Gauteng police stations continue to be hamstrung by transport challenges with 1,169 vehicles out of service in the province.

On Monday the DA said this was the picture painted in a written parliamentary reply by police minister Bheki Cele.

Cele said there were 569 out of service vehicles in visible policing, 491 in the provincial detective services and 109 from support services.

The number was lower than the figure provided by Cele in April 2021 when the number of out of service police vehicles was 2,170.

DA shadow MEC for community safety Michael Shackleton said: “The inadequate number of police vehicles puts the safety of  residents at risk, leaving police officers with fewer vehicles for visibility patrols, detective services and support services.

“It is unacceptable as it has resulted in police not being able to attend emergency crime scenes and has negatively impacted the work of officers.” .

Cele revealed the police station most affected was Vereeniging which had 14 out of service vehicles for visible policing and 20 operational vehicles.

Lenasia was second, with 10 out of service vehicles and only nine operational vehicles. De Deur had 10 out of service vehicles and 11 operational vehicles while Krugersdorp had 12 out of service vehicles and 22 operational vehicles.

When it came to detective services, Mondeor had nine vehicles off the road and 12 operational vehicles; Ekangala had seven out of service vehicles and seven operational vehicles; and Bramley had five out of service vehicles and five operational vehicles. In terms of support services, Laudium, Dube, Doornkop, Eersterust and Vaal Marina all had  one out of service vehicle and one operational vehicle.

Shackleton said this was unacceptable.

“A police station unit cannot operate with only one vehicle. In the case of mechanical challenges there will then be no vehicle to use. In addition, there is no specific time frame as to when the out of service vehicles would be repaired and returned to their respective police stations,” he said.

The party said it would apply pressure on community safety MEC Faith Mazibuko to urgently liaise with Cele about the issue.

“We demand the national government must provide adequate resources to the police as our residents deserve a service that is well resourced to keep them and their belongings safe. We will conduct oversight inspections at several police stations across the province to assess whether they have adequate resources needed to fight and prevent crime,” said Shackleton.

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