South African taxpayers paid R24.5 million for police cameras that never came
The former acting National Police Commissioner, Khomotso Phahlane, said R24 million, plus interest, was paid to a service provider that failed to deliver a single camera to the police.
This formed part of Phahlane’s testimony before Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee on 14 January 2025.
The Ad Hoc Committee is investigating allegations of criminal infiltration, corruption and political interference in the justice system.
Phahlane bemoaned the fact that he is blamed for this matter when he was not actively serving at the time of the payment.
“Somebody went to pay R24 million, plus interest, to a service provider who did not deliver a single camera to the police,” he said.
“That happened in 2018/2019. I have been sitting at home since 1 June 2017. That payment is now attributed to me,” he said.
He dismissed the suggestion that he was behind the payment, saying he provided the name of the person who authorised it.
The issue which Phahlane referred to in his testimony dates back to 2014, when the SAPS Forensic Services division identified a need for specialised cameras.
A contract worth approximately R92.8 million was awarded to the Ethemba Forensic Group to provide cameras for documenting crime scenes.
However, shortly after the contract was signed, competing interests, specifically from a company called Forensic Data Analysts (FDA), challenged the award.
Internal SAPS leadership, most notably Phahlane, was accused of intentionally stalling the implementation of the Ethemba contract.
Phahlane reportedly attempted to reprioritise R46 million that had been set aside for these cameras to other services.
Because SAPS signed the contract with Ethemba but then failed to place any orders or honour the agreement, Ethemba sued for breach of contract.
SAPS eventually settled the matter by paying Ethemba R24.5 million. The police received no cameras, making the entire amount “fruitless and wasteful expenditure.”
Phahlane was eventually dismissed from SAPS in 2020, which the Safety and Security Sectoral Bargaining Council (SSSBC) found to be fair.
The council noted that he had sought to apportion blame to everyone else but himself for the R24 million loss suffered by the SA Police Service.
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To the layman, such actions or in-actions would be considered fraud… However, in South Africa it does not constitute a crime. This is simply what we call ‘business’. “Businessmen” or “Entrepeneurs” work hard to have their friends and family in powerful positions award them with orders. They then work very hard to make sure that they are paid… after all, nobody likes a bad debt. Once the order has been received and the invoice paid (these are sometimes paid while the invoice is exiting the printer – we run a very efficient system).
That’s where the work ends. No need to provide a service or goods – that will result in unnecessary diesel fumes from transporting goods – also keeps more vehicles off the roads.
These transactions are great – they give the press some catchy headlines and editorial content. It also helps keep our luxury car dealers happy because… …well, because you know that’s where most of the money ended up – you really can’t have enough glitzy cars!
The biggest problem may just be that if all of these corrupt comrades were rounded up and arrested, we would have to hire thousands of hotel rooms to be able to accommodate them all as we do not have enough capacity in our prison system for these numbers. We would also have to fast track admitting attorneys and judges as what we have will not be enough unless we are prepared to wait a few decades.
So the ANC is essentially looking after our country by not having to build new prisons or increase the capacity of our legal system… saving the country from pollution and lowering traffic congestion.
Thank you ANC – you really do know how to think outside of the box!