Police in paralysis
President Cyril Ramaphosa has indicated that he is considering extending the deadline of the Madlanga Commission – a public inquiry of corruption between politicians and some of the country’s senior police members – as logistical challenges, health-related disruptions, and absenteeism threatens to complicate the schedule.
The Madlanga Commission is yet another element chipping away at the public’s trust in the South Africa Police Service (SAPS). The inquiry has for example found that only five of 823 senior SAPS officers underwent lifestyle audits during the 2024/25 period.
Forensic testing is one of the most effective ways to bring criminals to justice, yet the SAPS only has four forensic science laboratories – not enough in a crime-ridden country such as South Africa. An 8 July Parliamentary query confirmed that the SAPS had 298 710 DNA exhibit entries, highlighting a severe national forensic backlog. Of these 228 017 were beyond their applicable 90-day timelines. The oldest entries were more than eight years old.
The Central Firearms Registry – a division of the SAPS responsible for administering firearm control – suffers from licence backlogs, poor communication, unreliable administration and weaknesses in firearm tracking.
Police stations in crime-hotspots are also operating under severe strain due to a lack of resources and manpower. Acting Minister of Police, Firoz Cachalia, has admitted that the SAPS is not adequately equipped to deal with the crisis. “I do not believe we are currently in a position to defeat gang violence in the Western Cape. The scale and intensity of organised crime here have outpaced the resources and capacity available to SAPS.”
Expectantly, the poor performance of the SAPS translates into a grim reality on the ground. The murder rate has increased from 36 murders per 100 000 people in 2019/20 to 39 in 2024/25 – an increase of 8.3 percentage points. During the same period, the rate for attempted murders and assaults with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, rose by 37.5% and 7.4% respectively. According to 2026 second quarter crime statistics which tracks crime incidents between January and March, about 58 murders happen a day.
Crime is also one of the major inhibitors of doing business in South Africa. Extortion, including the so-called “construction mafia,” is spreading rapidly throughout South Africa, undermining businesses, service delivery, and investment. Within the first three months of the year, there have already been 131 incidents of protection rackets. These include incidents where a “protection fee” is demanded by criminals from business owners, and construction sites under the threat of violence.
Public confidence in the police is now scant as a result. In 1999, 47% of respondents surveyed by the Human Science Research Council stated that they trusted the police. In 2024, this has now dropped to just 22% – a historic low. Public scepticism is further highlighted by low levels of reporting crime. Statistics South Africa has found that in 2024/25, only 43.4% of households that experienced housebreakings reported the crime to the police. Reporting rates were also low for home robbery (51.3%), assault (67%), sexual offences (47.6%), and deliberate damage to dwellings (53.3%). When asked why household members decided not to report a housebreaking to the police, half (49.8%) said that the police could not or would not do anything, or that they fear or distrust the police.
The growth of private security is perhaps the starkest example of shattered public confidence in the SAPS. In 1997, the number of police officers compared to private security officers were roughly the same – 110 177 and 115 331 respectively. In 2025, the number of police officers has grown marginally to 155 231. Private security officers have risen significantly to 693 106. It is not just the middle classes and those who can afford private security that are lessening their dependence on the police. There are growing media reports of impoverished communities taking matters into their own hands through community patrols, vigilante actions, and mob justice. The current surge in vigilantism is partially attributable to the perceived failure of the state to ensure that criminals are apprehended and convicted as necessary conditions prior to their punishment.
To address the challenges within law enforcement, the South African Police Service Amendment Bill was tabled on 26 June, aiming to introduce key reforms including integrity testing, lifestyle audits, merit-based recruitment and dedicated disciplinary capacity. Though these reforms are welcome, the Bill’s primary is objective is more national control over crime fighting initiatives.
Clause 12 in the Bill gives the National Commissioner responsibility for an exceptionally wide range of functions. These include intelligence, organised crime, forensic services, recruitment, training, public order policing, tactical units, crime information and resource allocation. However, forensic and ballistic testing remains centralised. As the backlogs in DNA testing, and in the Central Firearms Registry show, more central control does not lead to efficient policing in South Africa.
For years, Cape Town has been pushing for the devolution of policing, so that the city’s metro police could have greater investigative powers and have the capability to build dockets, gather the evidence, and do the proper police work that turns an arrest into a conviction. Accredited universities laboratories could help to expand forensic capacity. If a municipality has the adequate funding, qualified staff, and facilities, then greater powers for local policing should be considered.
Given that the State has mostly been reluctant to implement key reforms and loosen its grip on many areas including safety and security, it is unlikely that capable municipalities will receive stronger policing powers over the medium term. Instead of waiting for the state to introduce the necessary reforms, businesses can arm themselves by doing the following: Partner with nearby businesses, local Community Policing Forums (CPFs), and city improvement districts to share safety updates; align with groups such as the Business Against Crime South Africa (BACSA) to support broader anti-crime and anti-corruption efforts; invest in alarm systems, CCTV, and electronic article surveillance systems suited to your specific security requirements.
