South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that 5 500 new officers are set to enter SAPS training academies which is part of the government’s initiative to add 11,000 new constables to the force.
Ramaphosa stressed that South Africa has a large SAPS force, comprising over 180,000 members and 3,000 reservists. He added that the majority of these officers serve with honour and integrity, and that the actions of a corrupt few should not define the thousands who serve with honesty and courage.
“For most people, the SAPS is the first they turn to when their safety is threatened, when there is an emergency or when they need to report a crime. When our people call the police, often at a moment of great distress or danger, they expect that someone will answer. They expect that help will come. They expect that the law will protect them.”
He said that for every incompetent or corrupt member, there are many thousands more who are honourable.
Despite his defence of honest officers, Ramaphosa openly acknowledges a major “challenge of confidence” in the police.
Ramaphosa said that the allegations of criminal infiltration, corruption, and political interference in parts of the criminal justice system are deeply disturbing.
In a controversial matter raised on social media concerning race, SAPS has defended the racial make-up of its latest police recruitment cohort, saying the predominance of African recruits reflects the composition of the applicant pool rather than the exclusion of other population groups.
According to SAPS, they received almost 1.05 million applications during the latest recruitment drive, but only 1 079 applications came from white applicants, 3 047 from Indian applicants and 53 797 from coloured applicants.
The police service said recruitment was conducted through prescribed selection processes and that candidates from all population groups were eligible to apply.
SAPS said applicants with valid driver’s licences were prioritised because of the operational requirements of policing. Of those applicants, 556 were white, 1 722 Indian, 11 743 coloured and 291 591 African.
