Top cops blow R500 000 on party
THE police are blowing more than R500 000 on a lavish getaway for some of their top brass and their spouses, yet many junior staff had to pay for their own alcohol at a year-end function in Pretoria on Friday.
The senior police members received invitations containing a new computer tablet in a wooden box complete with an ornamental glass-knob handle and a blue polka-dot ribbon.
The event is being funded by a so-called Mess Fund of cash set aside by South Africa’s 10 police training academies.
A three-minute video invited guests to the black-tie affair billed as Galaxy: Night of the Stars. It is scheduled to be held at the police training academy in Oudtshoorn in the Western Cape on Friday night.
Officers from the human resource development head office in Pretoria and the commanders of the 10 basic training institutions are among those invited. The cost of the bash, which coincides with a prizegiving ceremony, follows a parliamentary request for a review of regulations relating to mess or semi-official funds.
Annelize van Wyk, chairwoman of parliament’s portfolio committee on the police, said trainees had alerted her to the so-called Mess Fund.
“They were saying it is not audited. To us it’s a concern, because one expects that all funds in the SAPS will be audited. I am concerned about how that money is being spent.”
The party’s host, Colonel Catharina Nel, is the commander of the Oudtshoorn academy. She has booked the 140 guests into a hotel and guesthouses for two nights.
The invitation was extended on behalf of the former divisional commissioner of human resource development, Lieutenant-General Christabel Mbekela, who was appointed deputy national police commissioner in August.
Chef Tiaan van Greunen, who previously worked with one of South Africa’s award-winning chefs, Reuben Riffel, will assist with the preparation of meals. The R385-a-head gala dinner will include a main course of leg of roast lamb, lamb shank, fillet steak and chicken thighs. Each will be served with a different sauce. This will be followed by a choice of desserts.
In addition to the dinner bill of about R54 000, the police also forked out:
R76 800 for the 80 Prestigio tablets;
Return air tickets for officers and their spouses, as well as other guests travelling to Oudtshoorn;
At least 20 colonels are scheduled to stay at a four-star hotel for about R1 480 for a double room; and
The hiring of a private company to transport guests by bus from George to Oudtshoorn and back, a distance of about 55km each way.
The human resources development division has been holding big bashes since 2005 and previously ferried senior police personnel to functions in Hummers and limousines.
Last year, the police’s top brass and their spouses were entertained at the five-star Sheraton Hotel in Pretoria, where guests received a foot spa worth about R350 each as a gift.
One of the thousands of junior staff who was at the party at the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria on Friday said: “Staff are still angry after only those high up at head office were given tablets as gifts.”
Meanwhile, a staff member at the Oudtshoorn academy said they were furious because they had not been invited to the function. “They are having a huge function, but we had to eat spinach, butternut and curried
Staff are still angry after only those high up at head office were given tablets as gifts
meat today [at their function]. ”
The staff member said highranking officials would be given gifts during the function.
“The higher you are in rank, the more expensive the gift you will receive.”
About 170 staff from the Oudts-hoorn training centre have each received a “free” branded blue golf T-shirt to be worn when the guests arrive “so they could be easily identified”.
Police spokesman Lieutenant-General Solomon Makgale said the police held yearend functions to recognise and thank staff for their hard work.
“For some divisions, such as human resource development, this is also used as an opportunity to review accomplishments to date and plan for the new year.
“Each division has a budget set aside for these functions.”