20% of cop cars out of action

ENABLING CRIMINALS: DA SOUNDS THE ALARM

- Jarryd Westerdale

Alarm bells are ringing over the number of Gauteng police vehicles currently in the workshops awaiting repairs. Several stations were found to be operating with more than 20% of their fleet out of service, while tasked with policing more than 200,000 residents in their precincts.

A report compiled by the provincial government also listed the reasons for the breakdowns, as well as the size and population of each station.

The figures were recently signed off by Premier Panyaza Lesufi in a written response to a question posed in the provincial legislature by the DA.

The report showed that 710 out of 5,630 police vehicles were standing idle as of the end of May.

This number excludes trailers, which often accompany fleet statistics and account for 12.6% of the police's response and support fleet.

Of the over 140 stations in Gauteng, only Boipatong, Fairland, Laudium, Norwood and Sebenza were operating with a full complement of vehicles.