‘DYING SQUAD’: Flying Squad’s wings clipped — no wheels for Nelson Mandela Bay rapid response cops

{JSON.stringify(article.attachments[0], null, 2)} --> The Flying Squad is supposed to be Nelson Mandela Bay’s rapid response unit. Instead, its members have no operational vehicles and are sitting on the sidelines.

A parliamentary oversight visit to Nelson Mandela Bay’s specialised policing units uncovered a dire lack of resources and how that was hampering law enforcement efforts across the city.

Among these units, the Flying Squad – the police’s elite rapid response team – was found to be without high performance vehicles, rendering them ineffective in their core function, and morale among these members was at an all time low.

That was in November 2025. Nine months have passed since then, and rather than seeing an improvement the situation has become exponentially worse.

Within the halls of the Flying Squad and other police precincts, they have unofficially been redubbed the “Dying Squad”.

“Back in November we had no high performance vehicles, but we had at least one single cab bakkie. Since then the vehicle situation has become even worse. We would have a car for three or four days before it breaks down and we sit with nothing.

“For the past four months we have had no reliable vehicles,” a member of the Flying Squad said.

“We want nothing more than to do our jobs, but without vehicles that is impossible. We try to work with other units and stations, but then we are told: stay in your lane.

“Other SAPS members are looking at us like we are useless, like we want to just sit at the office and get paid to do nothing, but nothing could be further from the truth. One of our members the other day said he does not even feel like ironing his uniform any more. Pride and morale have never been lower.”

In their official comment, the police acknowledged the “concerns” about the NMB Flying Squad, but said they could not share any information on the matter as it could “negatively affect the effectiveness of policing operations”.

During the November oversight visit, led by the chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police, Ian Cameron, Flying Squad management indicated that the unit had seven vehicles on its books. This included two vehicles allocated solely to the provincial Accident Response Unit, leaving them with three BMWs, a double-cab bakkie and a single-cab bakkie.

At the time, only the single-cab bakkie was operational. Currently, no vehicles are operational.

Flying Squad members, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Daily Maverick that following Cameron’s visit, a VW Golf GTI had been brought in from Humansdorp, but had spent very little time on the road due to a series of mechanical issues.

“When that Golf came here it was already f****d up. Earlier this month it came back from the garage after faulty brakes were replaced. We had it for four days when our unit was involved in a high-speed chase. Going around a sharp corner, the brakes did not operate properly and the vehicle hit the pavement. It went back to the garage.