Police performance targets ‘shockingly’ low: What is Saps aiming for in 2025/26?

Targets set by the South African Police Service (Saps) have been deemed unacceptable by the parliamentary portfolio committee on police.  

Police officials this week presented their goals to the committee, but the chair has asked them to return with a revised plan.

Chair Ian Cameron expressed his displeasure at the targets as well as a lack of detail about how they would be achieved.

Targeting less than 12% of murders

Officials noted that South Africa had one police officer for every 315 people, a better ratio than Britain’s one to 447, but not as high as the United States’ one to 206.

Police registered 19 696 murder cases from April to December 2024, while the police have closed roughly 80 000 murder cases 2018.

Saps will aim to recruit a further 4 000 detectives in the coming year, but the police only set themselves an 11.33% murder detection rate.

The murder detection rate is the percentage of reported murder cases where police have identified and arrested at least one suspect, clarified the committee.

“The target essentially implies that nearly nine out of 10 murder cases may go unresolved over the next financial year,” said Cameron.

“This figure was presented without qualifying methodology and stands in stark contrast to the government’s stated objective of halving violent crime by 2029,” he said.

Firearms, GBV and lifestyle audits

Another key target is the aim of reducing lost and stolen firearms by 10%, with police stating that 632 firearms went missing or were stolen last year.

Addressing the DNA backlog has been high on Cameron’s to-do list, but he complained that police had provided a lack of tangible timeframes.

Fighting gender-based violence (GBV) has long been trumpeted as a priority and police have targeted a 70% detection rate for contact crimes against women, as well as expanded support for GBV and family violence units.

Increasing the 10111 call centre’s capacity, investing in body-worn cameras for officers and upgrading surveillance technologies were listed, but without concrete details.

“Clear timelines are necessary to ensure accountability. Without these timeframes, the committee and provincial legislatures will be unable to perform adequate oversight,” Cameron said.

Police have committed to lifestyle audits for 50% of senior officers managing procurement and intelligence services. Still, Cameron warned that failing to meet this target could widen the trust gap between the police and the public.

Infrastructure needs

Infrastructure is key to policing and 200 new police stations are in the pipeline for the next five years, as per officials, but again, without details on budget allocation.

“Based on past delivery performance and current infrastructure and budgetary constraints, the target seems unrealistic and vague,” Cameron said.

The committee’s chair was also unimpressed with a lack of details on vehicle capacity at stations, most notably vehicle-to-officer ratios, provincial deployment plans and vehicle uptime.

The holes Cameron and the committee found in the police’s presentation will see them return with greater impetus.

“The shocking lack of detail, setting of unachievable targets in some instances and complete disregard to certain worrying crime trends projects the lack of urgency to overcome crime,” Cameron said.

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