Government spends billions on VIP security
"Few things in South Africa are more visible and yet more secretive than the VIP Protection Services."
The government is spending billions on VIP protection, the International Race Relations (IRR) has revealed.
In a report former journalist, Gareth van Onselen revealed that VIP Protection Services’ budget for the 2018/2019 financial year, “is just under R3 billion by conservative estimate”.
The current head of politics and governance at the IRR said the service protected the president, ministers and deputy ministers.
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He said the well-funded police force operates in secret and, generally, without accountability.
Van Onselen said President Cyril Ramaphosa had inherited a big problem.
“Under President Thabo Mbeki from 2000/2001 to 2008/2009, the service’s expenditure was R4.3 billion,” he said adding that under President Zuma this had exploded.
“From 2009/2010 to 2018 a total of R18.2 billion would be spent and if Ramaphosa is elected president in 2019, just the first two years of his new administration – 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 – will cost R5.8 billion in VIP Protection.”
The cost includes all public expenditure on the service across such as flights the 21 VIP Squadron since 2000 when it first appeared as a budget line item.
Van Onselen said some components of the service fell under SAPS, some under the defence force and others under Intelligence Service, which was not properly reported on and operated in secret.
He said a mysterious document called the Risk Management Support System for Very Important Persons Policy, which dictated who qualified for VIP protection and on what basis, had never been made public.
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Van Onselen said the constitution demanded civilian oversight, but, routinely, Parliament was not properly briefed on VIP Protection and the public was none the wiser as to its performance.
“Few things in South Africa are more visible and yet more secretive than the service. We see them everywhere but who they are, how they operate, how much they cost and the outcomes they are responsible for, generally remain a mystery.”
He said hopefully, his document report would go some considerable way to shining as much light as possible into the darkness.
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