In April, the SA Police Service (SAPS) presented its annual performance plan for the 2025/26 financial year and strategic plan for 2025-2030. SAPS has seen its budget rise sharply over the past decade, reaching a record R120.8 billion for the 2025/26 financial year. However, public safety outcomes and operational effectiveness have not improved in proportion to this increase. There is a clear disconnect between spending and results, highlighting systemic inefficiencies, mismanagement, and missed reform opportunities. To achieve improved results, it will be necessary for SAPS to move from a narrow law-enforcement approach to crime and safety, to identifying and resolving the root causes of crime. To achieve this, South Africa will have to mobilise state and non-state capacities at all levels, which requires an integrated approach, with active citizen involvement and co-responsibility.
Big Budgets, Minimal Returns
SAPS has received over R500 billion in cumulative funding since 2020, with annual increases that track or exceed inflation. However, approximately 80% of SAPS’s current budget goes toward personnel costs, leaving limited room for infrastructure upgrades, technology investment, or training.
When it comes to key performance indicators, there is no cause for jubilation. Only 12% of murder case are resolved. Public trust in SAPS is declining, according to Corruption Watch, with frequent reports of corruption, misconduct, and slow response times. At the same time, violent crime continues to rise, especially in high-density urban areas.
Problem Areas:
A look within SAPS
Making inputs on the annual performance plan, Police unions including the South African Policing Union (SAPU), Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU), and Independent Policing Union of South Africa (IPUSA), cited various concerns that have led to low staff morale and contributing to police inefficiencies. These include corruption within the service, underfunded overtime; personnel shortages; and lack of career progression for non-commissioned officers.
Poor resource management
There is evidence of inefficient resource allocation. High fixed costs (salaries and administrative overhead) crowd out funding for modernisation. There is also low investment in forensic capabilities, digital systems, and frontline support tools.
Case backlogs and low clearance rates suggest investigative dysfunction, as well as inadequate training and deployment strategies reduce frontline effectiveness, points to operational weaknesses within SAPS.
Furthermore, systemic mismanagement is a grave concern. Repeated findings of irregular procurement and poor internal controls, and infrastructure decay and outdated legacy systems undermine service delivery.
Although there is now renewed rhetoric about innovation, and increased usage of drones, until recently there has been limited adoption of global best practices in tech-driven, intelligence-led policing.
Community policing programs are fragmented and not integrated into national strategy. Yet the National Development Plan (Vision 2030), Chapter 12 – Building Safer Communities, states that “an integrated approach to safety and security will require coordinated activity across a variety of departments, the private sector and community bodies, the latter to include revitalised community-safety centres”. It further states, “[I]n discussing crime, the danger is to focus on policing as the only solution”. The three (3) police unions called for more resources to be allocated to Community Police Forums (CPFs).
Comparative insight
Globally, countries achieving improved policing outcomes, such as the UK, Canada, and Scandinavian nations, have prioritised:
- Independent oversight and accountability
- Digital transformation of police systems
- Community trust-building and transparency
- Intelligence-based deployment of resources
At the 2024 World Police Summit in Dubai, global law enforcement leaders emphasised the urgent need for smarter, technology-driven policing to tackle evolving crime challenges. Themes included intelligence-led policing, legitimacy and public confidence, new innovations, and international cooperation. Over 220 speakers from more than 130 countries shared best practices on leveraging digital tools, forensic science, and data-driven strategies to improve crime prevention and investigation.
South Africa’s inaugural Policing Summit, held in April under the theme “Efficiency in Action: Optimising South Africa’s Policing Potential”, echoed the 2024 World Police Summit’s call for strengthening crime intelligence, improving technology, and upskilling detectives as key priorities. Police Minister Senzo Mchunu highlighted plans to focus on crime hotspots and enhance partnerships with the private sector, while initiatives like digitising docket management and expanding forensic labs remain in development.
These plans resonate with the Integrated Violence and Crime Prevention Strategy (ICVPS), released by the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service released in March 2022, as well as a range of legal and policy instruments, including the NDP, the National Security Strategy (NSS)(2012), the Rural Safety Strategy (2010), the Integrated Social Crime Prevention Strategy (2011), the White Paper on Families (2012), the Criminal Justice System (CJS) Revamp (2007), the Community Safety Forums Policy (2011), the Early Childhood Development Policy (2015), Draft White Paper on Policing (2014), National Crime Prevention Strategy (1996), the 1998 White Paper on Safety and Security, National Service Charter for Victims of Crime and Violence and the Draft Integrated Urban Development Framework (IUDF) (2015).
The challenge is how to streamline these legal and policy instruments into a veritable framework that helps the SAPS and other law enforcement to efficiently address crime. The ICVPS, for instance, consists of six interdependent and interrelated pillars – with a wide spectrum of crime-fighting and prevention elements:
- An effective criminal justice
- Early interventions in preventing crime
- Victim support interventions
- Effective and integrated service delivery
- Safety through environmental design and
- Active public and community participation.
The global consensus is clear, effective policing today requires more than manpower; it demands smarter tools, better training, and innovative technology. South Africa must decide whether to invest primarily in more officers or in empowering its current force with the capabilities needed for 21st-century crime fighting.
Rethinking Policing Policy and Strategy
Rebalance Spending Priorities
South Africa should shift focus from expanding personnel numbers to strengthening core capabilities, such as advanced technology, specialised training, and intelligence-led operations. This ensures that the existing workforce is empowered to deliver measurable results.
Strengthen Independent Oversight
More effort should be directed towards establishing robust, transparent audit mechanisms and independent accountability structures to monitor SAPS expenditure, curb corruption, and ensure budget alignment with performance targets.
Drive Modernisation Through Technology
Government should fast-track the digital transformation of SAPS systems, including case tracking, forensic processing, and data integration. Modern infrastructure is essential to support timely investigations and improve conviction rates.
Institutionalise Community-Based Policing
It is also critical to formalise and fund local safety partnerships within a clear legal framework. Community policing must be treated as a strategic pillar, not a stopgap and integrated into programmes such as Gauteng crime prevention wardens or the Cape Flats Safety Forum in the Western Cape. This will need stable investment, proper training, and overall integration into SAPS operations.
Conclusion
More officers and a bigger budget will not fix South Africa’s broken policing system. SAPS already receives one of the highest departmental budgets (R120.8 billion for 2025/26, as stated above), and yet crime rates remain high, case resolution rates are low, and public confidence continues to erode.
The problem is not just funding or force size; it is how those resources are used. A large share of the budget goes to salaries, while critical areas like crime intelligence, forensics, technology, and community partnerships are underfunded. Without strategic reform, stronger oversight, and investment in modern capabilities, increasing headcount or pouring in more money only reinforces inefficiency. Real impact will come from smarter spending, not higher spending.
To support these efforts, research from the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) advocates for a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to crime prevention and policing in South Africa. Drawing on decades of research, the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) emphasises reforms that go beyond traditional policing methods to address systemic inefficiencies and enhance public safety.