SAPS Cannot Be in the Business of Empowering Those Who Destroy Our Communities
Press Statement by Dereleen James MP
ActionSA Cape Town Mayoral Candidate
ActionSA is alarmed by reports that the South African Police Service purchased nearly 3,000 litres of diesel from alleged organised crime boss Ralph Stanfield and his wife, Nicole Johnson, while police were investigating their alleged criminal enterprise.
According to amaBhungane, SAPS paid as much as R123 per litre for diesel that was selling for approximately R24.83 per litre at the time. One order saw SAPS pay R122,364 for 990 litres of diesel, roughly five times the prevailing price.
The police are supposed to be dismantling organised crime, not handing public money to businesses allegedly connected to the very networks they are investigating. That is why the reported failure to identify these red flags is so concerning. SAPS supply chain sources have indicated that links to serious organised crime should have triggered scrutiny during the supplier-vetting process.
SAPS has now launched an inquiry into the transactions, including whether the matter warrants a criminal investigation. That inquiry cannot simply become another internal process that disappears into a filing cabinet.
ActionSA calls for a full investigation into these transactions, the procurement process that enabled them, and the officials responsible for approving them.
Our police service must stand with the people who are being terrorised by organised crime — not empower the people accused of terrorising them.
SAPS Cannot Be in the Business of Empowering Those Who Destroy Our Communities
ActionSA is alarmed by reports that the South African Police Service purchased nearly 3,000 litres of diesel from alleged organised crime boss Ralph Stanfield and his wife, Nicole Johnson, while police were investigating their alleged criminal enterprise.
According to amaBhungane, SAPS paid as much as R123 per litre for diesel that was selling for approximately R24.83 per litre at the time. One order saw SAPS pay R122,364 for 990 litres of diesel, roughly five times the prevailing price.
The police are supposed to be dismantling organised crime, not handing public money to businesses allegedly connected to the very networks they are investigating. That is why the reported failure to identify these red flags is so concerning. SAPS supply chain sources have indicated that links to serious organised crime should have triggered scrutiny during the supplier-vetting process.
SAPS has now launched an inquiry into the transactions, including whether the matter warrants a criminal investigation. That inquiry cannot simply become another internal process that disappears into a filing cabinet.
ActionSA calls for a full investigation into these transactions, the procurement process that enabled them, and the officials responsible for approving them.
Our police service must stand with the people who are being terrorised by organised crime — not empower the people accused of terrorising them.