Walmer is one of Nelson Mandela Bay’s most prolific and deadly crime hotspots, but has been abandoned by the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the municipality, while residents are living in fear and held to ransom by violent criminals.
After the 2026 Local Government Elections on 4 November, with a DA-led government elected in Nelson Mandela Bay, we will fill the visible policing vacuum left by the 2017 closure of the SAPS Fountain Avenue Satellite Police Station in Walmer, by establishing a Metro Police Precinct.
The precinct will be built on the site of the abandoned Fountain Avenue Satellite Police Station. This will ensure rapid response times to petty crimes, effective bylaw enforcement, better surveillance of crime hotspots, collaboration with the SAPS on joint operations, and high-visibility policing to deter criminals.
The DA fought for years to have the satellite police station reopened as there is a critical need for visible policing in this area, highlighted last week after the bodies of six shooting victims were found.
The urgent need for visible policing was underscored by the recently released SAPS crime statistics for the three months from January to March 2026, which indicated that 36 murders were reported at the Walmer Police Station during this period. This places it amongst the top 20 murder stations in the country.
As part of our plan to ensure a safe Nelson Mandela Bay and strengthen the metro police a DA-led government will establish metro police precincts in crime hotspots across the City.
We will, in just 12 months, double the current complement of 126 metro police officers and increase the fleet capacity to get these officers onto the streets. By the end of our five-year term, we will expand to over 500 officers and more than 60 vehicles across the City to provide 24/7 coverage for every ward.
To further fight crime, we will also establish a CCTV network to detect and deter crime, re-establish the CCTV joint operations centre so that the SAPS, metro police, and private security companies can respond to crime in real time, implement ShotSpotter gun-detection technology, and partner with Neighbourhood Watches and equip them to assist the SAPS.
The DA will not allow communities such as Walmer to be left at the mercy of criminals. We will build a metro police that will assist law enforcement agencies to catch criminals, convict criminals, clean-up our Metro and get Nelson Mandela Bay working again.