Police Minister Bheki Cele delivered his department’s budget vote in Parliament this afternoon, saying the SAPS had been granted more than R1.8 billion for visible policing, accounting for more than 51% of the entire vote in 2023/24.
He said the money will be used for the procurement of transport assets, such as vehicles, trucks, and buses, depending on the availability in the market.
“Meanwhile, another area to contribute to improved service delivery is the Rapid Response capacity and accessibility of policing services.
“To address this challenge the capacitation of front-line services also includes bolstering operations at 10111 call centres,” said Cele.
He said during the State of the Nation Address, in February, President Cyril Ramaphosa issued a call to action, noting that: “We use our competitiveness in call centre operations to support the proper functioning of the 10111 command centres, partnering with the private sector.”
“SAPS has therefore, through the announcement of the President, engaged with the Office of the Presidency to explore the opportunities that Operation Vulindlela can provide, in addressing some of the implementation reforms. Developing appropriate solutions requires a multi-stakeholder approach, therefore a team, consisting of officials from Operation Vulindlela, the SAPS, and Business Process Enabling South Africa (BPESA), are in the process of addressing the challenges regarding the 10111 command centres” said Cele.
He said more than R1bn had been allocated for the construction and upgrading of police stations. In addition to that, R30 million is allocated for the procurement and conversion of vehicles to ensure that more mobile community service centres are available to the community.
Responding to the budget vote, Andrew Grant Whitfield, DA member of Parliament, said visible policing receives more than half of the department’s budget; however, when one talks to the community they would say they never see the police and that it would be more appropriate to name this programme “invisible policing”.
“Our detectives are overworked and underpaid. Every single detective I speak to they would tell me they have over 200 dockets on their desks at any given time. Budget speech after budget speech have left South Africans with a trail of empty promises. We need tangible plans, solutions to the problems, not just tough talk,” said Whitfield.