Central SA
Police vans gathering dust at repair shops─── TSHEHLA KOTELI 06:46 Wed, 04 May 2022
It could take more than a month to replace the battery of a police van in the Free State or more than four months just to inspect one, leaving hundreds of official police vehicles out of circulation.
This is according to the Ministry of Police.
Minister Bheki Cele said in an answer to a written question, tabled in Parliament, that multiple police vehicles in the Free State have been gathering dust, waiting to be repaired for weeks.
OFM News' Corn Koteli reports that DA MP, George Michalakis, asked for the number of police vehicles allocated to each police station in the Free State and how many are operational or in for repairs.
This information was made available just days after Cele paid a visit to the Free State.
It was during this visit that the shortage of police vehicles was highlighted.
Residents of Botshabelo were complaining about the shortage of police vans. Now Cele's department revealed that out of the 31 vehicles allocated to the Boithuso Police Station in Botshabelo, 13 are in for repairs and one vehicle has been waiting to be inspected for over four months.
