On Wednesday, in the Portfolio Committee of Police, the South African Police Service (SAPS) announced that National Treasury has instructed SAPS to cut their budget through a 5%, 6% and 7% baseline reduction over the next three years, which may ultimately result in a loss of 23 000 personnel. This shocking announcement comes at a time when the majority of South Africans feel increasingly unsafe in their communities, due to escalating levels of violence and crime.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has proposed an alternative, yet constructive, budget proposal, which considers cutting VIP protection costs instead of other police programmes. The VIP protection budget allocation amounts to approximately R10 million per individual, per year, with an approximate Cabinet cost to taxpayers amounting to R631 million yearly.
It is unconscionable that National Treasury would request SAPS budget cuts, when our police service is already severely under-capacitated and un
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