Attention editors: Please see English audio by MPP Gillion Bosman attached.
The recently-tabled Policing Needs and Priorities (PNP) continues to shed light on the bleak state of policing in the Western Cape. The report reveals that SAPS’ detection rate for serious crime in the Western Cape stands at only 37.78%. Given that the detection rate is defined as the total number of charges referred to court, charges withdrawn before court and charges closed as unfounded were divided by the total number of charges investigated. This essentially means that, of the serious crime dockets opened at the Western Cape’s 151 SAPS stations, 62.22% of them are never solved.
Detection rates were little better in other categories of crime. Detection rates for contact crimes stood at 49.8%, while the rate for property-related crime was reported at a dismal 19.04%.
These figures are perhaps unsurprising given the fact that the number of detectives in the Western Cape has been in decline for years, with only 2 587 detectives left in the Province. This means that, on average, there are less than 20 detectives stationed at each of the Western Cape’s police precincts, some of which serve thousands of the Western Cape’s residents.
The 2023 PNP consistently found that recruitment numbers for detectives remain low, as SAPS offers little incentive for existing officers to become detectives, and does not recruit actively enough for those with the necessary aptitude outside the police force. While the decline in detective numbers has been especially pronounced, it is also a part of a general decline in SAPS numbers in the Western Cape which has resulted in less than 20 000 SAPS employees on duty in the province.
The under-resourcing does not stop at personnel: in every one of the Western Cape’s six police districts, the PNP reported that vehicles, phone lines, and other facilities such as holding cells are in a profound and dangerous state of disrepair.
Despite the fact that Bheki Cele has been handed a budget in excess of R100 billion for 2023, no progress appears to have been made in addressing these issues.
DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Community Safety Gillion Bosman says: “Bheki Cele seems to have abandoned policing in the Western Cape, leaving the DA-led Western Cape Government to pick up the slack. One of the most central roles of any police service is to investigate and solve crimes, and years of neglect have robbed SAPS of this capability. The writing is on the wall: policing must be devolved to the Western Cape Government so that longstanding issues such as the dearth of active detectives can be fixed. The Western Cape public’s trust in the South African Police Service has been broken, perhaps irrevocably. It is vital that Police Minister Bheki Cele appear before the committee to explain his approach to rectifying the situation.”