South Africa's Police Face Public Trust Crisis as Crime Reporting Plummets

Building Public Trust in Police Requires Rooting Out Corruption and Earning Confidence Through Action

South Africans expect that when they call the police, someone will answer. They expect help to arrive. They expect the law to protect them. Yet according to the 2025/2026 Governance, Public Safety and Justice Survey published by Statistics South Africa, many victims do not report certain crimes, citing the belief that “the police would not do anything about it.” This gap between expectation and reality represents a fundamental challenge to public safety across the country.

The South African Police Service, with more than 180,000 members and over 3,000 police reservists, carries the constitutional responsibility for law enforcement and protecting the public. While private security may serve those who can afford it, the duty to keep all South Africans safe rests with the state. This responsibility is not abstract. Every day, police officers investigate crimes, track suspects, gather evidence, patrol communities and confront dangerous criminals, often under difficult and dangerous circumstances. They respond to calls for help, attend scenes of violence, search for missing children and investigate murders and robberies.

The cost of this work is measured in lives. Over the twelve months to March this year, twelve police officers lost their lives in the line of duty. Though this represents half the deaths of the previous year, the loss of even one officer is a reminder of the risks that thousands of police officers take daily so that the rest of the public may be safer.

Public confidence in the police has eroded. Trust, as government acknowledges, is one of the most important weapons in the fight against crime. The police need communities to report crimes, identify suspects, provide information and come forward as witnesses. Communities, in turn, need to know that when they report a crime, they will be treated with respect and that their case will receive proper attention. An unreported crime cannot be investigated, and without investigation a perpetrator cannot face justice.

Confidence cannot be demanded. It must be earned when a telephone call is answered, when a police vehicle arrives, when a case is properly investigated and when a victim is treated with dignity. Above all, it is earned when criminals are arrested, prosecuted and brought to justice.

The challenge to public confidence has been intensified by revelations emerging from the ongoing judicial commission of inquiry into criminality and political interference in the criminal justice system, headed by Judge Mbuyiseli Madlanga. The allegations of criminal infiltration, corruption and political interference in parts of the criminal justice system are deeply disturbing. South Africans are entitled to know that those entrusted with fighting crime are not themselves working with criminals. The Commission must be allowed to do its work thoroughly and without fear, favour or interference. Where wrongdoing is established, there must be consequences. Where crimes have been committed, the law must take its course.

This moment carries historical weight. The re-orientation of the SAPS from an instrument of state control to a service accountable to the people it is mandated to serve represents a fundamental transformation from the apartheid era, when the police were not people to whom millions of South Africans could turn for protection. Today, the work of the SAPS is subject to oversight by a parliamentary portfolio committee, and the Independent Police Investigative Directorate investigates allegations of police misconduct. This accountability is an essential feature of democratic policing. Those entrusted with enforcing the law must themselves be subject to the law.

The re-examination of apartheid-era crimes, including Steve Biko’s death in police custody in 1977 and the murder of the Cradock Four in 1985, reveals the danger that arises when those entrusted with state power believe they are above the law. Despite being offered amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in return for full disclosure, a number of apartheid-era police chose dishonesty and misrepresentation of the facts surrounding the deaths of those they killed. These memories are uncomfortable, yet they underscore why a police service rooted in respect for human rights is essential.

For every incompetent or corrupt SAPS member, there are many thousands more who are not. Most police members serve with honour and embody the values of the badge they wear. The alleged infiltration of the SAPS by criminals and vested interests, supported by corrupt members, must not be allowed to define the service. Nor should the actions of a corrupt few define the many thousands of officers who serve their country with honesty and courage. At the same time, the public owes it to every honest police officer to root out those who dishonour the badge.

Government has committed to strengthening the SAPS through Project 11,000, with the next intake of 5,500 constables soon entering training academies. Strengthening the police, though, is not only about increasing numbers. It is about ensuring that the right people are recruited, given proper training, equipped adequately and placed where they are most needed. Psychometric and integrity testing now form part of the first phase of selection before any prospective recruit reaches fitness, vetting, medical or other stages. Recruitment, promotion and appointment to senior positions must be based on merit, competence and integrity.

The SAPS also conducts operations critical to the economy and public safety that happen away from public view. This includes combating illegal mining through Operation Vala Umgodi and operations to dismantle syndicates involved in cable theft and infrastructure vandalism, smuggling and counterfeiting, and human trafficking. These are not peripheral concerns. They affect the daily lives of ordinary South Africans who depend on functioning infrastructure and safe communities.

Building an effective and accountable police service is a task that must be shared. Government carries the primary responsibility for keeping people safe. But the police cannot defeat crime without the support and cooperation of communities. Community policing forums, neighbourhood organisations, traditional leaders, faith-based organisations and ordinary citizens work alongside the police to make communities safer. Some businesses have stepped forward with sponsorship and capacity building, including donations to the SAPS Education Trust, which assists the children of members killed on duty.

The task before the country is clear. South Africans must be relentless in pursuing criminals, and equally relentless in ensuring that criminality and corruption have no place within the institutions meant to protect them. Public confidence in the police cannot be built unless corruption is rooted out. And crime cannot be defeated unless the police have the confidence and cooperation of the public. Whether the Commission headed by Judge Madlanga will deliver the accountability that ordinary South Africans need, and whether its findings will translate into lasting reform, remains the defining question for the service’s future.