Scandalous R40m National Police Day event presents logistical, operational nightmare

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has established that the South African Police Service's National Police Day Celebration Event in Bloemfontein will divert 50,000 officers - one in every three in the country - away from active duty for three days, with safety experts and officials raising concerns about costs, logistics and the possibly severe impact on crime-fighting operations.

Officials in several provinces have raised concerns with the DA over the enormous cost of the event, which will include meals, accommodation, transport and entertainment. We understand that numerous station commissioners are fuming over the likely impact on crime-fighting operations over the three days when officers are away. In Langa Police Station in the Western Cape, for instance, the event will apparently leave just 20 of the station's 80 active officers on duty. In Port Elizabeth, we understand 650 officers will be sent to the event. Gauteng stands to lose more than 10,000 officials, and the Western Cape about 6,500 officials.

In terms of costs:

• We understand that the SAPS is budgeting approximately R420 per officer for transport to and from Bloemfontein, which would bring the total cost of transport to about R21-million.
• Meals given to officers while being bussed appear to be costing somewhere in the region of R7.5-million. This, however, excludes further meal costs during the event itself.
• We have not been able to ascertain accommodation costs. However, at a very conservative estimate of R100 per night, per officer, over two nights, we would be looking at the very least at another R10-million.

We also know that an array of entertainment will be provided, including at least five big-name South African musicians, and gala dinners. All of this means that we can expect the entire event to cost, at the very least, about R40-million, though a more realistic figure is probably somewhere in the region of R50-R70-million.

We will submit parliamentary questions to establish the exact costs of this event at the very first opportunity, and we will ask the Minister of Police to justify an event that clearly carries with it so many untenable costs.

This sort of expenditure needs to be understood in the context of record backlogs in our forensic science laboratories, record numbers of lost and stolen case dockets, record  delays in our 10111 call centres, and the dramatic year-on-year spike in the overall crime rate. We cannot fathom how spending R40-million on a party in Bloemfontein for an event usually celebrated provincially, could be the right kind of decision, even while such pressing resourcing issues exist.

Statement issued by Dianne Kohler Barnard MP, Democratic Alliance shadow minister of police, January 24 2010

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