Grin

JOHANNESBURG — In a move that can only be described as the scrum of fiscal responsibility, South African Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, is facing a ruckus for taking his executive assistant to the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, and it’s the taxpayers who are left feeling like the losing team.

Ian Cameron from Action Society South Africa, always ready to tackle issues head-on, pointed out, “So taxpayers paid nearly R500 000 for Bheki Cele’s assistant to go with him to the rugby world cup final in France. Taxpayers also paid for Cele’s travel insurance and his travel allowance. What a stand-up police minister 😐 this while cops don’t get paid their deserved overtime or have working vehicles or even paper to write on.”

Cele’s executive assistant, now crowned the MVP of taxpayer-funded jaunts, accompanied the minister to the Rugby World Cup final, proving once and for all that policing and line-outs have more in common than you’d think.

The minister, in a parliament Q&A session, defended the spending, proudly announcing that the SAPS shelled out a mere R446,339.43 for his wingman to attend the RWC final. However, the SAPS didn’t stop there; an extra R33,256 was cheerfully sprinkled on Cele’s stay in France, presumably to cover the exorbitant costs of croissants and berets.

Civil rights group Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) is now calling for Cele to face the music in parliament, because apparently, spending nearly half a million rand on a rugby trip is the opposite of a scrum-diddly-umptious use of public funds. Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage, not one to mince words, described the minister’s spree as “unnecessary,” adding, “We have a government that is broke but finds it fit to spend money in this manner. It is an unnecessary expenditure and it sends a clear message from the minister and the department that they do not respect the taxpayers’ money.”

Duvenage is also of the opinion that the trip, though a splendid scrum for the minister and his assistant, should not have been financed by the SAPS. “Half a million [rand] makes a difference in a department where police officers are struggling with resources. It could buy about two new vehicles that could have been put to good use and could have saved a life,” he quipped.

Dr. Johan Burger, a policing expert, weighed in on the matter, saying, “The criminal justice system is under tremendous pressure because of the rise in crime and this is added to by the high rise in corruption exposed by the Zondo commission. With what remains of the capacity, is it sufficient to deal with the rise in crime, including mass shootings? The criminal justice system needs to rebuild its capacity, and scrum out internal corruption, strengthen specialized police units and give them resources because there are units that do a good job.”

Amid rising crime, budgetary constraints, and a serious lack of paper for police reports, it seems like Minister Cele is hell-bent on ensuring that South Africa’s policing priorities are as scattered as a poorly executed pass. Perhaps next time, he could consider investing in tackling crime instead of trying to tackle a rugby ball in France.

Read more on TimesLIVE.