Update on blocked petrol cards for officials in Joburg
The Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) has confirmed that its fuel payment cards have been unblocked and are functioning as per usual, after reports of temporary blockages due to non-payment.
Earlier this week, reports emerged regarding a directive issued by the JMPD instructing officers to return police vehicles to their stations after their shifts, due to fuel supply shortages.
The temporary blockage of the department’s fuel cards had reportedly prevented officers from refuelling police vehicles.
However, JMPD spokesperson Xolani Fihla announced that the fuel card administrative matters affecting the departmental vehicles have been fully resolved, and all cards are now unblocked and functioning normally.
“The temporary blockage was not an internal JMPD issue, but rather an administrative matter at the City level during a transitional arrangement between the City of Johannesburg and the service provider,” said Fihla.
Fihla said that no operational activities or law enforcement deployments were affected or compromised during the transitional period that resulted in blocked fuel cards.
“The situation was managed internally to ensure that visible policing and emergency responses continued without disruption,” he said.
He explained that standard fuel-saving measures, internal fleet controls, and vehicle monitoring remain in place.
The spokesperson also confirmed that law enforcement operations are running smoothly across all areas.
“Residents are reassured that JMPD officers remain on the ground continuously enforcing traffic regulations, municipal by-laws, and crime prevention measures,” he said.
“High-visibility patrols and targeted operations remain active across every part of the city, with a specialised focus on identified hot spots and key areas of concern.”
He said that every part of Johannesburg will continue to receive “relentless” law enforcement coverage.
“The pinnacle of service delivery failure”
Corruption-fighting civil action organisation Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) CEO Wayne Duvenage told Talk Radio 702 that an incident such as this is the pinnacle of service delivery failure.
Duvenage described the incident, coupled with other service delivery failures, as the city coming to a grinding halt and failing to provide basic services.
Duvenage said the directive issued to the officials told them not to use the vehicles for personal purposes and to leave them at their stations.
He raised concerns about why police officials were not adhering to the policy requiring police vehicles to be used only for departmental matters, not for personal use.
“This abuse of state resources in a big city like Johannesburg, when it gets down to a situation where you’ve run out of money, the people start to suffer.”
He said that the city has reached a point where its security and road traffic management systems are failing.
Duvenage said that with speed camera operations currently suspended and limited police visibility on the roads, incidents involving unlicensed and unroadworthy vehicles will increase.
Johannesburg has gone 10 months without camera-based speed enforcement after the JMPD switched off the city’s speed cameras when its contract with the camera provider ended.
In December 2025, Johannesburg’s three-year contract with Syntell, which provided the cameras and system used to process fines, had ended.
When the contract ended, the company took its cameras with it. Last month, JMPD spokesperson Xolani Fihla said that the tender process to replace the system was still underway.
Fihla said that officers who would have been deployed to monitor speed cameras have been redeployed to areas with high crime levels.
“Enforcement operations were temporarily suspended, as access to back-end systems ended. The city is currently navigating the mandatory Municipal Finance Management Act procurement process to appoint a new service provider,” he said.
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