Saps spends R1m in settlements every day, including for wrongful arrests

The South African Police Service (Saps) has witnessed an increase in civil cases and had to pay out R2.2 billion for wrongful arrests and detentions since 2018.

The Democratic Alliance revealed this after posing a question in Parliament about the nature of the police’s battles with civil claims.

This comes after it emerged that police close one million dockets a year due to a lack of evidence or leads, meaning millions of victims of crime never see justice. A small portion of these closed dockets were also due to theft and loss of dockets.

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More and more civil claims

“Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, revealed that under his watch, the Saps has coughed up compensation in civil claims in the last financial year, adding up to more than a third of its entire budget for forensic science laboratories, almost a third of its budget for crime intelligence operations, and nearly a quarter of its budget allocated to border security,” DA MP Andrew Whitfield said.

“In fact, the SAPS has witnessed a 52% increase in civil claims over the course of five financial years, which coincides with the term of office of Minister Bheki Cele.”

Losses by the numbers:

• 2018/2019 – R356,205,508.36
• 2019/2020 – R329,657,948.87
• 2020/2021 – R239,299,759.27
• 2021/2022 – R346,220,870.81
• 2022/2023 – R541,751,164.30

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Whitfield added that settlements in the last three quarters of this year have already reached R406 million. It means that since 2018, police have spent more than R1 million every day in settlements.

“It is patently obvious that the Minister is running what must be the most understaffed, underfunded, and undertrained SAPS ever seen,” Whitfield said.

“A crippled reservist corps with 93,3% less personnel than a decade ago, critical detective shortages across the country, police response times that leave citizens stranded and helpless, and an operational staffing component with less officers than we had in 2019—this will be the Minister’s legacy, or rather, lack thereof.”

“These figures not only show the shocking waste of taxpayer funds meant for actual policing but also highlight a danger that, as a result of a rot that has started at the top and worked its way down, ordinary South Africans are not even safe from the very police that are meant to protect them.”

DA says it could do better

Whitfield said should the DA come to power, it would professionalise the police, “restore discipline” and strengthen the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) to “deal swiftly with police officers who have committed wrongdoing”.

He said the party would also cut senior management down and institute a merit-based system for promotion and appointments.

“The DA can rescue South Africans by halving the rate of violent crime and building a safer South Africa for all,” he claimed.

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