The Democratic Alliance is pushing for greater urgency from SAPS to address the slow turnaround times in repairing broken police vehicles and getting them back onto Northern Cape roads.
A question-and-answer session with Police Minister Firoz Cachalia during today’s plenary of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) confirmed the need for urgent action to address the shortage of operational police vehicles.
During our oversight at the SAPS garage in Kimberley in May, we found that 193 SAPS vehicles were awaiting repairs, largely due to supplier backlogs, incorrect parts, bureaucratic red tape, supply chain bottlenecks and critical staff shortages.
This prompted an oversight inspection by Provincial Police Commissioner Lt Gen Otola earlier this month. She has since conceded that performance at the garage is unsatisfactory and stated that resource shortages cannot excuse poor performance, requiring SAPS members to take greater responsibility for the vehicles entrusted to them.
In today’s NCOP question session, Minister Cachalia indicated that provincial commissioners have some authority to work within nationally contracted arrangements and procurement requirements to address vehicle repairs. I will engage with Lt Gen Otola on this submission to establish what can be done at provincial level to improve turnaround times.
However, the problem cannot be addressed at provincial level alone, as turnaround times are also significantly affected by centralised national contracts.
Minister Cachalia’s acknowledgement that the shortage of operational vehicles is a problem, and that it has been prioritised under the police reset programme, confirms that this is a concern affecting provinces beyond the Northern Cape. His admission that he has not yet seen the fleet management strategy adopted in June, however, highlights the need for urgent action to ensure that idle police vehicles are returned to service.
The DA will continue scrutinising the centralised outsourced vehicle-repair contracts and will demand that the fleet management strategy be presented to the NCOP without delay. We must establish whether the strategy will deliver faster turnaround times and ensure that vehicles are returned to operational service as quickly as possible.
Every SAPS vehicle returned to the road strengthens visible policing and contributes to safer Northern Cape communities.