The SAPS has forked out almost R530m on civil claims flowing from unlawful arrests, detentions and fatal shootings, which have been slammed as acts of costly “ill-discipline [that] could have been prevented”.
This was revealed to parliament this week by police minister Senzo Mchunu, in response to written questions sent to him before he was placed on special leave by President Cyril Ramaphosa three weeks ago.
Mchunu told the IFP’s Inkosi Nsikayezwe Cebekhulu that the SAPS had been slapped with 15,067 civil claims relating to unlawful arrest and wrongful detention totalling more than R14bn in the 2023/24 financial year alone.
A majority of these claims are yet to be settled, but paid-out claims, through court orders and out of court settlements, cost the taxpayer R466m in 2024.
With regard to police “shooting incidents” involving civilians, which in some instances resulted in “killings”, Mchunu said the SAPS had received 180 claims worth R741m and had so far paid out R62m in compensation.
National police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said that despite putting its members through rigorous training at police colleges, the SAPS was now “lecturing and workshopping” its members on how to carry out lawful arrests and detentions to mitigate the incidence of civil claims.
Mathe said that in many instances the police had no choice but to settle civil claims, as police officers implicated in these cases were not available as witnesses because they had either retired or resigned from the service.
“In many instances, plaintiffs [are successful] because of various factors such as a lack of witnesses. Members resign or retire and are no longer available to testify on behalf of [the] SAPS,” Mathe said.
“[Sometimes there is a] lack of documentation to defend the matter ... [because the] contents of the docket are not available at the time of legal proceedings. [In some cases,] arrests [were] made by other law enforcement bodies such as metro police [and] suspects [were] detained at SAPS detention facilities, [meaning the] SAPS are cited as defendants in the matter.
“In other cases, SAPS members fail to adhere to prescripts, [as is often the case in] arrests for petty crime such as common assault and possession of dagga, which often leads to unlawful arrest and detention claims against the SAPS.”
I think [many] of the claims we see could be prevented just by making sure [we have] a decent discipline management structure
— Ian Cameron, DA MP
Ian Cameron, chair of the parliament's police portfolio committee, said this week that while it was common the world over for police services to face civil claims, the SAPS was spending a huge chunk of money on these because some of its members lacked discipline.
“You are always going to have claims against the police — that’s how it is anywhere in the world,” he said. “I think the problem in South Africa is that, when you look at the broader disciplinary crisis in the police [and] at the issue of Ipid [the Independent Police Investigative Directorate] not being able to enforce its mandate and not having solid consequence management, you can expect more of these.
“And that’s [why we need to] consider how many of these cases could potentially have been prevented had the relevant disciplinary measures been in place beforehand, and that’s what so often does not happen.
“I think [many] of the claims we see could be prevented just by making sure [we have] a decent discipline management structure. A very good example I keep referring to is the VIP team of [Deputy President Paul] Mashatile’s bodyguards. There’s no way ... they can justify their actions [on] that day. Those people do not deserve to wear an SAPS uniform. [Their conduct was] disgraceful.”
Cebekhulu said he was worried about police conduct during arrests and investigations.
“In my area we lost one young man who was shot. The [police] team simply disappeared and could not establish the facts [about] the police who were involved in [the incident] because the local police station simply said they did not know those guys,” he said.
“The biggest problem is the ill-treatment of our people, especially in the rural areas. In towns the police go [about their work] with search warrants, but in rural areas they simply enter homesteads and start harassing men and women [by] kicking them around.”
Cebekhulu also claimed that in some instances the police interacted with civilians while wearing balaclavas.
“If there’s a search warrant, police must not come with balaclavas. They must [show their] faces, [have] their name tags [on], and say they are looking for [certain individuals].”
Mchunu also told parliament that the SAPS had established national and provincial steering committees to deal with the management of civil claims. These were also “aimed at [bringing about] mindset changes regarding the attitude and behaviours” of the men and women in blue.
“The national steering committee has developed and is implementing an internal communication plan that regularly sensitises members on the root causes of civil claims and the actions required to prevent them from occurring,” Mchunu said.
“This committee also identifies, monitors and engages with the top 10 police stations facing civil claims.
“Civil claims have been identified as a strategic risk for the department, with the result that specified risk owners are required to implement specific actions to reduce the incidence of civil claims. The risk is monitored by the SAPS risk committee, which reports on risk mitigation measures to the SAPS audit committee and board of commissioners.”
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