As crime-weary South Africans wait for the government’s decision on a new police minister, the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) has released a report on what must be done to improve policing and tackle crime.
The ISS has been tracking and analysing crime and policing in the country for 30 years. Its report contains a series of recommendations on what must be done to turn the service into an effective organisation, equipped and able to deal competently with crime.
This comes as the country waits to hear about the new cabinet and investors anticipate an acceleration of economic reforms needed to address the nation’s energy crisis, fix collapsing ports and railways, and reduce crime and corruption.
“There can be little doubt that a focused and sustained programme to strengthen the SAPS must be a priority for the new government. These proposals are based on years of research and analysis of the police by the ISS and others. We believe they provide a basis for the initial steps that should be taken to strengthen policing in South Africa,” said Gareth Newham, lead author of the report and head of the ISS Justice and Violence Prevention Programme.
“The SAPS is a large and complex organisation comprising more than 180,000 personnel mostly working from 1,164 police stations located across the country. Improving the capability and performance of an organisation this large, and with such a vast geographical footprint, is not easy. It will require grappling with complex and difficult organisational change issues.”
SAPS is failing to achieve its constitutional mandate to investigate crime. The ability to solve criminal cases has declined substantially across most categories in the past decade. In 2011/12 SAPS was closing 31% of all murder cases as detected, while the most recent annual report reveals this has declined to 12.4%.
The ISS report says a 53% increase in murders between 2012 and 2022/23 translates into almost 12,000 more victims in 2022/23 than in 2012.
“Surprisingly, this situation is not mentioned as a crisis in government documents or speeches, and there is no specific strategy being implemented by the SAPS to ensure the murder rate is reduced,” Newham said.
Murder is the most accurate and important indicator of public safety around the world, usually quoted as the number of people murdered per 100,000 of a population. In 1994 South Africa’s murder rate began dropping steadily until 2012, when the lowest murder rate was recorded. Since then, it has gone up by 53%, with gender-based violence and violent robberies at unacceptably high levels.
Organised crime has become increasingly entrenched, strangling businesses, constraining local economic development and threatening democracy.
Researcher David Bruce, who participated in the report, said the ISS had come up with proposals on what had to be done to professionalise the police to fulfil their constitutional mandate.
Recommendation 1: The police minister must provide strategic direction on how to professionalise the SAPS
The ISS believes the new minister must be committed to driving police professionalisation and improving performance. The president’s performance agreement with the minister must focus on providing evidence-based policy leadership and rigorous oversight.
As an initial, urgent measure, the minister must direct SAPS to prioritise reducing murders, by focusing on firearm crime and violence.
Recommendation 2: Strengthen SAPS leadership and management
Police management structures and systems are inadequate for identifying and addressing key organisational shortcomings. The existing structure is a board of 27 senior officials.
The ISS recommends the SAPS national commissioner urgently creates an executive management system to promote efficiency and effectiveness to ensure effective decision-making and accountability. Senior management appointments should be made only by the national commissioner on the recommendations of an independently chaired panel after a transparent, competitive and merit-based process.
Recommendation 3: Build a more positive and professional police identity
Police endure high levels of work-related stress and are vulnerable to various occupational health risks affecting them, their families and colleagues.
Pride in wearing the SAPS insignia and uniform must be restored. One element of this process should be the adoption of a succinct new SAPS oath by members declaring they will treat the public with respect and will support their colleagues, but not at the expense of professional policing standards.
Recommendation 4: Reduce murders by focusing on firearm crime and violence
The National Prosecuting Authority should be asked to prioritise the prosecution of firearm violence and related firearm offences. The police should accurately map all crimes linked to firearms to better target their responses and identify perpetrators and sources of illegal firearms. Dedicated firearm units with adequate intelligence support should be established in all provinces. The inkabi (hitman) industry must be prioritised to combat the assassination of political office bearers, criminal justice officials and corruption whistle-blowers.
Cash-in-transit gangs and organised criminal groups equipped with automatic weapons, who are mobile and carry out attacks in different areas, should be a focus of special attention. Problems facing the Central Firearms Registry must be addressed.
Recommendation 5: Strengthen crime investigation and rationalise other police capabilities
There is little evidence that visible policing tactics such as random roadblocks, patrols and searches prevent or reduce crime. There are also inefficiencies and duplications of functions between the various SAPS tactical units responsible for medium- to high-risk operations. Government and the SAPS have prioritised VIP safety above the safety of communities whose experience of violent crime has worsened.
The government in the next five years should considerably strengthen the investigation of crime. This requires investment in the Hawks and the SAPS' detective function, supported by crime intelligence particularly at national, provincial and district level.
The Hawks must be expanded to investigate effectively serious organised crime, serious corruption and serious financial crime. The mandates and locations of specialised investigation task teams should be reviewed and duplication of duties addressed. An audit of promotions and appointments in the crime intelligence division should be done to identify any irregularities. Restructuring the crime intelligence function should be considered. Analysis of crime patterns, open-source data gathering and analysis and offender profiling should be a separate function. Over the next two financial years the SAPS, supported by the Civilian Secretariat, should reconfigure and rationalise specialist components such as public order policing, tactical response teams, the national investigating unit and VIP protection.
Recommendation 6: Improve public trust by reducing police corruption and criminality
SAPS needs to establish an effective, well-resourced national anti-corruption unit that is protected from interference. It should have no less capability and more independence than the anti-corruption unit that existed between 1996 and 2001 before it was shut down by former national commissioner Jackie Selebi who was convicted of corruption.
An effective internal discipline system comprising dedicated disciplinary investigators, prosecutors and presiding officers should be created with cases involving allegations of serious misconduct by police being expedited. The SAPS Act and disciplinary regulations should be amended to ensure those convicted of criminal offences are immediately dismissed.
Allegations of procurement-related corruption in the police should be directed to the Special Investigating Unit to identify vulnerabilities in the procurement system and recommend reforms to the police minister.
Procurement information on awarded tenders and the amounts should be routinely and speedily published in a dedicated “procurement” section on the SAPS website.
Recommendation 7: Update the SAPS Act
The SAPS Act must be amended to clarify the minister’s role and constrain inappropriate ministerial interference in police operations and the appointment of senior officers. All directives from the police minister to any SAPS officials must be given in writing and submitted to parliament annually to promote transparency.
Recommendation 8: Better information technology and cybersecurity capabilities, more effective analysis of crime data
A high-level strategic review of the police approach to identifying, procuring and using technology should be conducted. The review should provide guidance on technologies and equipment that could be declared obsolete.
Recommendation 9: Establish a centre of excellence on data analysis to support evidence-based policing
SAPS lags in modern crime analysis, and does not have enough skilled data analysts. The national commissioner should establish a centre at police headquarters to co-ordinate and lead research and analysis using an evidence-based policing approach.
The centre should use research to identify practical options to improving policing and evaluate new methods and tactics. Data-sharing partnerships with hospitals and other relevant institutions would strengthen the quality of data on violence trends in areas where there is not much reporting of violence.
Recommendation 10: Modernise police recruitment and training
Recruitment is based mainly on the intake of large numbers of people who meet the minimum requirements. Focus should shift to the recruitment of appropriately skilled graduates from universities and technical colleges, potentially including offering SAPS scholarships for tertiary students in relevant fields. SAPS should seek to be seen as an employer of choice rather than of last resort.
Recommendation 11: Co-ordinate policing efforts for maximum effect
New armed organisations tasked with policing functions should not be established. Armed policing services should be provided by the SAPS and the various metro police departments. National government should provide a policy and legislative framework for the establishment, co-ordination and regulation of all types of auxiliary policing organisations, particularly in areas not serviced by private security.
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