Oversight visit exposes serious irregularities at TMPD vehicle pound

Following the site visit to the TMPD Impound Depot in Region 3, Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) chairperson Godwin Ratikwane has called for a report to be conducted over corruption claims.

On September 16, Ratikwane made a site visit to the pound, where a meeting with the city officials onsite was held.

During the meeting, it was confirmed that there is ongoing corruption at the pound.

Ratikwane had noted that the city’s contracted security company on-site were not wearing uniforms, had no name tags, and no PSiRA registration numbers on them.

“Some of the key findings which were discovered are unrecorded impounded vehicles, meaning that vehicles will be impounded and later released without any receipts,” said committee spokesperson Vanessa de Sousa.
Receipts prove that the vehicle owners have paid the fine as defined by the city’s by-laws.

Another issue noted was that once a vehicle is impounded, the TMPD will inform the security officers on duty not to register the vehicle upon entering the pound. The owners are then told to pay discounted rates directly to the TMPD officers, as opposed to paying at the city’s designated pay point.

The infrastructure in the area is also dilapidated, with no sign of recent maintenance work having been done in the area.

“The official on-site also informed the chairperson that they are unable to keep a record of the correct count of the total number of impounded vehicles, because they do not have adequate measures in place to help account for all the vehicles impounded daily, weekly and monthly.

“They also indicated that since 2017, they have been waiting for CCTV cameras to be installed,” De Sousa added.

The calls for a report to be conducted stem from a need to mitigate corruption within the TMPD.

Some of the problems found at the pound were that vehicles physically present had not been recorded as impounded, while other vehicles had been released without authorisation.

It is also alleged that some private security guards, TMPD members, and runners have formed a syndicate and are profiting from the unauthorised and unrecorded release of vehicles.

The walls are also in very bad condition; some are almost collapsing, and there is not enough space to store all the vehicles at the pound.

“It’s really disheartening that the city has put so many resources into buying a lot of trucks and equipment to ensure that by-law enforcement and towing are done, but the money is going down the drain,” Ratikwane said.

“We’re going to hold people accountable; we want to see heads rolling. We want to see people taken to task in relation to what has happened.

Ratikwane said the corruption is known by every staff member; “even the ones who aren’t participating have been told to stay away from the ones who do and not report them”.

“It’s a mess; we are losing more than R1-million to R3-million monthly from this particular impound, and we should do something about it,” he said.

The report will be tabled at the next MPAC meeting, where the chairperson hopes to get a better understanding of the situation at the depot and what mitigating factors TMPD management will put in place to curb the alleged corruption.

Watch here: https://x.com/i/status/1968181040771461336.

🚨In Pictures🚨

Yesterday, the City of Tshwane MPAC Chairperson, Fighter Godwin Ratikwane conducted an oversight at TMPD Vehicles Impounding Depot after reports of serious allegations of corruption within the TMPD Central Business District.

The our visit we made key findings… pic.twitter.com/AyZVQ8qGYJ

— EFF Gauteng (@EFFGautengProv) September 17, 2025

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