Based on information received, members of the Hawks in Gauteng are struggling to get around and conduct their duties because their official vehicles have been grounded after failure to renew their licence disks.
According to the DA, the fleet of vehicles have been grounded as a result of expired licence discs due to unpaid fines.
“Members of the Hawks in the province have been prevented from conducting investigations due to the expired licence disks on their official vehicles. Some of them date back to 2015.
“Critical investigations into, among others, fraud and corruption are delayed due to this vital resource restraint, and many officers have had to resort to funding their own investigations these past months. This situation is unacceptable and must be solved as a matter of urgency,” said Andrew Whitfield, MP and DA Shadow Minister of Police.
Whitfield said his party would write to the national police commissioner, Gen Khehla Sithole, regarding the issue.
“General Sithole must intervene immediately and present a report to Parliament’s portfolio committee on police.
“The Hawks must be enabled to make full use of their resources as soon as possible so that the fight against corruption and other priority crimes continue without delay.
“Crime is already spiralling out of control and rising every day as people become more desperate to survive the economic devastation of the continued Covid-19 lockdown, and hardened criminals seek to exploit every loophole offered to them.”
Attention
Responding to our enquiry, the Hawks said the matter is being attended to.
“The challenges of the vehicles that have expired licences is receiving attention from management. “The licensing authority is working on clearing the blockages to enable correction thereof.
“Over and above this, the accountable officials have been given the responsibility to clear the outstanding fines. In the meantime, new vehicles are being processed through a different office to alleviate the problem,” explained Hawks spokesperson Lt Col Philani Nkwalase.
Nkwalase could not reveal the total number of vehicles being grounded a result of expired licence discs due to unpaid fines.
It is also unclear how long this problem has been going on, and how this has impacted operations.
Also Read: Hawks’ investigation into Boksburg woman’s R460-m fraud is finalised
