“SAPS must use unclaimed impounded vehicles to alleviate fleet shortage”
“Witbank Police Station has only 13 good condition vehicles for 131 665 citizens”
“Witbank in the top 30 Crime-Hot-Spot Police Stations across the country”
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Mpumalanga supports a recommendation made by the Portfolio Committee on Community Safety, Security, and Liaison that the State must repurpose unclaimed impounded vehicles to alleviate the severe shortage of fleet within the South African Police Service (SAPS).
This recommendation was made by the Portfolio Committee on Community Safety, Security, and Liaison, while doing an oversight in Police Stations around the eMalahleni Local Municipality recently.
This recommendation came after the Witbank Police Station reported during a public meeting that they have a severe shortage of vehicles to attend complaints and crime scenes. They also reported that vehicles take too long at the garage to repair minor mechanical issues.
At the moment, Vispol in Witbank Police Station have 23 vehicles of which 7 are in good condition, and 16 are in poor condition with high mileage that is over 200 000km. The Detectives in the police station have 17 vehicles of which 6 are in good condition, and 11 in poor condition with a high mileage of over 200 000km. This literally means that Witbank Police Station has only 13 good condition vehicles for 260 Police Officers that serve a population of 131 665 citizens. This is unacceptable for crime fighting, taking into consideration that Witbank is always in the top 30 Crime-Hot-Spot Police Stations across the country.
This is one of the reasons why the DA supports the recommendation by the Portfolio Committee to repurpose unclaimed impounded vehicles to alleviate the severe shortage of their fleet. The DA also supports this recommendation based on the provisions of Sections 31(1)(b) and 31(2) of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1977 (Act No. 51 of 1977), as well as the provisions of the Standard Operational Procedures for Vehicle Safeguarding Services.
While responding to Parliamentary Questions last year, the Minister of Police, mentioned that in terms of the above provisions, the investigating officer of an impounded vehicle, must first take all reasonable steps to trace and contact the vehicle owner. If the owner fails to collect the vehicle or cannot be traced, the investigator must complete a Notice – Repossession of a Section 30(c) Article form (SAPS 290), within one week, and ensure that the form is delivered by registered post to the last known address of the owner.
The Minister added that the owner has 30 days in which to respond to the notice, failing which the vehicle shall be deemed forfeited to the State and consideration will be given as to whether such vehicle can be utilised by the State, in terms of Regulation 80(6), of the SAPS Regulations, or whether it should be destroyed by means of compacting.
Additionally, under Section 31(1)(b), if the SAPS cannot determine the lawful possessor of a vehicle, it may also be forfeited to the State.