Police minister Bheki Cele says that the South African Police Service (SAPS) can’t meet the country’s policing demands.<\/p>\n
Responding in a written parliamentary Q&A this week, Cele said that the demand for policing has increased beyond the SAPS’ current capabilities – a situation that has been exacerbated by a lack of financial resources afforded to the department.<\/p>\n
“The SAPS\u2019 current capability…requires substantial additional resources. The continuous prioritisation of available resources is, therefore, a requirement to address the most critical needs of South Africans, which is bound by the available resources,\u201d said Cele.<\/p>\n
Cele\u2019s response relates to SAPS\u2019 annual report at the beginning of the year, in which it indicated that allocations will be reduced by R15.8 billion in 2022 and by a further R11.5 billion in 2023 as part of government\u2019s cost-cutting measures after the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in deficits in revenues and economic growth.<\/p>\n
Following the report, several bodies raised concerns that these budget constraints would slow down the already weakened service offered by the SAPS and that it would be to the detriment of future policing within the country.<\/p>\n
Cele noted in his response that the budget reductions had impacted the SAPS’ ability to replace personnel losses.<\/p>\n
Due to ongoing budget constraints, only 15,000 new police recruits can be trained over the next three years, which is not enough to make up for the police officers who will be exiting the service.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Police Act workforce has aged significantly, with a reduction of more than 30,000 within the age group 39 years and younger, i.e. from nearly 90,000 in 2011\/12 to just more than 59,000 Police Act employees at present still in that age group,\u201d the SAPS said.<\/p>\n
Additionally, SAPS\u2019 headcount has also declined from 197,000 five years ago to 172,000 today, with another 10,000 expected retirements and resignations in 2022.<\/p>\n
A recent address to the National Council of Provinces by the SAPS highlighted the key issue: excluding admin staff, in 2010, there were approximately 150,000 police officers serving a population of 50 million in South Africa. Today, there are 140,000 officers serving a population of 60 million.<\/p>\n