Taxpayers’ R1.47 billion VIP protection bill

South African taxpayers have spent over R1.4 billion on very important person (VIP) protection services since the 2020/21 financial year.

Most of this has been allocated to protecting members of the executive. However, R170 million has been spent on members of the Judiciary, Legislature, and ad-hoc VIPs.

Since there have been 262 cases where these services were needed for non-executive individuals, the South African Police Service (SAPS) has spent an average of R648,000 per VIP annually.

This is according to the Minister of Police who responded to a Parliamentary Q&A from Rise Mzansi Member of Parliament (MP) Makashule Gana.

The Minister said three categories of VIPs exist outside of members of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Cabinet and the diplomatic corps.

The first, Category 1 VIPs, comprises members of the Legislature, which include the Speakers and Deputy Speakers of the National and Provincial Legislatures, and the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces.

Members of the Judiciary are considered Category 2 VIPs and include the Chief Justice, Deputy Chief Justice, Judge Presidents, Judge President and Deputy Judge President of the Supreme Court of Appeal, and Judge President of the Labour Court.

Category 3 VIPs are those individuals of importance to the country and deemed in need of ad-hoc protection based on positive threats to their physical security confirmed by the Intelligence Community of South Africa.

According to the Minister, SAPS Protection and Security Services (PSS) provided protection services to 22 Category 1 VIPs annually since 202/21.

This cost the country R71.3 million throughout the period, excluding the compensation of SAPS Close Protection Officers and the cost of transport, as vehicles for protection services are provided by their respective departments.

Similarly, Category 2 VIPs include a fixed number of individuals who require protection per annum, 14 people. This has cost SAPS R45.4 million over the five years, excluding compensation and transportation.

SAPS provided protection services to 82 Category 3 VIPs from 2020/21 to 2024/25, costing the country R53.1 million, an average of R648,000 per individual.

Gana told Newsday that the cost of protecting Category 3 VIPs seems “somewhat high” and that the rationale for doing so “is not clear and convincing”, necessitating a follow-up question to clarify the “inadequate” response.

R1.3 billion to protect the executive

Earlier this year, the then Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu, who has since been placed on a special leave of absence, said that the SAPS VIP Protection Unit had spent R1.3 billion on protecting members of the Executive over the past five years.

This was in response to a question by Action SA MP Darleen James in January, which probed the cost of protection services for each executive member since the 2020/21 financial year. 

However, Mchunu said these costs are managed as a national budget and therefore not recorded per executive member.

The Minister said that in 2020/21, the in-transit protection of members, which refers to the infamous blue light brigades, cost South Africa R168.8 million, while static protection services cost R17.3 million.

In-transit protection increased by more than R60 million to R237.4 million the following year, with static protection services costing R22.2 million.

The cost of blue light brigades soared to a high of R250.1 million in the 2022/23 financial year, with static protection services doing the same at a whopping R90.7 million.

However, both decreased the following year, with in-transit protection costing SAPS R221.3 million and static protection R50 million.

As of January, SAPS had incurred R215.6 million in costs for in-transit protection and R40.3 million for static protection of executive VIPs.

This brings SAPS’s total cost for protecting VIPs in South Africa to R1.48 billion from 2020/21 to 2024/25.