The South African Police Service has been slow in training detectives in key investigative areas, the office of the Minister of Police has revealed.
Stats also showed that 30% of detective posts at the stations with the highest crime rates were vacant as of the end of February.
The figures were disclosed by the department in a recent response to a written parliamentary question and focused on the 35 stations most featured in Saps’ quarterly crime statistics charts.
Among those stations were 15 in Gauteng, eight in the Western Cape, seven in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), two in Limpopo and one each from Mpumalanga, North West and Eastern Cape.
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) was deployed to assist in March, with those close to the situation questioning the army’s effectiveness if crimes could not be properly investigated.
30% detective vacancy rate
Chair of two parliamentary committees on defence and police Ian Cameron asked about the detective compliment within Saps, specifically at hotspot stations.
The minister said that police had 3 496 detective posts at the 35 stations listed, with 2 480 of those positions being occupied as of 28 February.
Stations with the highest vacancy rates included Inanda, Pheonix, Cape Town Central and Kraaifontein, with the minister limiting the figures provided.
“Please note that Saps cannot disclose the actual number of resources that are deployed operationally, particularly at police stations, as this may reveal vulnerabilities, which may place Saps members, police stations and Saps operations at risk,” the minister wrote.
Jeppe, the station in Gauteng with the highest number of murders had 64 detectives, while its KZN counterpart, Inanda, had 52.
The Western Cape had the two stations with the highest number of murders in the last reported quarter – Mfuleni and Nyanga – with 77 and 84 detectives per station, respectively.
These four stations with 277 detectives had 727 murder cases opened between them from 1 April and 31 December last year.
No digital forensic training
Cameron asked for the number of detectives who had been trained in specialised investigative techniques, as well as how many emerging detectives existed within Saps.
Since 1 April 2025, financial investigation training at the hotspot stations totalled only 15 detectives – including six in the North West and five in Gauteng.
Saps trained 460 detectives in gender-based violence and femicide case management in the last year, but none in digital forensics.
“In terms of digital forensics training for current active detectives at the top 35 high-crime police stations, no training was provided from 1 April 2025 to 27 February 2026,” the minister said.
In terms of young detectives with less than three years in their position, the Western Cape was leading the way with 153 stationed at the hotspot stations.
Gauteng had 94 among its 15 problematic stations, with KZN close behind with 89.
The North West’s Rustenburg station had 30, with Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape recording 17, 11 and four, respectively.
Operation Prosper
Cameron recently noted the high number of murders in Cape Town since the SANDF deployment, some incidents claiming the lives of children.
He said that 84 people had been killed and 82 attempted murder cases registered between the end of March and 12 April.
Given these numbers, Cameron questioned whether Operation Prosper had so far been effective and said Saps needed to do more.
Stating that the intelligence gathering of police was a “disaster”, he expressed his doubt about whether prosecutions were the primary aim.
“If they were, we would be seeing sustained action against the networks that move guns, organise hits, control territory and profit from the drug trade, not scattered raids, weak follow through and repeated violence in the same communities.
“Saps intelligence remains far too weak and unreliable. We are still seeing raids that hit the wrong houses, while communities are told this is a serious anti-gang response.
“If intelligence is poor, operations become blunt, disruptive and ineffective. Innocent residents are traumatised, trust in policing is damaged, and the actual gang bosses remain free,” Cameron said.
