RISE Mzansi laments high vacancy rate of detectives

RISE Mzansi has lamented the high vacancy rate of detectives in the South African Police Service (SAPS), saying it should worry all South Africans.

This comes after a parliamentary response from Police Minister Senzo Mchunu showed that the vacancy rate of detectives stands at 8,594. One of the party’s focus areas is ‘to keep people safe’.

Mchunu was responding to written questions from RISE Mzansi MP Makhashule Gana, who enquired about number of detectives employed and the number of officers who have left the police service since October 2023.

“The total number of detectives currently employed in the SAPS is 22 413,” he said.

Mchunu’s response shows that KwaZulu-Natal has 1,629 vacancies, Western Cape 1,555, and Eastern Cape 1,465. These provinces are leading the pack.

Limpopo has 913 vacancies, Free State has 783, Northern Cape 695, North West 545, Mpumalanga 519, and Gauteng 490.

Mchunu’s response was a departure from former police minister Bheki Cele, who only furnished percentages in terms of vacancies when he was asked a parliamentary question last year, claiming that disclosing such information would compromise policing activities and the safety of SAPS employees.

This was despite the SAPS annual report recording that there were 37, 246 employees in the detective services as at March 2022 and vacancies totalling 884.

In March 2021, the number stood at 38 218 with 1 067 vacancies.

In his written response, Mchunu has also disclosed that 527 detectives have resigned from the SAPS since October 2023 until July 2024.

“Employees are not required to disclose particulars of future employers when they exit the service,” he said.

Gana said the shortage of detectives at station level should worry all South Africans.

“The response the minister gave that there are vacancies that remain open for detectives should be a big concern for all of us considering we have a high crime rate in the country and many cases go unsolved, and even detectives that are in the employ of SAPS are overwhelmed by the number of cases that they have to attend to,” he said.

Gana has also said vacancies mean that detectives have to deal with more criminal cases. “The end result is that criminals who should be in prison continue to roam our streets terrorising communities.”

Earlier this week, a Cape Times report suggested that case dockets are closed for crimes including rape, murder, robbery, assault, hijackings and burglaries in the past five to eight months after police investigations fail to gather enough evidence.

Gana said that an average of 50 detectives resigned from SAPS to pursue other opportunities mostly in the private sector, adding that this in itself was a big worry.

Gana called on the minister, the national commissioner of police General Fannie Masemola and deputy national commissioner for crime detection Lieutenant General Shadrack Sibiya “to ensure there is a plan to fill these positions”.

“There has to be a training plan. There has to be recruitment so that we can keep South Africans safe. As South Africans, we are not safe and the funds should be used to have detectives at station level and not fund protection of politicians through VIP (services),” he said.

Cape Times