SEDIBENG.- The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng recently revealed that it is shocked to learn that Gauteng only has 27 263 police officers to service a population of over 14,8 million people. This was revealed by Gauteng MEC for Community Safety, Faith Mazibuko, in a written reply to the DA in the Gauteng Legislature. SAPS is currently 64,000 police officers short of meeting the United Nations (UN) policing ratio of 1:220. In South Africa, the overall police to citizen ratio is 1:380, and currently its 1:546.
The list below shows the number of police officers per district and population they service according to district number of police officers, population district and ratio per police officer:
Ekurhuleni: 60414,3 million 720
Johannesburg: 77524,5 million 591
Tshwane: 55833, 6 million 650
Sedibeng: 18661,2 million 677
West Rand: 17421 million 606
“These figures clearly indicate that we do not have an adequate number of police officers to prevent crime and ensure the safety of Gauteng residents,” the DA said. Gauteng is rated number one in the country in terms of violent crimes such as murder, while rape, robbery and common assault cases
have increased in the province compared to the previous year.
“It is unacceptable that crime is increasing in Gauteng while the police are understaffed, underresourced and poorly trained. “The only solution to win the fight against crime is to establish an honest and professional police service that is passionate about crime prevention.”
The DA called on MEC Mazibuko and the Gauteng SAPS Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Elias Mawela, to liaise with their national counterpart Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, to ensure that they hire more police officers in Gauteng.