Could this be why over 60% of murders remain unsolved in South Africa?
Given that there are over 8,000 vacant detective positions across South Africa, one must question if this is why nearly 70% of murders remain unsolved.
With 8,594 detective positions currently unfilled across South Africa, could this be why the South African Police Service (SAPS) is resolving so few murder cases?
Highest number of unfilled detective positions in KZN
As reported by The South African, about two in every three murders in South Africa go unsolved.
The Minister of Police, Senzo Mchunu, confirmed that the SAPS employs a total of 22 413 detectives nationally. However, 8 594 of these positions are vacant at the present time, with the most vacancies in KwaZulu-Natal (1 629). Following very closely in second place, is the Western Cape with 1 555 detective vacancies.
With the exception of Gauteng, all provinces have more than 20% of their detective positions unfilled.
Rise Mzansi Member of Parliament, Makashule Gana, pointed out the concerning fact that some of the provinces with the highest vacancy rates are crime hot spots, as reported by SABC. He added that the data given by Mchunu should be a big concern for all of South Africa considering the high crime rate in the country.
“Many cases go unsolved even the detectives that are in the employ of South African Police Service they are overwhelmed by the number of cases that they have to attend to [sic].”
Makashule Gana
The Democratic Alliance (DA) noted last year that SAPS detectives are highly skilled police officers who are critical to ensuring quality investigations that lead to successful prosecutions. However, detectives are overworked and underpaid. Consequently, detectives have a case load of hundreds of dockets each, making it impossible for any realistic chance for some victims to find justice.
Exodus of detectives from SAPS
Between 1 October 2023 and 19 July 2024, 527 detectives left the SAPS.
Detectives in the Western Cape work up to 300 cases at a time. This is due to staff shortages, as reported by Business Tech.
Former Police Minister Bheki Cele previously stated that the SAPS closes millions of case dockets without results due to a lack of evidence or leads. This, of course, ties in with the fact that there is a huge lack of detectives as they are the ones who would essentially find the evidence.
Shocking number of unsolved murders
South Africa recorded close to 115 000 murders since 2018/19 of which 76 655 were closed without being solved. That translates to 66,66% going unsolved. In addition to this, there were 40 089 attempted murder cases in the same period that were also closed without being solved.
Lisa Schickerling, DA MP, stated that ‘this is a deplorable state of affairs that requires urgent intervention from both the Minister and senior SAPS management’.