The expenditure of the South African Police Service (SAPS) on catering and accommodation since February 2018 was incurred in the fulfilment of the constitutional and statutory responsibilities of the police.
Like all other expenditure items in the SAPS budget, catering and accommodation are a normal part of the cost of running a police service.
This includes instances where officials have to be accommodated away from their normal place of work due to specific operational needs and deployment requirements. Examples in recent years include public order interventions in various provinces, securing the national and local government elections, deployments in response to COVID-19, and deployments to police the July 2021 unrest.
There is no reason to replace a Minister on the basis of expenditure that forms part of the operational requirements of a police service.