The South Africa Police Service (SAPS) says that its workforce has steadily declined over the last five years.<\/p>\n
The SAPS currently has around 184,000 staff members, with around 39,000 working as civilian employees.<\/p>\n
In a presentation to parliament this week, the police service said it lost a total of 32,662 staff through natural attrition from 2016\/17 to 2020\/21.<\/p>\n
Over the same period, it has employed 20,959 employees through new recruits and lateral entrants, resulting in a net loss of 11,703 members.<\/p>\n
Some of the most common reasons for members exiting the SAPS, over the past five years include:<\/p>\n
The SAPS said that the decline can also be partially attributed to its early retirement process, with a total of\u00a02,825 employees exited the SAPS through the programme, without the penalisation of pension benefits.<\/p>\n
Grave concern<\/strong><\/p>\n The decline in SAPS members was not the only concern raised in parliament, with issues such as a top-heavy workforce, a lack of resources, and a lack of clear leadership all highlighted as potential issues.<\/p>\n “It is unsustainable to have a top-heavy SAPS organisational structure which impedes the operational requirements on the ground,” said Tina Joemat-Pettersson, chairperson of parliament’s committee on police.<\/p>\n “An effective and agile police service requires adequate human resources, especially at police station level to render services to the people.”<\/p>\n Joemat-Pettersson said the committee is concerned that the police to population ratio is currently at 1:327 with an increasing ratio year-on-year.<\/p>\n “While the committee acknowledges the budget reduction for the police, especially in the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and the potential negative impact it will have on the stability of the SAPS, it remains of the view that a top-heavy structure negatively impacts the agility and ability of the SAPS to be responsive to its mandate.”<\/p>\n
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