Overview
- The Pretoria Magistrate's Court granted 53-year-old Captain Johannes van Rensburg R50,000 bail on Tuesday, with his passport surrendered and the case set for 30 July 2026.
- Prosecutors say he used SAPS’s Polfin finance system to push through cash withdrawals disguised as travel money for Presidential Protection officers, yet those officers never received the funds.
- Evidence presented in court says he began requests using a colleague’s login during the colleague’s 23-month sick leave, then approved the same payments with his own credentials.
- SAPS flagged irregular transactions and suspended him on 1 April after an internal check found an unaccounted shortfall of about R1,027,742.90 in a cash safe under his control.
- Police leaders praised the internal team that caught the scheme, said the anti-corruption unit is still investigating, and stressed that no Presidential Protection members are implicated.