The nature of crime in South Africa has reached a level where it has become cumbersome for the South African Police Service (SAPS) to prevent. Therefore, innocent citizens continue to live in fear and have become prisoners in their own houses.
Moreover, organised crime is even more difficult and too complex for the SAPS to detect and prevent before it happens. This may be attributed to the fact that criminals involved in organised crime are better organised and resourced than the police.
Criminal teams have researchers, intelligence-gathering capabilities, those who are trained in high-calibre weapons and more. Criminals are able to use the vulnerability of some police officers to infiltrate them to their benefit.
The Judge Thulare Report of 2023 mentioned that a 28s gang leader in the Western Cape captured and infiltrated the senior management of the SAPS such that he became part of the operations planning process. This implies that he knew about any police operation way in advance.
Moreover, the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry demonstrated to the nation that some of the generals in the top structure of the SAPS are allegedly involved in criminal activities and some are allegedly captured by cartels. These are the people who are supposed to ensure that the police officers (on the ground) have the necessary resources to deal decisively with crime in SA.
Has SAPS run out of new ideas?
However, crime is persistently and relentlessly a critical problem in our country. It is important to note that senior police officers (especially brigadiers and generals) must have specific qualities such as analytical and strategic thinking as well as the right qualifications or experience for the job. However, the levels of crime in SA suggest that the management of the SAPS has run out of new and innovative means of dealing with crime.
The acting Minister of Police, Professor Firoz Cachalia, spoke about an integrated approach (social crime prevention) to fight crime in SA.
There is nothing new about this approach. The 1998 White Paper on Safety and Security discussed this approach comprehensively.
Basically, the community policing forums (CPFs) are part of the integrated strategy; however, they are dysfunctional in most areas. The former police minister Bheki Cele promised to resuscitate the CPFs, but that is yet to happen. When Prof Cachalia released the Third Quarter Crime Statistics (2025/2026), he announced that the department is planning to introduce the National Community Patrollers Programme.
What is the difference between the CPFs and the National Patrollers Programme? There is basically no difference between the two since the national patrollers will ideally report to the CPFs. It is like the neighbourhood watch programme.
This is another approach that is not going to yield the desired results, because once money (stipends) is involved, the wrong people will be attracted to join the programme. Moreover, a window of corruption will be opened if the recruitment process is not well monitored.
Therefore, the deployment of soldiers to assist the police in Gauteng, Western Cape and Eastern Cape is a testament that crime requires a different approach, perhaps a more aggressive one.
Community involvement
Any effective approach aimed at preventing crime must involve the community members; this implies that the CPFs must be resuscitated and provided with the necessary resources to do their job.
Accordingly, the deployment of soldiers is also a testament that the police are struggling to prevent crime (especially organised crime) as per their mandate.
It must be noted that soldiers are not trained to prevent crime except for the military police officials. Therefore, soldiers will be deployed to assist the police as a force multiplier. Basically they will protect the SAPS while they perform their duties.
The danger of this approach is that it may lead to crime displacement to other provinces. It must be noted that where soldiers are deployed, military police officials are also deployed to police the soldiers.
In addition, the deployment of soldiers will surely provide temporary relief to the communities that are relentlessly affected by crime, but it is not a sustainable solution.
Dealing with crime decisively requires a new and different approach as opposed to the recycling of crime prevention strategies that have been used over time and yielded no substantial outcomes.
Intelligence-led policing
Accordingly, intelligence-led policing is the way to go, but will it be enough under the current circumstances?
A pertinent question that we also need to ask is whether the current police training is adequate in the face of brazen criminals with high-calibre weapons? Surely, SAPS training is not proportional to the challenge.
Having worked with various police from other countries made one realise that the Gendarmerie model could be ideal for the current crime situation in SA.
Here we are talking about a hybrid (two in one) type of police. They are able to deal with any type of situation as far as crime is concerned. Furthermore, this model will eliminate the call for soldiers to be used in crime prevention (whether directly or indirectly). Alternatively, a paramilitary type of training for the police could be another solution.
The fact is that organised crime has reached a level where conventional police training is no-longer proportional to the levels of crime, the type of weapons carried by criminals and criminals’ brazenness.
Whether we like it or not, crime perpetuates relentlessly and if the current police model is not changed, we risk becoming a fully fledged mafia state. DM
Dr Esewu Mxolisi Mathebula is a crime and policing expert. He is a member of the South African National Defence Force, currently serving as a Senior Military Police Officer. He served under the United Nations Military Police in the Democratic Republic of Congo for two terms from 2004. In 2011, he served as a Military Police Commander in the DRC under Mission Thebe.