Police minister Bheki Cele has told the community of KaMhlushwa, in Mpumamanga, to call him directly if they are not being serviced by police.

Cele gave his cellphone numbers to community members after the opening of the KaMhlushwa police station, 27km southeast of Malalane.

He called on the community to work with the police to fight crime. He also vowed to fire police management if they fail the people.

"The police force of this country is not where you come to when you looking for a job.

"So, if you want a job please don't come here because here we want people who are ready to serve and protect the community, not to serve their personal agendas," said Cele.

Cele said his ministry was not longer interested in building bigger police stations far from the people.

"We better have small police stations closer to the community, where people can just walk to. We cannot have people paying money to get to the police station," said Cele.

National commissioner general Khehla Sitole said police have managed to crack some serious crimes.

"If you can check, we managed to deal with cash-in-transit heists, political killings, especially in KwaZulu-Natal, by convictions and arrests of serious people.

"The statistics say one officer is responsible for 220 people, but here in the countryside we have a ratio of one policeman per 383 people, which we need to curb. From this year we will be taking 5,000 new officers each year to beef up the force," said Sitole.

The new KaMhlushwa police station has 38 officers and eight detectives.

The station is the first of the 12 new police station that the minister said he was planning to open this year.