South Africa’s worrying shortage which helps criminals by Blake Neethling

[Nat Quinn]

South Africa’s worrying shortage which helps criminals by Blake Neethling

South Africa’s Police Minister recently revealed that the country faces a severe shortage of detectives, meaning many cases remain uninvestigated and criminals walk free.

In response to a recent parliamentary question from Rise Mzansi MP Makashule Gana, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu revealed the total number of detectives currently employed in the South African Police Service (SAPS).

The total number of detectives employed is 22,413 – over 8,500 less than the 31,007 established positions available.

He further revealed that 527 detectives voluntarily left the SAPS between 1 October 2023 and 19 July 2024.

“This should worry us all as South Africans that we’ve got such a high vacancy rate of detectives because when there are no detectives, most of the cases that are reported to the police are not investigated,” Gana told SABC News.

“Even in cases where there are attempts to investigate, no proper investigation happens because the detectives that remain are overwhelmed and overworked by the caseload.”

“That’s why you’ll find that many cases end up going cold or not being brought to court, and criminals continue to terrorize communities.”

The SAPS’ low conviction rates were revealed in May this year when former Police Minister Bheki Cele said in a parliamentary reply to the DA that over 5.4 million case dockets were closed without results due to insufficient evidence or leads since the 2018/19 financial year.

Following these revelations, the DA submitted a request for information under the Promotion of Access to Information Act to obtain further details on these dockets.

On 7 August 2024, newly elected Police Minister Mchunu furnished the Democratic Alliance with a detailed breakdown of these dockets.

He revealed that, between 2018/19 and 31 December 2023, the following total numbers of dockets were closed without result, according to the Minister:

• Murder: 76,655

• Attempted murder: 40,089

• Assault GBH: 141,026

• Aggravated robbery: 256,162

• Rape: 61,740

• Sexual Assault: 5,523

• Kidnapping: 9,114

“There has to be a plan to arrest this decline because another worrying thing is that, on a monthly basis, over 50 detectives leave the South African Police Service,” Gana said.

He attributed this to detectives and police officers wanting to pursue other opportunities, primarily in the private sector.

“The better-trained detectives – newer ones who are trained in the use of technology, those who are able to investigate complex cases like online fraud – are the ones that get to leave the South African Police Services,” he added.

“If you have the high-skilled individuals leaving the police, the end result is that the criminals that are supposed to be in jail don’t go to jail and they continue terrorizing communities, they continue killing, raping and doing all sorts of crime that makes us fearful to live in in this country.”

Gana said a large reason for police officers leaving is the working conditions they are placed in – both in terms of morale and the physical environment that they work in.

Earlier this year, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure launched an internal investigation into the mismanagement of the Telkom Towers complex – SAPS’ headquarters – and other properties owned by the department in Pretoria’s city centre.

GroundUp reported that this followed a bungle at the SAPS headquarters, where staff were evacuated, and the building being used by the police was declared uninhabitable. This came after an inspection by labour department officials, police management and the Solidarity trade union.

The Auditor-General’s office later told Parliament that only one of the nine buildings in the complex had ever been used by SAPS.

The remaining vacant buildings have cost the government at least R592 million. The report to Parliament found this to be a material irregularity.

“This is what I ask of the Minister and of the Police Commissioner – there has to be a concrete plan on how we are going to identify, recruit and train detectives so that we can fill these vacancies,” Gana said.

Below is an overview of the number of detectives and vacancies across the country, according to the current Police Minister.

Province	Actual workforce	Fixed establishment	Vacancies
Eastern Cape	2,721	4,186	-1,465
Free State	1,469	2,252	-783
Gauteng	6,310	6,800	-490
KwaZulu-Natal	3,510	5,139	-1,629
Limpopo	1,448	2,361	-913
Mpumalanga	1,623	2,142	-519
North West	1,366	1,911	-545
Northern Cape	928	1,632	-695
Western Cape	3,038	4,593	-1,555
TOTAL	22.413	31,007	-8,594

source:South Africa’s worrying shortage which helps criminals – Daily Investor

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