Here are 2 press releases
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Unlawful arrests
by cops cost taxpayers R137m over four years
by Pieter Groenewald
by Pieter Groenewald
Payments for civil claims against Police increases by 100% – Unlawful arrests costs taxpayers R137,2 million
Payments for civil claims
which courts granted against the Police, has increased by more than a 100%
since 2009. Courts granted civil claims against the Police in 2008/2009 to the
value of R50,1 million as opposed to the R108,5 million in 2011/2012. This was
revealed in a reply from the Minister of Police, Mr. NathiMthethwa to a
question in Parliament of Mr. Pieter Groenewald of the Freedom Front Plus.
“It is worrying that half
of the claims in 2011/2012 were due to unlawful arrests (R53,7 million). This attests to the poor training and discipline which points to
members of the Police not knowing what their powers and authority are, or just
plainly abusing it. The Minister will have to answer as to what steps had been
taken against members of the Police who were found guilty of this. Taxpayers
have had to fork out R137,2 million in the past four years just for unlawful
arrests, which is totally unacceptable,” Mr. Pieter Groenewald, the chief
spokesperson on Police for the Freedom Front Plus said.
According to the reply of
the Minister, R1,8 million was paid in 2008/2009 for claims against the Police
for assault and in 2011/2012 the amount was R4,5 million (R4 540 529). That is
a 100% increase.
“It’s claims like these
which strengthen the fear the public has for the Police. In some cases an
unlawful arrest was accompanied by rapes in police cells. In the same question,
I asked the Minister how many members of the Police were found guilty of the
rape of persons in police cells, but the Minister did not answer this. I will
definitely be submitting more questions in Parliament about this,” Groenewald
said.
Less Than Half of SAPS Air
Wing in Air
by Dianne Kohler Barnard
by Dianne Kohler Barnard
In a reply to a DA parliamentary question, the Minister of Police, NathiMthethwa, has admitted that only 19 of 49 aircraft of the South African Police Service Air Wing are currently flying. This is a crucial resource in tackling crime and the fact that the aircraft are grounded, through what can only be gross mismanagement, is a major crisis.
I will be writing to the
acting Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police, Annelize van Wyk, to
request that the Minister and National Police Commissioner, RiahPhiyega, be
called before us to explain to the committee why more than half of the SAPS Air
Wing is sitting gathering dust, and what plan she has put in place to ensure
that they are all operational.
Despite an extensive
question having been asked, the Minister once again failed to answer fully.
Apart from the fact that 19 helicopters and planes are currently flying, with
30 other aircraft currently grounded or being serviced, we were told nothing
more.
In addition, six of the
aircraft have been grounded since before December 2012. These are quite
possibly the Robinson R44s which were bought for the World Cup but have never
been used.
The Minister failed to
answer on how much flying time remains on each aircraft and when they were last
serviced. The Minister also refused to provide the service roster. This begs
the question as to whether the Minister is deliberately trying to hide the
dates of the last service and flying hours left for the aircraft.
Last year, the DA
discovered that 18 of our 37 helicopters were grounded as there was no
maintenance strategy in place due to tender problems. It appears the SAPS wings
are not just clipped but irretrievably broken.
It appears that the
maintenance strategy for the SAPS Air Wing is still non-existent if fewer than
half of the SAPS Air Wing is in the air.
The SAPS Air Wing is a
vital resource in tackling crime, particularly for rapid response crime
call-outs and anti-drug operations. Yet the current SAPS management has them
sitting around in hangars useless and unused.
The Minister and the
National Police Commissioner must answer for this failure.
