R3.4 billion issued for VIP protection a year

South African government spends more than R3 billion on VIP protection for government officials. But the most recent events have brought into question what exactly this money is being spent on.

Talking to eNCA, Wayne Duvenage who is the CEO of Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) said R3.4 billion was spent on VIP protection for politicians in the 2023 financial year, which is a figure that far outweighs the R2.25 billion allocated to the Hawks.

Asking why so much money is being spent compared to the Hawks, he said an audit needs to be done and very stringent scrutiny of what is that R3 billion being spent on for VIP protection.

Recently trending for all the wrong reasons and getting caught on camera assaulting motorists and passengers on the N1 highway in Johannesburg were members of Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s VIP protection team. This incident sparked a nationwide debate over the country’s so-called “blue light brigades” and the extent of their powers.

The members of Mashatile’s protection unit that were caught on camera have since been suspended, however, no arrests have yet been made, which is something Duvenage said points to special treatment of these VIP protection members. Initially, Mashatile said he was not in the vehicle at the time of the incident. However, Netwerk24 reported that the Deputy President’s office later confirmed he was in the vehicle.

Duvenage stressed that this issue must be addressed because South Africans are rapidly losing trust in the government.