More than 13.2-million SAPS criminal cases were closed without resolution in the past 10 years.
This was disclosed by acting police minister Firoz Cachalia in a parliamentary reply to a question posed by Build One SA (Bosa) leader Mmusi Maimane.
The data provided by Cachalia indicates that of a total of 21,497,020 criminal cases opened over the past decade:
- 8,050,088 were solved; and
- 13,264,019 were closed without resolution.
Cachalila clarified that closed cases are not permanently dismissed and “can be reopened if, for example, new evidence emerges or if the docket was closed with a brought-forward date in the subsequent years”.
According to Maimane, this translates to a police service “struggling to keep pace with the country’s crime levels”.
“The clearance rate for criminal cases stands at just 37.5%, highlighting a system overwhelmed by a combination of rising crime and severe detective and police officer shortages,” he said.
“Crime is rampant, and South Africans are paying the price for a police service that cannot cope.”
Bosa previously revealed that SAPS is operating on a shortage of 2,344 detectives.
“The shortage of trained detectives and under-resourced police stations is crippling our ability to fight crime effectively.
“This means thousands of criminal cases are going cold, with no follow-up investigations, no arrests and no justice for victims. As more and more files pile up on the desks of detectives, criminals are not being brought to book and justice is not being served for victims.”
Maimane has proposed a comprehensive solution for curbing crime and improving the criminal justice system, calling for:
- the recruitment of 120,000 new police officers to expand capacity;
- increased funding and resources for the service;
- establishment of smaller, community-focused police stations;
- modernisation of forensic capabilities;
- digitalisation of criminal dockets to improve case management; and
- a strategic focus to target the most violent crimes.
Data from Stats SA’s 2024/2025 governance, public safety and justice survey shows crimes such as housebreaking and theft are increasing. Sexual offences have seen a spike, soaring from 25,000 cases in 2020/2021 to 73,000 cases in 2024/2025.
The reporting rate for many crimes remains low, often due to lack of trust in the SAPS.
The DA has also expressed concern about the worsening crime rate.
“Our communities remain under siege due to violent crimes such as murder, assault, robbery, rape and sexual offences, with many cases going unreported due to deep mistrust of the SAPS,” DA MP Lisa Schickerling said.
TimesLIVE
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