Opposition councillors in eThekwini municipality have demanded answers about the city’s R1.2 million purchase of 20 trained police dogs from state arms manufacturer, Denel.
Of the 20 dogs, 10 are to be used for patrols, five for detecting ex- plosives and five for detecting drugs.
This comes as answers are being sought on another controversial purchase of four Casspirs worth about R20m from Denel.
The city said the armoured military vehicles would be used to deal with service delivery protests.
At yesterday’s executive committee meeting, DA caucus leader Zwakele Mncwango wanted to know if the Casspirs had been delivered to the city.
There have been reports that the Casspirs were delivered to the city about two weeks ago, but the city would not confirm if that was the case.
Report
Confronted with the question, mayor Zandile Gumede said she was still awaiting a report from officials on the matter.
The report would also cover issues surrounding the procurement of the dogs.
Councillors from opposition parties yesterday demanded answers on whether proper processes were followed when the procurement was processed. They claimed they had received information that the head of the Metro Police, Eugene Nzama, had not authorised the purchase as required by the law.
Gumede said the matter would be contained in the report.
DA councillor Heinz de Boer asked for the reason why the dogs were not trained with their handlers and why the cost was so high.
Questions were also raised about the donated dogs that were not being used by the Metro police.
Mdu Nkosi said he hoped the report would shed light on both purchases as there were some unanswered questions.
He said the purchase of the Casspirs would have required a resolution of council, and he did not recall one being made.
“You cannot spend more than R500 000 without an Exco resolution,” he said. “There must be a resolution of council. If it was the previous council, the officials should have appraised the current councillors of such.”