Pretoria - The Presidency could be the next to feel the bite of the cost-cutting measures of the new City of Tshwane administration.
MMC for Safety and security Derrick Kissundooth said it was not right that the Presidency should continue to benefit from the city's metro police for free.
Kissundooth said he would, before the end of the week, know how much the city was “wasting” by providing metro police officers to the Presidential protection unit.
The capital has 39 metro police officers set aside for the presidential unit on a shift system, Kissundooth said, and this arrangement was done solely for political reasons, he said.
Metro police officers are by law only allowed to perform their duties within the boundaries of the municipality in which they are employed. The provision of officers to the presidential unit by the city has thus always been questionable, insiders told the Pretoria News.
Suggestions were that former mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa offered the services of metro police officers to the presidential protection unit via the SAPS for political reasons. He was at the time believed to be on the verge of being sacked for not backing President Jacob Zuma during the ANC conference in Mangaung in 2012.
The insiders claimed Ramokgopa had to do something to appease the president. But another rumour had it that when US President Barack Obama was in the city in 2013, the metro officers performed their duty so brilliantly that they were asked to assist the unit permanently.
Kissundooth said the origin of the gesture would form part of his report and he was on a mission to do away with what he considered to be wasteful expenditure. “I have already spoken to Executive Mayor Solly Msimanga and am waiting for a report on the matter. We are doing an investigation.
“The report will specify how the city got involved in this matter in the first place, as well as the cost involved. I would understand if the city was getting paid for this, but it is not.”
Kissundooth said the officers could be used better for the benefit of the people of the capital and not the Presidency.
“We are trying to cut costs. The city is losing millions on the VIP protection unit, which is not our mandate. The Presidency has its own protection unit which is under the SAPS.
“The unit has a full system and a budget. We can’t be using the metro budget for providing security to the Presidency. The Presidency has a fully-fledged protection team.”
The Presidency referred enquiries to the SAPS, which refused to comment, saying it was a metro matter.
The DA-led administration has been on a cost-cutting mission since taking control of the capital after the local government polls in August.
Pretoria News