DA to conduct oversight visits to under-resourced police stations

10 April 2016

I will be conducting a series of oversight visits to police stations across the country to see how the “four U’s” (under-resourcing, under-staffing, under-equipping and under-training) are impacting on the SAPS’s ability to carry out their responsibility to protect the citizens of this country.

The sad fact is that we are losing the fight against rising levels of crime in South Africa, and what has become clear is that where the SAPS is most under-resourced, crime is highest. Crime affects each and every one of us. The latest crime statistics, released in September last year, showed an overall increase in crime nationally. Of the 27 crime categories, 16 categories, including murder, sexual offenses, robbery at residential homes, drug-related crime and carjacking, increased from the previous year. 

This worrying picture is painted by the following statistics: 

The 2014/15 SAPS Annual Report showed that there were 4 318 vacancies within SAPS, with many stations having unfilled posts.

Police-to-populations ratios are skewed. In the Western Cape, for example, the police-to-population ratio is in excess of 1 police officer to 700 residents in some of the precincts hardest hit by crime. This is compared to a national average of 1 police officer to every 328 people.

Detective-to-docket ratios also show that our detectives are severely overworked and are not able to deal with the huge number of cases on their desks. A reply to a parliamentary question showed that the recommended average case load per investigating officer is between 40 and 45 case dockets; however, the current average norm across the country is ± 80 case dockets per investigating officer.

It is vital that we fight crime with all the means at our disposal, but especially that the funds allocated to protect South Africans are used effectively and efficiently for maximum benefit and ultimately to stave off the tidal wave of crime that has our people feeling unsafe in their homes, on the streets and at places of work. For without these efforts we will not win the fight against crime. 

The DA therefore finds it staggering that the SAPS management have allocated R26 billion (or over a third of their budget) to contingent liabilities, which refer to potential payments the SAPS may have to make for civil claims against police officers for attacks and criminality by its members.

Fighting crime is a matter of political will and the prioritisation of resources to achieve the best outcomes, that being the reduction of crime. The people of South Africa deserve to feel safe and it is important that the SAPS make the best use of the resources they have to ensure that we make meaningful strides to reduce crime so South Africans no longer need to live under siege in barricaded homes.

I will therefore be analysing the needs of police stations nationwide in order to find sustainable solutions to the ever growing problem of crime in South Africa. 

Issued by Zakhele Mbhele, DA Shadow Minister of Police, 10 April 2016