The DA can reveal that for the 2017/2018 financial year, the number of close protectors for current and former Presidents, Deputy Presidents and First Ladies has a ratio of 81 protectors per person.
A reply to a DA Parliamentary Question shows that there are currently 1 382 personnel employed by the Presidential Protection Unit. According to a reply last year, this unit was protecting a total of 17 individuals.
These are truly astonishing numbers considering that in Nyanga in the Western Cape, the police to population ratio in 2018 is estimated at 1 police officer to every 628 residents.
Nationally, this ratio is 369 residents for every 1 police officer.
This is a blatant example of how the lives of the elite matter more to the ANC government, than ordinary citizens lives.
While current and former Heads of State and their spouses are safely protected, millions of South Africans live in constant fear of being the next victims of violent crime in our country.
It is time that this government realises that all lives have value and not just the lives of ANC cadres.
It is an indictment on the ANC government that it can spend more than R690 million on the Presidential Protection Unit, yet the South African Police Services has for years remained chronically under-resourced.
The DA is the only political party that will ensure an efficient, professional and well-resourced police service which will ensure that all South Africans, irrespective of their status in society, will feel safe in the streets and their homes.