Statement by Dr Vicky Knoetze MPL – DA Shadow MEC for Community Safety:
- Eastern Cape has the highest murder and rape ratios in South Africa, with 1,047 murders and 1,476 rapes recorded in just three months.
- Nelson Mandela Bay’s Flying Squad reportedly has no operational vehicles, while the East London Flying Squad currently has just three.
- A parliamentary reply reveals that 983 of the Eastern Cape’s 4,046 SAPS vehicles are unavailable, while 832 have travelled more than 300,000 kilometres.
The Eastern Cape remains South Africa’s murder and rape capital. Residents of this province are more likely to be murdered or raped than those living anywhere else in the country.
Yet the police officers expected to respond to this violent crime crisis are being left without one of the most basic tools they need to do their jobs. Working vehicles.
The latest quarterly crime statistics recorded 1,047 murders in the Eastern Cape, giving the province the highest murder ratio in the country at 15.8 per 100,000 people. A further 1,476 rapes were reported, with the province also recording South Africa’s highest rape ratio at 22.3 per 100,000 people.
How are police expected to respond to this level of violent crime if they cannot even get to the scene?
In Nelson Mandela Bay, the Flying Squad, a specialised rapid-response unit, reportedly has no operational vehicles. In East London, the Flying Squad currently has just three operational vehicles.
The situation in Nelson Mandela Bay has now reached the absurd point where Flying Squad members who reportedly used their own vehicle and fuel to pursue information that led to a major recovery of stolen firearms are facing an internal investigation.
The investigation should start with how SAPS management allowed an entire Flying Squad to be left without a single operational vehicle.
These officers should never have been placed in a situation where using their own vehicle became the only apparent means available to them to serve the public.
This is not an isolated incident. A parliamentary reply obtained by DA MP Ian Cameron shows that SAPS has 4,046 vehicles in the Eastern Cape, of which 983 are currently unavailable. Of those, 848 are awaiting mechanical repairs, 84 require panel beating, and 51 are being serviced.
The same reply reveals that 832 Eastern Cape SAPS vehicles have already travelled more than 300,000 kilometres.
Almost one in four SAPS vehicles in the Eastern Cape is therefore unavailable, while more than one in five has already travelled over 300,000 kilometres.
The fleet management issue directly affects whether police can respond when residents call for help.
I have already requested an urgent hearing of the Eastern Cape Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Community Safety, at which MEC Xolile Nqatha, Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant-General Vuyisile Ncata, and the relevant specialised policing leadership must account for the province’s response to violent crime.
I will now request that SAPS fleet management be placed squarely on the agenda of that hearing.
The MEC and Provincial Commissioner must account for the unavailable vehicles, repair turnaround times, the allocation of new vehicles across districts and specialised units, and how critical rapid-response units in Nelson Mandela Bay and Buffalo City have been allowed to operate with so few vehicles.
The DA’s 2026 Local Government Manifesto recognises that South Africa’s centralised policing model is failing communities. It commits the DA to bringing policing closer to the people by giving capable municipalities the powers and resources they need to fight crime on the ground.
It is precisely because the current centralised system is failing that capable local governments must be empowered to do more to keep their residents safe.
Eastern Cape communities cannot continue living with the country’s highest murder and rape rates while specialised police officers are left sitting at their offices because there are no vehicles available.
You cannot fight a violent crime crisis with a grounded police service.
