Mkhwanazi raises crucial policing questions SAPS must answer – IRR

Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, the SAPS KwaZulu-Natal provincial commissioner, has raised crucial questions relating to the continued safety and security of all South Africans.

“I’m challenging us to think about whether it is still necessary to have one entity that is controlling one central part of a country to be responsible for safety and security of the citizens of the Republic of South Africa,” Mkhwanazi said at the recent Parliamentary Summit on gang-related violent crime.

This is a question parliamentarians, the Minister of Police and the South African Police Service must now answer.

The IRR’s Blueprint for Growth paper, Solutions to SA’s Crime Crisis to Boost Growth, addresses this point specifically, by advocating for decentralised policing capable of setting local policing priorities, assuming responsibility for key functions like crime investigation and better integration.

Public trust in the SAPS is at an all-time low, with 2024 Human Sciences Research Council data showing only 22% of South Africans trust the police.

The Western Cape Government’s Policing Needs and Priorities Report shows SAPS to be under-resourced and overwhelmed, especially in high-crime areas in the Western Cape, with 1 police officer for every 645 residents in Cape Town.

The police minister’s recent admission that the resources and capacity of the SAPS will fail to address the intensity and scale of organised crime in the Western Cape is an admission of defeat. This is not what South Africans should expect from the country’s top law enforcement agency, says IRR researcher Chris Patterson.

He adds: “The only way to restore trust in policing in this country is to ensure that local governments, such as SA’s largest metros, are empowered to make evidence-based decisions tailored to local challenges with staff that are professional and equipped to do their jobs.”

Media contact:  Chris Patterson, IRR Researcher Tel: 063 682 5035 Email: chrisp@irr.org.za

Media enquiries: Michael Morris Tel: 066 302 1968 Email: michael@irr.org.za