The SA Policing Union (Sapu) urged newly appointed Police Minister Nkosinathi Nhleko to take drastic steps against those involved in the R45 million police accommodation and meals scandal.
"This huge amount can never be justifiable at all in the face of many challenges that the police are faced with," said general secretary Oscar Skommere.
"The first step that the minister must take is a transparent probe into the circumstances surrounding this fiasco," he said.
"We fail to understand how a huge amount like this can be spent just on accommodation and meals in a single financial year."
The Star reported on Tuesday that the police department spent about R45 million in a year on meals and accommodation, while racking up R150 million in irregular and wasteful expenditure in about five years.
Skommere said the probe must be wider and look further to the companies that benefited.
"We feel it is possible that there might have been collusion between some corrupt senior officers and some service providers."
He said police could not fight corruption if there was corruption within its own ranks.
"We have to take drastic measures to root out corrupt elements even within our own ranks. The SAPS is in dire need of many resources including vehicles, police stations, etc for it to waste millions of rand like this."
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. 