Johannesburg - The Tshwane Metro Police Department is experiencing financial difficulties and is even struggling to purchase vehicles for officers to drive.
This has resulted in officers in South Africa’s capital city using electricity department vehicles to conduct roadblocks. Two sources have told The Sunday Independent that the tight budgetary constraints are real and they are not able to acquire a new fleet.
“They are unable to buy new cars and the reason officers are now using electricity vehicles is because some cars have been in repairs for months,” said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity. Another source said the department was trying to keep the cash flow problems under wraps but they have been persisting since last year.
Anti-crime activist Yusuf Abramjee has corroborated the information.
“The majority of their vehicles are in garages for repair, some for years, and they have serious budgetary issues. I have confirmed that in interactions with them,” said Abramjee.
The use of those vehicles has also had members of the public concerned. Abramjee said he has had a lot of people complaining to him. He said when he raised the matter with them, he was told the officers were only using the cars to attend to electricity cables.
“It came to my attention that they were using the City of Tshwane electricity vehicles to do policing. I had a lot of complaints from members of the public who were concerned about bogus police. I phoned the deputy metro police chief and she indicated they had a shortfall of vehicles. When I raised it last year they told me the officers were checking on cables, which is a lie,” he said.
“It’s a serious problem and it’s a disgrace for them to use vehicles from the electricity department to do policing.
"How do you know it’s a real officer? It appears they haven’t stopped,” he added.
Abramjee said he would be taking the matter up with Gauteng MEC for Community Safety Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane. He lambasted the department and cautioned of the dangers that might arise from the decision.
“It’s totally unacceptable and I will take the matter up with the MEC of Community Safety. It shows how disorganised the metro police is. It poses a serious threat to the public. I’m a law-abiding citizen but if a guy stops me with an electricity bakkie, I will think he is a bogus cop,” he said.
The department has, however, tried to sweep the matter under the rug. Spokesperson Isaac Mahamba declined to confirm or deny that the department was facing financial troubles but instead chose to comment on the usage of the vehicles.
“At this stage, we cannot discuss our operational plans in public because that might jeopardise our operations,” he said.
Chairperson of Justice Project South Africa Howard Dembovsky said there was nothing wrong with them using the vehicles but it posed a danger.
“They can use any vehicle belonging to the city. Tshwane Metro Police Department is a structure of the Tshwane Municipality. If the municipality wishes to assign them vehicles purchased for the power utility or roads agency, they can do that. Whether they can engage in pursuit is a different story,” he said.