Police Minister defends SAPS VIP protection

Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has expressed confidence in the police’s VIP protection services unit's performance, saying it was doing its job very well.

Responding to a question in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on Tuesday, Mchunu said SAPS has not received any complaints from the high-profile political figures who are protected by the VIP protection services unit.

“If you take any threat or any incident targeting VIPs or anyone provided with security, we have not received any complaint that the services rendered to them were inadequate. We are satisfied that SAPS are doing their job.

“They are doing well in that aspect of providing VIP services to designated VIPs. I am satisfied, but indicate it is trickling to us that the demand that is being made on SAPS on this matter needs to always be under control by the national commissioner and all of us so that we don’t find ourselves in a problem in this regard,” said Mchunu.

Asked about the recent attack on the convoy of Deputy President Paul Mashatile, the minister said national commissioner Fannie Masemola confirmed that the incident had allegedly happened as reported in the media and that the matter was under investigation.

“The national commissioner will, at the right time, make good of that statement. We are encouraging him to finalise that report and make it public,” he said about the investigation into the shooting at Mashatile’s convoy.

Mashatile’s convoy was shot at when he was returning from an ANC national executive committee meeting last month.

Asked about the steps he was taking to ensure that incidents involving the alleged hit on Mashatile’s convoy are not used to justify further escalation of costs of the VIP protection at public expense, Mchunu said the protection of VIPs was regulated by a Cabinet-approved policy and risk management system protection package.

“The policy specifies that the provision of VIP is based on risk determination. Threat assessment will determine security measures for VIPs,” he said.

On whether an incident could lead to an automatic increase in security for a VIP, Mchunu said: “We are saying let's assess first and a decision gets taken accordingly.”

He asked that there be a separation of matters when he was probed on whether he could justify the millions spent on VIP “security bullies” who fail in their jobs while ordinary South Africans wait for months for DNA results.

“As much as one family can be seen to be wasting food and even throwing it away, when the next door is having problems. I do want to separate things, security-related, and the need for money to do other things.”

Before taking any action to provide protection for VIPs, Mchunu insisted that an evaluation be conducted and that the measures to be implemented be carefully considered in light of the security risk assessment.

“We need to focus on what we are indicating as criteria for any security, including increase or decrease,” he said.

Asked if there was success in disciplining VIP protection members who were found to be on the wrong side of the law in the last five years, the minister said he was not in a position to tabulate the list of successes but can confirm whenever there was an allegation of misconduct, action was taken against affected members.

“These do happen from time to time. The measures taken against members are in accordance with the regulation and follow procedures that are prescribed,” Mchunu said.

Cape Times