Police unions and civic rights groups fear civilians could be the biggest losers after a contract to supply blue lights for police vehicles in Gauteng was suspended, slamming the brakes on the rollout of vehicles.
Confidential police documents show that the fitting of blue lights and sirens to 1,082 vehicles has been stopped in Gauteng because the contract, worth R84m, is alleged to have been awarded irregularly.
This contract was just for Gauteng; a national contract to provide markings for police vehicles was also stopped.
While police regulations say the vehicles may not be used without proper lights and markings, a shortage of vehicles has forced police management to put them on the road. Police and union sources say if the problem isn't resolved it could lead to slower response times and deaths of innocent people.
Now the subject of a court case, the contract was awarded to a company named Instrumentation for Traffic Law Enforcement in November 2016.
It covered 1,550 new vehicles in the province over three years, but work was halted in March 2018 after an investigation by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) found that procurement processes had allegedly been flouted.
Installation costs ranged between R38,931 and R85,643 per light system.
Implicated in the deal are former Gauteng police commissioner Deliwe de Lange, Gauteng deputy provincial commissioner Brig Nombhuruza Napo, former national commissioner Kgomotso Phahlane, business person Vimpie Phineas Manthata and police national supply chain management officers Lt Gen Ravichandran Pillay, Lt Gen Ramahlapi Mokwena and Brig James Ramanjalum.
They appeared in the Johannesburg specialised commercial crimes court in March on fraud and corruption charges and are due to appear again in December.
They have denied any knowledge of the accusations against them.
In Gauteng over 1,000 new vehicles cannot be fitted with emergency lights and sirens
— SA Policing Union president, Mpho Kwinika
Under police regulations any vehicle used for visible policing carrying a B-registration number plate must be equipped with signage, emergency lights and sirens.
SA Policing Union (Sapu) president Mpho Kwinika said the suspended contracts had impacted policing.
"In Gauteng over 1,000 new vehicles cannot be fitted with emergency lights and sirens," Kwinika said.
"These don't include the hundreds of new visible policing cars, which are unmarked, on the roads."
He said detectives and crime intelligence agents were allowed to use unmarked vehicles with civilian number plates.
"While logistics officers are salvaging as much emergency response equipment from boarded vehicles as possible, there is not enough to equip all the new vehicles, especially with police receiving nearly 5,000 new vehicles annually," Kwinika said.
He said police management cannot issue new contracts now, because if those accused are found not guilty, police would be liable for financial losses the suppliers suffered.
Unions, police members and civic rights groups say motorists, increasingly facing dangers from criminals using bogus police cars, are at risk of being shot if they refuse to stop for officers in unmarked vehicles.
Police management failed to respond to questions.
South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) chair Nagesh Chetty said: "With criminals using vehicles similar to the police, and police driving unmarked cars with no lights, the public no longer knows which vehicles are real police cars and which aren't."
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