The government wants to fight crime with the same fervor as it discusses economic reforms in other struggling state departments like electricity and water. The main focus areas for President Cyril Ramaphosa will be increasing capacity, repairing emergency aid lines and sabotaging Eskom.
“Just as we started economic reforms in electricity, water, telecommunications and logistics through Operation Vulindlela, we are starting the reform process to increase the effectiveness of the fight against crime,” Ramphosa said as he delivered the seventh state in the country. address on Thursday afternoon.
Ramaphosa said 10 000 new police personnel would be recruited and trained this year.
However, Deputy Minister of Police Cassel Mathale told the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) in November last year that due to budget constraints only 15 000 new police recruits would be registered in three years.
The total budget for the police service for the 2022-2023 financial year is R100.695 billion, compared to the previous financial year of R100.474 billion.
In his speech, Ramaphosa pledged “significantly” more funding in the next financial year for the police, the National Prosecuting Authority and the Special Investigations Unit.
Ramaphosa acknowledged the complaints lodged about the failure of the emergency line 10111. Calls to the line remain unanswered and this, the president assured, will be resolved in partnership with the private sector.
The President also announced a special team comprising senior leaders to prevent corruption and theft at Eskom.
Outgoing Eskom chief executive André de Ruyter told parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) in January that ongoing corruption at the electricity utility and the failure of law enforcement agencies to address it, threatens the stability of the electricity grid.
In his speech, Ramaphosa said: “[SAPS] set up a special team with senior leaders to deal with widespread corruption and theft in several power plants that have led to poor performance at these stations”.
De Ruyter told the NCOP last week that there have been several successes by law enforcement agencies in tackling corruption and theft in the electricity utility.
He confirmed 25 arrests and the closure of three illegal sites where coal going to power plants was replaced with low-quality coal, causing further damage to Eskom’s plants. Police are in the process of targeting an additional 30 similar illegal coal sites.