South Africa’s men and women in blue have laid bare their frustrations about tackling some of the most violent crime in the world without basic equipment such as guns, car tyres and bulletproof vests.
During his National Assembly budget vote speech in July, then police minister Senzo Mchunu said the SAPS budget for the 2025/26 financial year was R120.89bn. But he cautioned: “While we welcome and appreciate the allocation, we are under no illusion about the scale of the task ahead. The work that needs to be done far exceeds the resources available.”
I have seen colleagues stealing tyres from [our] broken down vehicles because police management were not coming through. Policemen stealing tyres from the police so they can fit them to police vehicles to do their work
— Eastern Cape police officer
That became patently clear canvassing police officers on the ground.
“We have been made many promises about resources, but they were all empty. We have about five working vehicles on the road. This is for about 30 members, who must share them,” said an anti-gang unit member in the Western Cape.
“We don’t have enough pistols. There is a good chance you will be involved in a shooting ... If that happens, you must hand in your firearm, [but] while your pistol is with ballistics, there are no temporary weapons available. So you are effectively unarmed. And this is in one of the most dangerous units in SAPS.
“I know of at least five members who don’t have bulletproof jackets. Imagine you are an anti-gang unit officer and you don’t have a pistol or a bulletproof! We have asked many times for replacements, but management just says they don’t have stock.”
SAPS search and rescue faces similar constraints in the Eastern Cape.
“The police needed to get someone to build canopies and kennels for the dogs on the [vehicle]. This took about seven months. SAPS kept denying the request. As soon as you ask for something expensive, you know the request will be denied,” said a member.
“Most of the stuff on our vehicles is sponsored by local businesses. These boats have been patched and patched again. There are almost more patches than boat, but there are no chances of new ones.”
Car tyres are also a problem: “I have seen colleagues stealing tyres from broken down and boarded vehicles because police management were not coming through. Policemen stealing tyres from the police so they can fit them to police vehicles to do their work.”
There is also a shortage of police divers. “The last training course took place in 2018, but was stopped halfway. Legally, there have to be five police divers on scene before anyone can dive. In East London there are nine divers left serving most of the province.”
A shortage of vehicles hamstrings detectives in Limpopo, who “now use unmarked bakkies”.
“Even unmarked, they are immediately recognisable as police vehicles,” said one detective. “What if you have a clandestine meeting with a criminal informant, or we have to do a stakeout?
“We can’t afford to catch Limpopo crooks in other provinces, our travel budget will be depleted early in the financial year. We get told we have less than last year. This happens every year.”
On top of that, they were spending “hundreds of rands of [their] own money every month to make official calls”. Officers in the field had to choose between making calls at their own expense or driving to a police station to use a landline.
A detective in a district stock theft unit in Limpopo asked: “How can you work without vehicles? Our district incorporates more than 30 police stations. Some are more than 300km away. We have one vehicle in working condition.
“The nature of stock theft is that it takes place in far-flung isolated places ... It is humiliating when a citizen calls and you have to say you can’t drive to them because there is no vehicle. People think we are lazy and don’t want to work.”
Mchunu said in July that salaries accounted for more than 80% of the police’s new budget.
“Over the [next three years] this category is expected to grow at an average rate of 5.5%, while operational items such as goods and capital investments will grow at a more modest average rate of 3.6%.”
He said at least 200 former detectives would be re-enlisted to bolster capacity.
Police union (Popcru) spokesperson Richard Mamobolo said resource constraints and a shortage of trained personnel had become a national crisis. “It’s not confined to a few isolated units — it cuts across almost every sphere of policing, from specialised anti-crime task teams to rural and border policing units.”
In many areas, officers were compelled to improvise to remain functional. This often meant using their own funds for operational costs, sharing essential gear, or working with dangerously high caseloads that compromised the quality of investigations.
“The situation with specialist capabilities such as diving, K9 handling, search and rescue and forensic work is particularly alarming,” Mamobolo said. “What we are dealing with is not a reflection of the dedication of individual officers — many of whom go above and beyond the call of duty — but a systemic failure in resource provision, planning, and accountability.”
IRS forensic investigations CEO Chad Thomas said it was no secret the force had manpower, capacity and resource issues.
“An issue that hasn’t been raised is that if we had a silver bullet to solve our policing issues [such as a bigger budget], we would then be faced with the added problem of not having enough prosecutors, courtrooms, court days and presiding officers. And, most importantly, space in our prisons,” he said.
National police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said the Gift of the Givers had “generously offered assistance in procuring canopies” for search and rescue vehicles.
“SAPS acknowledges past difficulties in tyre acquisitions due to the absence of a dedicated contract,” she said. “This has since been escalated to supply chain management, and improved processes are now in place to ensure timely procurement for all units.”
Mathe said a shortage of trained divers remained a national challenge. “High training costs and operational limitations have hindered participation. However, the upcoming structural realignment will include the establishment of dedicated diver units to strengthen capacity.”
Mathe said the SAPS also faced challenges with donated dogs. “We are exploring an in-house breeding programme to ensure a sustainable supply of fit-for-purpose service dogs.”
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