Press Statement by Maureen Scheepers: DA Councillor in eMalahleni Local Municipality
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in eMalahleni calls on the Municipal Manager, Humphrey Mayisela, to urgently review the municipality’s Law Enforcement.
We have established that the municipality has only 37 Law Enforcement officers in total and none of them are deployed during night shifts. The officers work standard day shifts from 07:30 to 16:30.
However, no reason was initially provided by the directorate as to why these officers are not working at night. Instead, the municipality revealed that the Law Enforcement Department is short staffed. Notably, there is currently no acting or permanent Head of Law Enforcement.
The absence of a Head of Law Enforcement only deepens the crisis. Without leadership, there is a clear lack of strategic direction and coordinated action to combat the increasing levels of theft and vandalism.
This confirms a critical and dangerous gap in enforcement. At a time when cable theft, transformer vandalism, and damage to municipal infrastructure occur predominantly at night.
The municipality has effectively acknowledged that there is no active by-law enforcement presence during these hours. Criminals are not operating during office hours, and yet, law enforcement does.
Residents across eMalahleni are experiencing the consequences daily through power outages, service disruptions, and costly repairs, while those responsible face little to no deterrent during the night.
The sad reality is that while infrastructure is being vandalised at night, there is no law enforcement on duty to prevent it.
The DA will continue to highlight these failures and push for urgent intervention to ensure that residents are protected, infrastructure is secured, and service delivery is stabilised.