Madam Deputy Speaker, according to the reports I have received, the arrest was made by the local Rosebank police station after the investigating officer from Mpumalanga had waited for more than two hours at the Rosebank station for the person to hand themselves over to the police. When the suspect failed to present himself to the investigating officer, two other officers proceeded in one vehicle to this person's place of work, where a commotion broke out and other vehicles were dispatched to establish the problem. The costs for any arrest are not calculated on an individual basis, but are part of the SAPS's operational budget.
There was no impact on the general duties of the SAPS as the dispatched vehicles hardly spent 10 minutes at the scene after this person was arrested. The person in question was arrested on charges of fraud and forgery after a case was opened in Mpumalanga.
The person's lawyer was present at the time of arrest and, therefore, there was no time delay in contacting his lawyer. The National commissioner is not informed every time the police effect an arrest. Therefore, on this matter it was not required for the investigating officer to first inform National Commissioner Gen Cele. As such the national commissioner was not informed and this should be an obvious thing. Every investigating officer has the powers and authority to effect an arrest after a docket has been opened, and this instance was no different. Thank you.