At least one opposition party in parliament says South Africa can no longer afford the cost of hosting international summits and conferences, citing the cost of policing the BRICS summit in Johannesburg in August.
Police Minister Bheki Cele has revealed in a written Parliamentary reply that approximately R75 million was spent on the deployment of just over 5 200 police officers during the three-day summit.
A total of 726 vehicles were used.
The heads of state of Brazil, India, China and several other world leaders attended.
The Freedom Front Plus believes that with the financial pressures the country is facing, such international events have simply become too expensive for the country to host.
“The minister for finance announced certain austerity measures for certain state departments. He wants to increase VAT by 2% because there is no money. This R75 million could have been utilised much better by appointing more police detectives in SAPS to ensure more and better investigations so that criminals can land behind bars. If that happens, the public will get more trust and confidence in the SAPS.” says FF Plus leader Dr Pieter Groenewald
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