The articles on "Fancy fleet for Zuma wives" published in newspapers on the 1st of March were inaccurate and misleading.

The need for the vehicles formed part of a tender process that was recently advertised as a result of the cessation of a previous tender. In another words, this is by no means an introduction of something new that the vehicles must be hired for use by the Spouses of the President when fulfilling their roles in support of the President. This forms part of the security provisions for the Spouses and this provision remains the mandate of the SAPS. Therefore, it is not the President who "wants" the cars, as stated by Independent Newspapers. It is a routine operational issue by SAPS, which has nothing to do with the Presidency.

The vehicles referred to in the above-mentioned article will be vehicles for hire and not vehicles that must be "permanently available" as indicated in the article. The cost of hiring these vehicles does not encroach on the security issues per se. We opted not to disclose the costs because such disclosure will give an indication to potential bidders on what rates they should tender. To this end, the disclosure of such costs at this point in time will defeat the object of undergoing a tender process.

Furthermore, we were amazed that the articles referred to the budget for Protection and Security Services as well as VIP Protection in particular when such allocations have not yet been made.

Statement issued by Colonel Vishnu Naidoo, Spokeperson National Media Centre, SAPS, March 2 2011

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