This Police station in Mabeskraal was built in 2014 and work stopped in 2016. Three years after work stopped, the station is still not working. About 30 Kilometers away in Dwarsberg, another Police station is standing, non operational.
According to local Political leaders in Mabeskraal, the SAPS and the contractor who built the Mabeskraal Station are locked in court battle stemming from claims of non payment by the contractor.
A 2016 Daily Sun report into the Mabeskraal and Dwarsberg stations alluded to issues of non payment as well.
The Paper quoted the security guard at Mabeskraal Police Station who told them that ‘workers had downed tools because of non payment.’
Attempts to get an update about the stations from the SAPS have drawn the blank. These stations are two of the five which were commissioned in 2015 to be built in Bojanala, the other three are also said to be standing non operational like these two in Mabeskraal and Dwarsberg.
In another Daily Sun report, then Police Spokesperson Selvy Mohlala told the paper that ‘the contractor at Mabeskraal Police Station abandoned work on the building of the station and that his contract was cancelled, he furthermore told the paper that new tender to finish construction was to be advertised.’
As for the Dwarsberg Police Station, Mohlala was quoted as saying ‘the Dwarsberg project will be completed in the first quarter of next year.’ [Next year being 2017]
As it is now, the police stations are still standing non operational.
Residents of Mabeskraal and nearby villages have for long had to pay up to R70 to go to Rustenburg or Sun City Police Stations just to certify their documents and make affidavits. Although this financial burden has been lifted through the provision of Mobile Police station and opening of satellite police station in Mabeskraal, questions remain about the status, not only of Mabeskraal Police Station, but the other ones in Bojanala standing non operational for three years now.