Hundreds of police cars in Gauteng are stuck at workshops

More than 700 police vehicles in Gauteng are currently out of service  due to mechanical failures, accidents or missing parts, a situation that is crippling the province's fight against crime and leaving communities vulnerable.

Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi, who has led a province-wide anti-crime campaign since taking office, admitted the numbers were alarming. He urged police officers to look after their vehicles, while also pointing to broader systemic problems, including community attacks on police vehicles during protests and high-speed chases that often result in damage.

Concerned citizens have, meanwhile,  called for reforms in SAPS fleet management.

The damaged fleet headache came to light during a provincial legislature response  questions posed by Crezane Bosch of the DA.

Speaker Morakane Mosupyoe confirmed that out of the province’s 5,630 police vehicles, 710 were not operational.

"Some vehicles get damaged when they (police) are chasing criminals, and in some instances, they sometimes get attacked by citizens who throw stones at them, they are involved in accidents and sometimes it is when they interact with criminals," Lesufi said on Sunday.

He said although the number of unusable fleet was high, it also  showed that police were doing their job.

Lesufi said the provincial government had gone beyond its mandate last year by providing nearly 200 new vehicles to SAPS, adding: “Police must also improve how they manage these assets. They are valuable and should be treated as such.”

Ian Cameron, chairperson of police portfolio committee in parliament, said the numbers are shocking.

“It's a general problem across the country. This past week, I visited several police stations and most of the time about 50% of police vehicles are not functional or close to being nonfunctional,” Cameron said.

He said the situation makes police unable to react to all matters but attend only to serious crime matters.

“This means people would be left vulnerable,” he said, adding that the government needs to restructure the supply chain.

“It is not functioning the way it should. There is always a delay or backlog; it needs to be decentralised.”

One of the key bottlenecks has been the severe shortage of mechanics. The police service currently employs 262 mechanics, 110 short of what’s required. As a result, some vehicles reportedly sit idle at repair depots for years.

In some instances, parts are stolen from parked vehicles awaiting repairs. A police officer told Sowetan that two weeks ago, car parts were stolen at their garage in Diepkloof, Soweto, turning the facility into a crime scene for the whole day. 

"I had gone there to service a police van but I couldn't because investigators were taking fingerprints, and it is not the first incident that happened this year," said the officer.

Bosch said her party's oversight visits to police stations across the province "revealed a disturbing pattern" of widespread mechanichal issues and delays in repairs. 

Bosch said concerns about police vehicle shortages have been raised consistently in communities such as Ivory Park, Pretoria Central, Jeppe, Sebokeng, De Deur, Olievenhoutbosch, Rietgat, Boschkop and Mamelodi, among others.

"[Police] stations like Ivory Park reported 16 out of 78 vehicles being unserviceable, while Pretoria Central had 14 out of 80 vehicles out of operation. In some areas, this has been a recurring issue for several years with no lasting intervention from provincial leadership,.”

Bosch added that residents and community policing forums have been consistently reporting delayed police responses to crime scenes, primarily due to a lack of functioning vehicles.

“These complaints date back to the previous term [of the legislature], which further indicates systemic neglect,” she said.

According to police crime statistics released in the last quarter, Ivory Park police station was ranked number one in the province for murder cases. Pretoria Central and Silverton, also in Pretoria, appeared among the top 40 police stations with the highest number of community-reported serious crimes. Ivory Park is also among the top three stations with the highest number of reported contact crimes.

Mpho Matlala, a senior lecturer in police practice at Unisa, warned that the shortage of police vehicles has far-reaching implications.

“It means there will be no boots on the ground to respond to complaints, which could allow criminals to bring about anarchy in the absence of deterrence by police visibility,” he said.

“This means compromised community safety and essentially a contravention of section 205 of the constitution, which spells out the responsibility and functions of the police.”

Matlala stressed the urgent need for bold reforms in police fleet management.

“Police managers must dare to ‘make pigs fly’, and by this I mean take bold steps towards digitalisation [to improve efficiency]. The police must do away with manual systems such as log books that drivers use to record trips and odometer readings. These are prone to human errors and are tiresome to inspect or manage.”

Matlala recommended implementing digital fleet management systems that can monitor vehicle movements, issue maintenance alerts, and help redeploy vehicles strategically based on crime data and trends.

“If most business robberies in Gauteng occur between 8am and 4pm, there’s no need to deploy more vehicles during the night shift. Resources should match crime patterns, not guesswork. The SAPS must recalibrate towards a more scientific approach.”

The Silverton police station had 33 vans, but 10 are unserviceable.

Silverton councillor Ben Chapman told Sowetan residents now rely on private security companies to respond to crime due to the police’s delayed response or no-show.

“From my experience, the security companies are now our police. They’re the first responders to crime scenes, and they manage the situation before police even arrive,” he said.

“The police are dedicated, but their lack of resources is crippling. Without private security, the situation would be dire.”

Chapman said two weeks ago, the police asked him for an extra tyre for their vehicle. 

"It’s not the first time they’ve asked. These requests usually come informally, but this one reached me directly as a councillor.”

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