AfriForum: National Police Commissioner grasping at straws regarding effective policing
24 July 2019
The civil rights organisation AfriForum is of the opinion that Lt Gen. Khela Sitole, National Police Commissioner, is grasping at straws if he truly believes effective policing in South Africa is dependent on an additional 62 000 police officers, as reported by The Citizen on 23 July 2019[1]. Answering questions at the South African Human Rights Commission’s Alexandra inquiry, Sitole indicated that the biggest obstacles to effective policing were a lack of police officers and outdated by-laws.
“According to a 2010 UN report[2], the global median for police officers per 100 000 inhabitants was approximately 300. The same report also noted that having more police officers does not necessarily result in more crimes cleared. With StatsSA estimating the South African population at 57,73 million in 2018[3] and Sitole putting the number of police officers at 193 000, we currently have about 334 police officers per 100 000 inhabitants,” says Ian Cameron, AfriForum’s Head of Community Safety.
With police numbers thus above average, AfriForum believes Sitole should rather turn his attention to factors that have plagued the police for years, such as:
High corruption rates, with the 2019 Global Corruption Barometer – Africa (GCB-A) revealing that the SAPS is considered the most corrupt institution in the country.[4]