Angella Johnson
THE government is to lift its two-year ban on recruiting new police officers following a public outcry over escalating violent crime and the continued haemorrhaging of manpower from the South African Police Service (SAPS).
The first batch of candidates is expected to start training early next year, ending a moratorium police claim has left them inadequately placed to fight crime in many regions.
Maxwell Mulaudzi, a representative for Safety and Security Minister Sidney Mufamadi, said the minister was still waiting for a proposal from the SAPS’s human resources department about manpower requirements. “Once he has that then he will be better placed to put a plan before the Cabinet for consideration within budgetary constraints.”
Mufamadi, who has often argued that putting more police on the streets would not necessarily reduce crime, is under pressure from businessmen and the diplomatic community to do more.
Crime is widely believed to be a major obstacle in the country’s democratic and economic growth.
National Police Commissioner George Fivaz would like the moratorium lifted immediately. He is also demanding extra funds to beef up logistical support, such as more vehicles, which he says will be the “decisive factor in beating crime”.
At Pretoria West Police College, tutors say the rumour mills have been turning with news that their first lot of new cadets could be on board for January 1997.
The college, which once put through about 6000 new officers a year, now relies on retraining programmes for the SAPS personnel.
Superintendent Fanie Bierman, head of training, said that like most police colleges it was now so under-utilised it was difficult to justify keeping facilities going. Two have already closed.
“We have a new method of teaching which is in line with a democratic country, but only 1 700 people were given this training during a pilot programme last year,” he said.
“They are now out in the system like little fish in a sea full of sharks. We need to get more officers through the programme in order to make a significant impact on policing.”
He described the SAPS as a bath full of water where the plug is releasing water (that is, officers killed, retired or retrenched), but the tap is tightly closed.
Official figures show that 2 503 police left the service from the beginning of 1995 to July 1996.