EFF leader Julius Malema has questioned SAPS claim that the party’s March 2023 national shutdown cost the service R368m.
This follows the revelation of the figures by SAPS CFO Lt-Gen Puleng Dimpane during her testimony before parliament’s ad hoc committee on Tuesday.
Dimpane detailed the costs of several SAPS operations, stating that the deployment of officers for the one-day national shutdown on March 20 2023 cost R368m from the SAPS budget. Meanwhile other operations, such as the 2021 July unrest, cost the service R945m.
The protest, on March 20 2023, saw the EFF call for the resignation of President Cyril Ramaphosa and an end to load shedding.
During the question-and-answer session, Malema directly addressed Dimpane about the high figure attributed to the protest.
“If you were talking about the EFF national shutdown, it was one day. It was in March 2023, one day, and it cost you R368m?” Malema asked.
In response, Dimpane admitted she could not immediately recall the specifics.
“My memory is leaving me. I can’t recall the exact issue, but there was a national shutdown during that period, and we needed to deploy [officers] and ensure we protect and that there’s stability in those provinces which were affected,” Dimpane said.
She said the budget spent on operations was determined by “the number of members deployed to support the affected provinces”.
“These are operational decisions that are made to ensure that we are effective in terms of police public order issues and ensure there’s stability in the country.”
TimesLIVE
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