How much taxpayer money the police has spent on buying cars

The South African Police Service (SAPS) has spent over R16 billion of taxpayers’ money on buying vehicles for law enforcement.

Responding to a parliamentary Q&A from the EFF’s Sixolisa Gcilishe, the Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu revealed that the total fleet complement of the SAPS is currently pegged at 47,897 vehicles, which includes vans, minibuses, SUVs, buses, trailers, and trucks.

The estimated monetary value of the specified vehicles is R16,356,121,734, said the minister.

21% of SAPS vehicles out of order

In July last year, ex-Minister of Police Bheki Cele revealed that an average of 21% of all SAPS vehicles in South Africa were in a non-operational state.

Figures provided by the minister indicated that KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, and the Northern Cape were the most affected, with all three provinces having over 26% of their police cars being inoperable.

Industry experts including Solidarity Research Institute’s Theuns du Buisson were quick to point out that this has serious implications for the nation’s citizens.

Not only is the notable level of non-functioning SAPS vehicles in South Africa an indication of a police force being starved of necessary resources, but it also underscores the authorities’ inability to react to incidents or to race to the aid of victims in a timely manner.

As per the Democratic Alliance’s Andrew Whitfield, it takes approximately 100 days, or just over three months, to get a broken police vehicle back into full operation.

Whitfield blames the issues on a centralised procurement policy that requires station commanders to get multiple levels of authority to get the vehicles repaired.

The SAPS’ Annual Performance Plan, tabled 23 July 2024, notes that during the 2024/25 period, the Department of Police will “ensure that each province has sufficient working vehicles and to repair the vehicles that are not currently in working order as expeditiously as possible.”

However, the SAPS has yet to report any significant improvements in the operational capacity of its vehicles over the last year, suggesting that not much has changed.