Nqakula: Just get there
2003-10-15 22:30
Pretoria - Police should use their private vehicles, patrols on foot, horses, bicycles, scooters, wagons pulled by animals - anything available - to meet the needs of crime victims.
This was a statement made by Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula on Wednesday in an attempt to defuse the storm that erupted when he suggested on Monday that police officers use their private vehicles in case of emergencies if there were no police vehicles available.
Lesley Xinwa, spokesperson for the minister, said on Wednesday that the minister meant that police should do everything in their power to provide good service to communities. Nqakula denied that his suggestion implied that there was a vehicle crisis in the police.
Xinwa said Nqakula merely tried to tell police officers that there were other ways to get to a crime scene apart from police vehicles.
"The focus was on the fact that police should stop using transport problems as an excuse not to react to complaints from the public."