Mass resignation by police’s elite unit members sets alarm bells ringing

15 November 2023

According to reports in the media today, more than 70% of the police's Special Task Force members in KwaZulu-Natal left the force within a short period of time, so, there are only 15 of the unit's initial 53 members left.

This raises serious questions about the management of the police force which sets alarm bells ringing. No police service can operate effectively without specialised units.

The Task Force is a specialised unit requiring special training and a lot of tax money is spent on equipping these officers, which makes them very attractive to the private sector.

These experienced and highly skilled officers are leaving the police force, which is already experiencing a crisis due to a lack of expertise.

According to the media reports, the South African Policing Union (SAPU) cited poor payment, an unfair promotion policy, mismanagement and neglect of the unit as reasons for the officers leaving the force.

These are all matters that I have raised in Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Police on numerous occasions, but to no avail.

These reasons are significant and demonstrate that serving in the police force is no longer considered an appealing vocation.

Promotion primarily takes places in line with Affirmative Action (AA) policy, while the workload keeps mounting as serious crimes, such as cash-in-transit heists, keep increasing.

Clearly, the salaries and benefits earned by officers in this unit are not in line with their difficult and dangerous working conditions. The same applies to all the other specialised units where experience is continuously lost.

It, moreover, creates a vast vacuum in the mentoring of young and inexperienced officers.

The reply to a question I recently posed about the situation with the police's livestock theft units revealed that the same problem is experienced there.

Experienced and expert officers are leaving the force, and their knowledge and skills are lost. Experience cannot be gained through a course or some academic qualification. It is something that can only be acquired in practice.

Police management must take immediate action and come up with a clear plan to retain these specialised officers in the force so that their expertise and experience are not lost in the fight against crime.

Issued by Pieter Groenewald, FF Plus leader, 15 November 2023