“We have restored the independence and capability of our law enforcement agencies to tackle corruption and crime.”

This is one of the bold statements President Cyril Ramaphosa made in Cape Town on Thursday evening, 8 February, during his 2024 State of the National Address.

He said those words, probably partially in reference to the South African Police Service (SAPS), which is the scene of intense distrust and ongoing accusations of corruption.

Muted tune

Ramaphosa’s speech made it clear it is an election year in South Africa — based on what he did not say.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Ramaphosa’s electioneering and listicles of government achievements leave opposition cold

Last year during his annual address, Ramaphosa came across as much more willing to face reality head-on, saying communities across the country were living in fear for their safety and “this situation cannot continue”.

Read more in Daily Maverick: ‘We cannot live in such fear of crime’ – Ramaphosa pledges corruption crackdown, more cops, tighter witness protection

He had also said crimes against women and children “remain a deeply disturbing feature of our national life.” (On Thursday, he took a softer approach to this, saying: “As a society, we must intensify our collective efforts to bring gender-based violence and femicide to an end.”)

Broken telephone

In his 2023 speech, he spoke about some specifics, like improving the proper functioning of the 10111 emergency helpline, an issue not addressed this year.

Daily Maverick previously reported that 10111 call centres were massively understaffed and that millions of calls were dropped over three years.

Based on more recent media reports, the helpline was still experiencing problems as of last month.

Meanwhile, other problems in policing have also been obvious.

Two years ago, in February 2022, Ramaphosa himself even prematurely ended the contract of the country’s then-national police commissioner, Khehla Sitole, “in the best interests of the country.”

In those two years, Sitole’s replacement, Fannie Masemola, has had to deal with several issues revolving around the SAPS, including its flailing reputation and repeat accusations of some cops siding with criminals.

Acknowledging vs avoiding

Ramaphosa indeed addressed the issue of corruption, which is what anchored State Capture in South Africa over the past few years, on Thursday.

He used the word 10 times in his approximately 6,780-word speech.

Ramaphosa seemed to slip into political hyperbole when talking about the topic, saying: “Based on the recommendations of the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council, we are determined to introduce further measures to strengthen our anti-corruption agencies, protect whistle-blowers, regulate lobbying and prevent the undue influence of public representatives in procurement.

“We will not stop until every person responsible for corruption is held to account. We will not stop until all stolen money has been recovered. We will not stop until corruption is history.”

At the same time, Ramaphosa glossed over and skirted around other critical problems.

While he stated the obvious — “tackling crime and insecurity is a key priority” — he did not reference the actual state of the SAPS and how pivotal units in it are dealing with issues like staff shortages and tightened budgets.

Read more in Daily Maverick: State of contradictions — SA’s 2024 political tugs-of-war, and the SAPS’s ‘fight vs fuel’ crime and corruption conundrum

In September last year, Daily Maverick reported how government-wide budget constraints were becoming more apparent, with the SAPS being told to curtail their spending in various ways.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) had also been affected.

At the start of September last year, it announced that “due to ongoing and government-wide budget constraints”, it was “forced to suspend the 2024 intake” of aspirant prosecutors.

The SAPS and NPA work closely together.

South African Police members of the new Anti Gang Unit (AGU) on parade during the launch of the new unit to provide policing support, in Hanover Park, Cape Town. (Photo: EPA-EFE/Nic Bothma)

Boosting cop numbers

In another section of his address on Thursday, Ramaphosa said: “We will continue to strengthen our law enforcement institutions”.

How exactly?

Ramaphosa did not drill into that detail, aside from trying to reassure South Africa that the police service had been boosted and was in for a further staff increase.

“During this administration, we have focused on equipping our law enforcement agencies, which had been systematically weakened, to do their work effectively,” he said.

Passing out parade of 10 000 newly trained police officials is currently underway at the Tshwane SAPS Academy in Pretoria #morebootsonthe ground pic.twitter.com/fizbewJNMQ

— Athlenda Mathe (@AthlendaM) December 13, 2022

“We have strengthened the ranks of the police through the recruitment of 20,000 police officers over the last two years and another 10,000 in the year to come.

“An extra 5,000 police officers have been deployed to Public Order Policing.”

While bolstering cop numbers is not necessarily a bad thing, a police officer previously told Daily Maverick that instead of hiring more cops to boost visible policing, existing personnel should and could be used to forge better relationships with residents, which would improve community policing.

On Thursday, during his address, Ramaphosa also acknowledged some rather obvious issues.

“We still have a long way to go to build safer communities, prevent violent crime, and protect our infrastructure,” he said.

“But there is no doubt that a professional, well-trained and properly resourced police force, working closely with communities, will make our country a safer place.”

Ramaphosa turned his attention to across South Africa’s border.

South African policing continues to face accusations of corruption and struggles with staff shortages and budget constraints. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)

‘Silence the guns’

“We remain committed to playing a constructive role on our continent and around the globe for the realisation of a better Africa and a better world,” he said.

“We will continue to play an important role to silence the guns throughout our continent.

“Our engagements with parties in the Russia-Ukraine conflict through the Africa Peace Initiative are progressing… Guided by the fundamental principle of human rights and freedom, we have taken up the Palestinian cause to prevent further deaths and destruction in Gaza.”

Read more in Daily Maverick: Pandor says Israel is ignoring the ICJ order to stop killings in Gaza

Ramaphosa welcomed the International Court of Justice ruling “that Israel must take all measures within its power to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians”.

Firearm smuggling

But his words about South Africa’s “important role to silence the guns throughout our continent” come across as jarring when assessing them through the lens of the SAPS.

This is because of accusations — and a court conviction — showing that certain police officers were involved in smuggling firearms they should have been storing, to gangsters in the country’s gangsterism capital, the Western Cape.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Bheki Cele in the firing line of critical class action against police over the smuggling of guns to gangsters

There were also accusations of police officers in Gauteng involved in smuggling firearms.

Other cases related to cops creating fraudulent firearm licences for suspects are ongoing.

Persistent crimes

Additional pertinent crime issues affecting South Africa, that Ramaphosa did not address on Thursday, included extortion, which has created a ripple effect of disruptions, extending from housing projects to rail operations.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Gangstas’ Paradise – how the ‘bullet rule’ of gangsters is strangling the life out of SA’s Mother City

Another scourge that did not get a mention was gangsterism — and problems dragging behind it, including that of children getting killed and cops plus other government officials colluding with (suspected or otherwise) gang members.

Yes, there are aspects of the SAPS that are involved in honest crime fighting.

But these issues — from cop infighting and the functioning of an emergency helpline to budget/staff constraints and gang crimes — which may come across as too nitty gritty and unpalatable for a presidential speech, especially during an election year, are the reality on the ground.

Ramaphosa, in his 2024 State of the Nation Address, seems to have highlighted the real state of security and policing in South Africa, by what he omitted to say. DM