The minister of police and the SAPS spent R144 million on accommodation, R140m on entertainment, R2.6 million on catering between April and June this year and the combined amount totals more than R3 billion.
WHILE South Africans battle with rising food and fuel prices, Minister of Police Bheki Cele and his office spent more than R2.8 billion on hotel accommodation, entertainment and catering since he took office in May 2019 until June this year.
During the same period, Cele, his deputy Cassel Mathale, and officials in the ministry accounted for more than R800 million of the expenditure. The other amount spent was police officials who reported directly to the National Commissioner of Police Sehlahle Fannie Masemola.
Last year alone the police blew R600m on accommodation, catering and entertainment.
This was revealed by Masemola in his written reply to questions asked by the DA’s Jahno Engelbrecht in Parliament.
According to Masemola’s replies seen by the Pretoria News, Cele’s department spent R618 million on entertainment, R501 million on on accommodation and R32 million on catering in the 2019/2020 financial year.
In the 2020/2021 financial year SAPS spent R521 million on entertainment, R341 million on accommodation and R4.2 million on catering while in the 2021/2022 financial year the SAPS spent R588 million on accommodation, R585 million on entertainment and R11 million on catering.
In addition, Cele’s SAPS spent R144 million on accommodation, R140m on entertainment and R2.6 million on catering between April and June this year. The combined amount totals more than R3 billion.
In his reply, Masemola said that the Ministry of Police was one of the cost centres in the police, saying the budget and expenditure of that cost was managed within National Treasury’s framework, which included expenditure of Cele, Mathale and their staff.
Masemola said cost containment measures of the police includes reduced spending on entertainment expenses in the form of coffee, tea, non-alcoholic beverages and biscuits, for visitors to the offices of all senior management services (SMS) in the Ministry and SAPS including station commissioners, which would not exceed R2,000 per SMS or station commissioner.
Masemola said: “It should be noted that accommodation expenditures of officials in the SAPS, will realise higher levels in instances where officials had to be accommodated away from their normal place of work, due to specific operation needs and deployment requirements i.e, unrest periods, elections, other events of national importance, detached duties, investigation of criminal cases among others.”
Engelbrecht asked Cele to give him details about the amount his office, which includes Mathale, spent on catering, entertainment and accommodation since they took office in May 2019.
The DA also wanted to know the expenditure of all other officials on catering, entertainment and accommodation during the same period.
Commenting on the reply, DA spokesperson on police, Andrew Whitfield said since Cele took office as Minister of Police, SAPS and the Ministry of Police have spent R1.58bn on accommodation, R42.7m on catering and R1.8 million on entertainment.
He said the expenditures happened as week after week, South Africa witnessed the most horrific violent crimes committed against innocent people while SAPS blew its budget on ‘nice to haves’.
“This spending comes at a time when SAPS bemoans its inability to uphold its constitutional mandate to protect the citizens of our country due to financial constraints.
“While Minister Cele blows the budget on catering and accommodation, visible policing has suffered personnel and budget cuts over the years while millions of South Africans live in a permanent state of fear,” Whitfield said.
He said his party accepted that accommodation costs included the legitimate cost of housing SAPS members away from their ordinary duties, but the exorbitant amount must be investigated by the portfolio committee on police.
“It is simply outrageous that SAPS is spending over R1.4m per day housing SAPS members. It is unconscionable that more than R1.5bn can be spent on accommodation and R42.7m on catering, when every year the SAPS reduces its front line personnel, detectives and reservists while South Africans are murdered, maimed and raped.
“What more does Minister Cele need to do in order for President Ramaphosa to fire him? South Africans are sick and tired of his incompetence and disregard for them,” Whitfield said.
Pretoria News
