SAPS falls short on several critical performance metrics once again

The struggling South African Police Service (SAPS) has faced yet another reprimand in parliament. On Wednesday 9 October 2024, the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) presented a report to the Portfolio Committee on Police in parliament. In it, the SAPS received a clean financial audit.

However, parliamentary overseers say the report is at odds with its worsening delivery record, reports The Citizen. Nevertheless, the AGSA did raise the issue of several missed performance-based measurables that are endangering the lives of the South African population. And Portfolio Committee chair Ian Cameron says it’s imperative that the SAPS gets these issues under control urgently if it wants to improve conviction rates.

THE SAPS FAILS TO MEET KEY MEASURABLES

Specifically, the AGSA says a high DNA analysis backlog, slow response time to 10111 calls, and poor case success rate are of grave concern. Overall, out of 18 key performance targets, the SAPS only achieved a pass in eight of them. Below are some of the worrying deficiencies identified within the SAPS:

• Only 45.8% of cases are solved annually.
• The number of SAPS detectives has decreased from 26 000 to 17 000 between 2018 and 2024.
• More than 70 000 cases are standing in DNA analysis backlog.
• Only 38 998 out of 61 828 cases against children under the age of 18 years are solved (63%).
• 26% of 10111 emergency calls are abandoned/cut off.
• The 10111 response time ranges from eight to 35 minutes on average.

On the positive end of the scale, the SAPS Crime Intelligence Division did achieve 100% of its targets. Likewise, the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service achieved its second consecutive clean audit. Cameron applauded this by saying: “It shows a commitment to sound financial management.”