The Makhado SAPS in Louis Trichardt has literarily been left in the dark since last Friday, after the electricity supply to the building housing them (the old Pennells building) was cut.

This drastic action apparently followed the Public Works Department’s (PWD) failure to pay the building’s rent for the past seven months.

“It is true that there are challenges experienced, and hence urgent action has been taken to resolve the situation,” was the response from provincial police spokesperson Brig Hangwani Mulaudzi when asked to confirm whether the building’s electricity supply had indeed been cut due to PWD’s failure to pay. He added that the situation had not severely disrupted service delivery and that the matter had been referred to their head office for urgent intervention. Mulaudzi did not want to explain why the payments had stopped.

“Please contact Public Works,” he said. The PWD was contacted for comment, with several questions forwarded to them on Tuesday morning. Although the newspaper received acknowledgement of receipt of the questions, the department had yet to answer at the time of going to press.

In the meantime, the Zoutpansberger managed to track down one of the owners of the building, Mr Russel Wolpe.

As landlord, Wolpe explained that they used to meet with the PWD every two years to renegotiate their lease agreement with regard to the building housing the Makhado SAPS. Things started going wrong in 2010, with the lease agreement expiring in August of that year. Wolpe said they tried in vain to get the PWD to sign a new agreement, but continued leasing the building to the police, without a contract, on a month-to-month basis until August 2011. Since then, the PWD stopped paying.

“Since September 2011, we have not received a single cent,” Wolpe said. He said he tried everything to try and resolve the matter with the PWD. “Everybody say they will do something, but nothing happens,” Wolpe said.

Out of sheer desperation, Wolpe said they handed the matter over to their attorneys about a month ago. Their attorneys gave the PWD seven days to rectify the situation and make payments. “We received no reaction,” said Wolpe.

Wolpe then took drastic action by instructing a private electrician to disconnect the police’s electricity. “What else can I do? I am just not getting any answers from anybody. Hopefully,  somebody will now contact me, so that we can sort out the problem. It is a shame that things should get so out of hand that such drastic steps need to be taken,” Wolpe added.

The Makhado SAPS’s crisis is not unique to the province. Earlier in March, two police departments in Polokwane faced possible eviction from their buildings, also due to the PWD’s failure to renew their lease agreements with their landlords and failing to pay.

At the time of going to press, the Makhado SAPS were still left in the dark.