Picture: The Chairperson of the Committee, Dr Mmusi Maimane
By OBAKENG MAJE
13 May 2026 – The Standing Committee on Appropriations has raised concern over the decline in the number of police officers and notes that this comes at a time when crime levels in South Africa continue to rise. This comes after the South African Police Service (SAPS), the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) and the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service appeared before the committee to discuss their expenditure plans for the 2025/26 financial year.
The Chairperson of the Committee, Dr Mmusi Maimane said the SAPS were led by the acting Police Minister of Police, Prof Firoz Cachalia and the acting National Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane. Maimane said the committee prioritised departments with significant appropriations.
“Alongside social services and the learning and culture function, policing represents one of the largest areas of government expenditure. Within the justice, crime prevention and security cluster, policing is a central driver of both budget allocation and service delivery outcomes.
“South Africa continues to face high levels of crime. This underscores the need for careful scrutiny of both the scale and composition of the policing appropriation to ensure it supports effective capability and measurable impact,” he said.
Maimane also emphasised that the committee’s oversight is focused on the appropriation and its implications, rather than on police operations or appointment decisions. He further said they are assessing how the Appropriations Bill affects SAPS’s ability to deliver on its mandate, including the operational risks associated with a high vacancy rate.
“The SAPS informed the committee that in recent years, they have seen sustained increases in organised, serious and violent crimes and crimes against vulnerable groups. SAPS further indicated that, to remain within the compensation-of-employees budget ceiling, it was required to progressively reduce employee numbers more intensively in 2021/22, which contributed to an overall decline in personnel over the period.
“Members noted that SAPS had allocated additional funding of R568 million for early retirement and voluntary exit programmes. The committee recommended that SAPS should be aggressively recruiting and training a new generation of officers,” he added.
Maimane said at a time when communities are watching commissions of enquiry on television, all they see and hear is that the police are generally corrupt and they are now faced with a statistic showing that approval of policing has declined. He said this is something they can ill afford, given that their crime-fighting strategy relies heavily on community engagement.
The Guardian 