The Gauteng Democratic Alliance (DA) is concerned over 2170 out-of-service police vehicles in Gauteng province. Thus, the party has called on the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele and the Gauteng MEC for Community Safety, Faith Mazibuko to intervene on Monday.
MPL, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Community Safety Michael Shackleton, said the party is extremely disturbed by the high number of the out-of-service police vehicles. The information was provided by Cele in a reply to a DA written question in the National Assembly.
“The minister of police informed us that there was a mitigation strategy in place but somehow now as we sit here in April 2021.In Gauteng we have now learnt that there are 2170 out-of-service police vehicles on Gauteng which is an increase of 763,”
“This is extremely alarming and suggests that this agency government does not care about the safety of the residents of Gauteng. We had to ask the minister of police and the NEC for community safety what mitigation strategy what on earth did you mitigate,”
“When this increased twice 763 what is going on? we need answers we need its turnaround plan. We need this to be urgently addressed and they will not rest until every last resident of Gauteng is safe because no one can have freedom while they live in fear.”
The following Gauteng police stations have the highest number of out-of-service vehicles: “Vereeniging Police Station: 100, Benoni Police Station: 82, Springs police station: 65, Protea Glen Police station: 58, Silverton Police Station: 54, Midrand Police Station: 53, Johannesburg Central Police Station: 50, In total, there are 5967 police vehicles that are operational in the province,”
Cele states that his department has increase command and control in terms of fleet management. He said they have deployed artisans from other garages to the problematic garages, to adequately address the high number of out-of-service vehicles. Further to this, the department is also using a Global Financial Authority to purchase bulk stock.
“A situational analysis has been conducted in terms of mechanical transport to compile an operational risk and mitigation strategy in order to increase the number of operational vehicles. The lack of an adequate number of vehicles hampers police service delivery and puts the safety of the residents of Gauteng at risk,”
“This leaves SAPS officers with less vehicles for visibility patrol. We will continue to monitor the progress of the current interventions to ensure that our police stations each have a sufficient number of operational vehicles,”
