5,733 police officers do not have valid driving licences

Cape Town - Nathi Mthethwa, the new Safety and Security Minister, has told Parliament that 5 733 police officers do not have valid driving licences.

These include 3 338 inspectors, 1 712 sergeants, and as many as 280 captains.

Giving these figures in a written answer to a parliamentary question from James Masango of the Democratic Alliance circulated on Tuesday, Mthethwa said the current figures were arrived at after a verification process which followed a similar question put last year.

He also admitted that the non-drivers included 620 members of the detective service and 67 from crime intelligence. Four-thousand nine-hundred and eight-four members of the visible policing units could not drive. Seventeen superintendents cannot either.

The provincial breakdown of non-drivers shows that Gauteng and the Eastern Cape account for more than half the cops unfamiliar with the steering wheel.

'Thousands of cops can't drive': South Africa: News: News24