{"id":847434,"date":"2026-01-09T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=847434"},"modified":"2026-01-08T17:04:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T15:04:21","slug":"r25-million-payday-for-over-200-suspended-saps-officers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/847434\/r25-million-payday-for-over-200-suspended-saps-officers\/","title":{"rendered":"R25 million payday for suspended police officers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The South African Police Service (SAPS) has paid R25 million in salaries to more than 230 suspended officers in just two years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responding to a question from Rise Mzansi, Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia stated that R13,152,760.23 in salaries was paid to 149 suspended officers in 2024\/25. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the current 2025\/26 financial year, specifically the period from 1 April to 1 October, the figure has reached R12,155,953.55, accounting for 84 offices under suspension. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It can therefore be predicted that the 2025\/26 figure will surpass the 2024\/25 figure, given that the former financial year has yet to close,” said Rise Mzansi’s Makashule Gana. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“What is even more alarming than the millions of rands paid to Police Officers while suspended are the charges against the suspended Officers.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gana said that charges include rape, extortion, corruption, defeating the course of justice, robbery, and hijacking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rise Mzansi are set to raise the matter with the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police to request a briefing from the leaders of SAPS and the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“While we acknowledge that there are almost 200,000 SAPS Officers, and that there are hardworking and ethical members of the Service, it is not acceptable to have even a handful of fraudsters, rapists, murders and the like don the badge.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leave figures come amid the Madlanga Commission, which is investigating serious corruption and violence within the nation’s law enforcement bodies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mafia state <\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Rise Mzanzi MP, Makashule Gana<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

President Cyril Ramaphosa gazetted the Madlanga commission into law following public allegations by Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi in July 2025 about the poor state of the nation’s law enforcement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mkhwanazi alleged that a criminal syndicate infiltrated law enforcement and intelligence structures in South Africa, with several testimonies so far pointing to this allegation being true. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mkhwanazi, who appears set to retain his position as KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner, alleged that the Minister of Police, Senzo Mchunu, also interfered with a police investigation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that Mchunu had colluded with business people to disband the Police Killings Task Team in KZN.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also said that a police investigation unmasked a syndicate controlled by a drug cartel that involved members of the police, correctional services, judiciary and politicians.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the allegations, Mchunu was placed on special leave by Ramaphosa. The President then decided to hold a commission of inquiry to oversee the allegations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since September, the commission, led by former Deputy Chief Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, has heard testimony of widespread corruption and crime at SAPS and other law enforcement bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes allegations made against former Police Minister Bheki Cele, a controversial businessman, Cat Matlala and other senior law enforcement officials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commission has also led to greater calls for the protection of whistleblowers after a key witness was murdered shortly after giving testimony. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marius van der Merwe, who was Witness D before the commission, was killed after alleging corruption and a murder cover-up at the EMPD, where he was formerly an officer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaphosa received an interim report from the commission in December 2025, with it continuing its work in 2026. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amid the ongoing scrutiny at the Madlanga Commission, the Police Minister says that over R25 million has been paid to suspended officers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":733317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[23722,19491,3888],"class_list":["post-847434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-madlanga-commission","tag-rise-mzansi","tag-saps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847434"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":847442,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847434\/revisions\/847442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/733317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}