Deputy Police Minister Bongani Mkongi has accused the DA of commissioning the R100-million upgrade of a police station in a suburb where crime levels are relatively low.

 There had been a widespread outcry against the proposed upgrade of Muizenberg Police Station. While the Department of Public Works indicated that police had requested the upgrades‚ Mkongi insisted that the DA is behind it all.

 “Politically‚ the DA signed for this ‘hotel’ in Muizenberg. They are the party of the whites‚ not the majority. They don’t represent the people on the ground. We [the ANC] are responsive to the people and are going to build safer communities‚” said Mkongi‚ who on Sunday called for a halt to the upgrade.

Mkongi insisted that the DA had supported the investment from the beginning‚ despite knowing other much poorer communities remained without a station.

 But Community Safety MEC Dan Plato denied the allegations.

 “I don’t want to enter into the political fray‚ but these allegations are ridiculous. The fact of the matter is that both DA and ANC people are against the construction of that police station. The ANC needs to open their eyes and see that this macro station to a tune of R100-million is not right‚ especially when they are the ones advocating to bring services to poor communities. In fact‚ the station is not even near poor communities. We need to work on allocating these funds where they are needed most and just take politics completely out of it‚” Plato said.

 Times Media  previously reported that Public Works said the police are entirely responsible for the funding and development of new facilities.

 “[The SAPS] determine their budget‚ they determine the where and the when of building police stations‚ they approach the Department of Public Works with a request to do the work‚” said the department’s media and stakeholder relations officer‚ Thami Mchunu.

Plato echoed the statement‚ saying he was never contacted regarding Muizenberg.

 “With all of the outcry against [the ANC] is trying to make the decision to build the station a political one. We [the DA] have no say over the building of any station whatsoever. We don’t even get to comment on the building of stations‚” Plato said.

Mkongi said the matter was not about politics‚ but instead about differences between the DA party line and the people of the Western Cape.

“The DA remains in opposition of our people. It is not necessarily about an opposition of the ANC‚ but rather an opposition of the people who need them most‚” Mkongi said.

 He went on to say his decision to halt the development of the Muizenberg station was in direct alignment with the ANC’s manifesto on community safety and that his party was serious about “socioeconomic transformation” across the Western Cape.

 “We will not be told by the DA where we will build our police stations. Instead of the ‘palace hotels’ proposed in Muizenberg [the ANC] will build a police station on the ground where the people need it‚” Mkongi said.

 Both parties said that the redirection of funds could better serve poorer Western Cape communities. Mkongi said Langa and Macassar police forces were possible beneficiaries of the funds.

 However‚ unfulfilled promises by SAPS to construct stations in poorer communities left Plato unconvinced.

 “There are promises made every year‚ and over the last ten years all of these promises are now all off the table‚” Plato said.