Zuma's wives' cars are our baby - SAPS

2011-03-02 23:03

Pretoria - Responsibility for the cars that transport President Jacob Zuma's wives are not the responsibility of the presidency but the police, a police spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Colonel Vishnu Naidoo said that recent media reports were "misleading and inaccurate".

"It is not the president who wants the cars. It is a routine operational issue by SAPS, which has nothing to do with the presidency," he said.

On Tuesday The Star reported that "the president wants seven more luxury cars permanently available".

Naidoo said the tender process for the cars was nothing new, but had come about as a result of a previous tender coming to an end.

"In another words, this is by no means an introduction of something new that the vehicles must be hired for use by the spouses of the president when fulfilling their roles in support of the president. This forms part of the security provisions for the spouses and this provision remains the mandate of the SAPS."

He said the vehicles mentioned in media reports that should be available were those that should be available for hire and not "permanently available".

He said SAPS's decision not to disclose the costs because it would "give an indication to potential bidders on what rates they should tender", which he said would defeat the purpose of a tender procedure.

The Democratic Alliance's parliamentary leader Athol Trollip said the DA was seeking to establish what hiring luxury vehicles for President Jacob Zuma's wives would cost the taxpayer.

- SAPA