Cop phones keep ringing - DA

2009-12-07 07:43

Johannesburg - More than a third of numbers for South African police stations do not work, the Democratic Alliance charged on Sunday after conducting a survey.

"South Africans need a police service that is reliable and efficient in the service they provide. So for one-third of police station phone numbers not to work is significantly disempowering to ordinary South Africans," said the party's shadow minister of police Dianne Kohler Barnard in a statement.

The DA made 270 phone calls to police stations in the country - randomly selecting 10 police stations per province. Each of these was called on three occasions between 08:00 and 19:00.

Barnard said 97 out of 270 calls did not take the caller through to an officer at that police station.

The least reliable provinces were the Northern Cape (where 17 of 30 calls failed to go through) and the North West, with only one of the 10 stations available on all three occasions it was called.

"Some numbers actually appear to have been physically disconnected for parts of the day."

In Limpopo only four of the 10 stations picked up every call, and in Gauteng, only half of the stations were available on all three occasions.

"A fairly simple audit can help significantly to address the problem... We will submit a list of the problematic numbers to the police commissioner, and ask that he ensures that the matter is resolved in time for the festive season."

Kohler Barnard said it was necessary for police station numbers to work given the "general unreliable nature" of the emergency 10111 number.

Earlier this year, the Auditor General said more than 50 000 calls to 10111 were dropped while waiting in queues in 2008.

- SAPA