The City of Johannesburg (CoJ) will spend over R3 million a month on VIP protection with 60 bodyguards and 40 vehicles.
The new policy grants VIP protection to committee chairpersons, councillors, and the executive.
The DA and ActionSA opposed the decision.
The city’s billing for services was below budget by R3.4 billion, while overspending on bulk services was R342 million.
According to the Daily Maverick, the city’s politicians will receive roughly 60 bodyguards and 40 vehicles from the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD).
Executive Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda’s cars will include BMWs, VWs, Lexuses, and Toyotas.
Speaker Margaret Arnolds will have five cars and eight bodyguards.
Arnolds defended the policy as aligning with the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers Act. Service delivery resources were not diverted.
DA Johannesburg caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku said this policy was another example of an overreaching, spendthrift executive.
‘If service delivery were to be improved, residents wouldn’t be so frustrated and prompted to lash out, which include threats to councillors who are failing at their jobs’, she said.
Civil society groups have called the move a slap in the face of residents who face the daily deterioration of services across the city, and nothing more than an attempt to emulate the blue-light culture that exists at the national and provincial levels.
For the 2024/25 financial year, the SAPS has budgeted R4 billion for protection and security services, of which R2.18 billion is specifically budgeted for VIP protection.
This is slightly less than the R2.4 billion budgeted by the Hawks to combat organised crime syndicates, severe and violent crime, commercial crime, and corruption.