The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the City of Johannesburg has written to the Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) responsible for Public Safety, Councillor Mgcini Tshwaku, to request an urgent, full and public audit of all vehicles fitted with blue lights and allocated to the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD).
English soundbite by Cllr Solomon Maila and letter to Joburg Public Safety MMC
In this regard, the DA is calling on the MMC to ensure that a comprehensive and transparent audit of all blue-light vehicles allocated to the JMPD, in particular, and the Department of Public Safety more broadly, is conducted within 14 days. Should the MMC once again fail to respond or act, as he has done in response to previous correspondence from the DA, we will have no option but to approach the National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, General Fannie Masemola, to intervene in the interests of public safety and accountability.
In the aftermath of revelations emanating from the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into alleged criminality, political interference and corruption in the criminal justice system (the Madlanga Commission), the DA has received information from several whistleblowers alleging that many “police vehicles” leased by the City from Afrirent Holdings, a vehicle fleet management company based in Centurion, Gauteng, are allegedly being used by family members of senior JMPD officers, as well as by criminal syndicates involved in serious and violent crimes across Gauteng.
These vehicles are leased at exorbitant cost, with the City paying up to R50 000 per vehicle per month in some cases.
The DA is further informed that some senior municipal officials and politicians in the governing ANC-led coalition are allegedly benefiting from this corruption-riddled contract, which has been extended multiple times since it was initially awarded in 2018 for R1.2 billion.
We are also informed that some of these vehicles are allegedly registered in the names of corrupt municipal officials, despite being listed and paid for by the City as leased vehicles. The Department of Public Safety, which is the parent department of the JMPD, has the largest vehicle fleet leased from Afrirent.
It is additionally alleged that no physical audit of vehicles allocated to the JMPD has ever been conducted by the Department of Public Safety. This means there is no verified record of the exact number of blue-light vehicles in circulation. In a city and province recording some of the highest crime levels in the country, and where residents have repeatedly fallen victim to bogus police operations, this failure is indefensible.
The DA will not allow public safety resources to be abused for personal enrichment or criminal activity. Blue lights are not symbols of privilege, they are instruments of public trust. Any abuse of police vehicles undermines law enforcement, endangers residents, and erodes confidence in the criminal justice system. The DA will continue to use every available oversight mechanism to expose wrongdoing, protect residents, and restore accountability in the City of Johannesburg.