Experts slam reckless call to give unclaimed cars to Saps
· Citizen
Experts are criticising the DA and the portfolio committee on community safety, security and liaison for suggesting unclaimed impounded vehicles should be used to address vehicle shortages in police stations.
SA is currently facing a serious shortage at many stations, with the DA in Mpumalanga and the committee recommending “the state must repurpose unclaimed impounded vehicles to alleviate the severe shortage of fleets within the South African Police Service (Saps)”.
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Committee wants unclaimed cars for Saps fleet shortages
The committee made the recommendation on recent visits to areas around the eMalahleni local municipality in Mpumalanga.
Teboho Sekaledi, a DA member in the Mpumalanga legislature, said their oversight visit found that Witbank police station has only 13 vehicles in a good condition to service 131 665 citizens.
“This recommendation came after the Witbank station reported during a public meeting they have a severe shortage to attend to complaints and crime scenes.
“They also reported the garage takes too long to repair minor mechanical issues. At the moment, the visible policing division in Witbank police station has 23 vehicles, of which seven are in good condition and 16 are in poor condition with high mileage over 200 000km,” Sekaledi said.
“The detectives have 17 vehicles, of which six are in good condition, and 11 are in poor condition with a high mileage of over 200 000km.
16 poor-condition vehicles at Witbank
“This literally means the station has only 13 good-condition vehicles for 260 police officers serving a population of 131 665.”
Criminology professor Witness Maluleke at the University of Limpopo said the state should first try to trace the owners to avoid civil claims.
“Taking ownership of such vehicles without doing the groundwork will create major problems for the state.
“They should seek donations from local and international sponsors instead of do – ing that,” Maluleke said.
“The owners can sue the state for such actions. They should return the impounded vehicles to the legitimate owners if their vehicles are not linked to any crimes. Utilising their vehicles for the state duties should be strictly avoided.”
Owners could sue the state
He said one of the reasons the Saps does not have enough cars is because the drivers are reckless and police vehicles are rarely serviced. But the lack of vehicles was a serious problem and affected the police work.
“The relationship between the Saps and communities is eroded by a lack of vehicles to swiftly respond and attend to the reported criminal cases,” Maluleke said.
“The delay in responding to a crime scene can destroy the trust the community members have on police.”
Themba Godi, leader of the African People’s Convention and former chair of parliament’s standing committee on public accounts, said the shortage of vehicles in the police is due to the misallocation of available resources.
“There could be shortages, but it cannot be caused by lack of resources, but rather by the poor management of available resources. Taking impounded vehicles would encourage lawlessness and the misallocation of resources. That is a reckless call.”