The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) supports Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu's plea for additional funding to address the shortage of detectives in the police service.
COSATU is making this call in response to revelations that since 2018, the South African Police Service (SAPS) has closed almost 300 000 unsolved criminal cases, including nearly 80 000 for murder due to insufficient evidence.
The cases include 76 655 of murder, 40 089 for attempted murder, 61 740 of rape and thousands more of theft, hijackings, assault and kidnappings. The closed cases accounted to two-thirds of all cases reported to the police between March 2018 and December 2023.
These alarming statistics expose deficiencies in some security clusters, specifically in policing. Calls for the capacitation of the police force have been made repeatedly but have not been responded to with due urgency. It cannot be that due to minimal resources and staffing shortages in the SAPS, injustice is peddled to victims of crime. Perpetrators cannot be given a free pass to freedom at the expense of the communities whose confidence in the police is already shaky.
COSATU affiliate, the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) has repeatedly warned against the loss of sufficiently skilled personnel, especially in divisions such as the Special Task Force and National Intervention Units. The union has raised the alarm on police officers leaving the force in droves either due to retirement or for greener pastures in the private sector. This ultimately impacts the successful solving of cases. Between 2012 and 2022, POPCRU saw a worrying drop of more than 30 000 in the number of officers. Officers are burdened with administrative duties while some are assigned shelves of dockets. If the situation continues, efforts to fight crime will be pointless. Whilst we commend plans to boost numbers by more than 17 000 now, this will not be enough to keep pace with natural attrition and recover lost numbers.
The Federation echoes POPCRU's stance that investing in comprehensive training programs for police and other law enforcement officers should be prioritised to improve their skills, particularly in areas such as human rights, community policing, and crisis management. Furthermore, departments within the criminal justice cluster should be well-resourced, with modern equipment, adequate staffing, and sufficient operational budgets.
Similarly, there is a need to redeploy SAPS members from office jobs to specialised units and visible policing. More must be done to ensure our dedicated members in blue have all the tools they need to fulfill their mandate, including working vehicles, specialised training, adequate protection and this includes ensuring that bail is denied to those who attack SAPS members and that such criminals are given the maximum sentences.
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It is critical that government improve the conditions of service for SAPS to ensure that they are insulated from the temptation of bribery by wealthy criminal syndicates and that their sacrifices are recognised and honoured.
To this end, the Federation supports Minister Mchunu's plea for additional funding to address the personnel shortage in the detective service, which he made in his first budget. We hope that he will attend to these insufficiencies and provide citizens of this country the constitutional right to safety and justice.
The Federation salutes our men and women in SAPS. They serve the nation loyally. It is time we give them support and ensure they have the resources they need to win the war against crime and corruption.
