EDITORIAL | Arrive at a solution, Cele and co, not a crime scene

South Africans have become accustomed to Bheki Cele, wide-brimmed hat at the fore, traipsing through crime scenes offering condolences to the families of those who have been killed or brutalised. Most recently he visited the Mthatha central police station after the brutal murder of Namhla Mtwa.

While this gesture might seem like a useful strategy for Cele to foster positive relations between the SAPS and residents, one has to wonder how much more useful it might be for Cele and police leadership to urgently deal with the serious problems plaguing their service. Like many other government departments the SAPS is under strain. It is understaffed and, according to the most recent annual report, has been unable to recruit adequate staff since 2020. The SAPS hoped to enlist 4,500 new members that year, but eventually revised that number down to 3,000. They were meant to be recruited and trained from this year. In addition to this, the compensation and working conditions of those within the service remain less than desirable. Of the more than 100,000 police members, only 38,218 are detectives — the primary agents tasked with ensuring crimes are solved and prosecuted.

Anyone who has attended a magistrate’s court will know that many detectives are extremely overworked and, according to the SAPS’s own records, not paid that well. The 2020/21 annual report reveals that the average annual salary for a detective is R427,000 a year, or R35,583 a month. While this is above the average wage of most South Africans (R24,051), it pales in comparison to the salary Cele walks away with as police minister. Ensuring the recruitment of strong detectives who are properly compensated will go much further in ensuring communities feel their cases will be dealt with timeously and effectively than Cele’s sporadic visits to crime scenes.

Anyone who has attended a magistrate’s court will know that many detectives are extremely overworked and, according to the SAPS’s own records, not paid that well.

Forensic laboratories are dealing with a significant backlog, resulting in the finalisation of cases taking longer. This is a particular concern for victims of gender-based violence (GBV), who must first face the indignity of sample collection, then the frustration of cases being delayed because of outstanding DNA results. The same can be said for murder victims’ families, who travel to court only to be met with delays occasioned by the non-finalisation of tests. Cele recently told parliament “the huge backlog is unacceptable”. In Gauteng the DNA backlog is 115%, while the Western Cape, which is dealing with a rash of mass shootings, has a backlog of 113%. Budget constraints and poor contract management have been at the heart of this crisis. Cele has promised the situation can be turned around in 18 months.

These issues reveal that the problems in the police service are deep and will need robust management to enable any of Cele’s promises to communities to be adequately fulfilled. Many community members at police imbizos raise the same issues — cases that take too long to be finalised, insufficient patrols, insufficient officers for the areas they patrol and police station management which is not in touch with its constituents.

For Cele’s roadshows to be effective they must be backed by adequate funding for staff, a vigorous recruitment campaign and training drive, as well as a solid staff retention strategy to ensure those who join don’t leave at the first sign of a lucrative private security offer. It will also require the police to embrace modernisation and leave behind paper dockets, while using forensic science to ensure convictions. Without this Cele will be left standing, hat in hand, making more apologies and promises to angry communities in the years to come.

LISTEN | 'Namhla was failed by many of us,' says Cele