.

Response and focus

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi acknowledged challenges at police stations, including issues with infrastructure, equipment, staffing and telephone lines, but urged a results-orientated approach. As he put it:

“We welcome constructive oversight, but our focus must remain firmly on results.”

Attribution and verification

The deployment, search, arrest and confiscation figures above are those provided in the Gauteng provincial government’s response and were reported as given. The account of station conditions and staffing comes from Cameron’s oversight observations. The source material did not show an author or a publication date for the retrieved report, and the figures have not been independently verified in the material provided.