Police numbers plunge in South African crime hotspots

Only seven of the police stations in South Africa’s top 35 contact crime hotspots are at or above 100% police officer capacity.

In addition to this, several of these police stations have seen a significant decrease in capacity over the past five financial years, including many in the Western Cape, which are battling the ongoing gangsterism crisis.

This is according to a response by acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia to a written question by Democratic Alliance Member of Parliament Lisa Schickerling.

Cachalia’s response revealed that only eight of the 35 police departments have seen an increase in staff capacity since the 2020/21 financial year.

The minister highlighted that while the actual number of staff at each station may not be reported, the percentage of the granted number of members can.

However, he did say that at a national level, there is only one police officer for every 422 people. This is nearly double the United Nations’ recommended ratio of 1:220.

The Western Cape has eight of the top 35 stations. Of these, only one has seen an increase in staff capacity over the past five years – Harare. This increased from 104% in 2020/21 to 123% in 2024/25.

On the other hand, Nyanga, which is the police precinct with the one of the highest murder rates in the country, saw its capacity drop from 105% to 83%.

According to the Institute for Security Studies, the area had a murder rate of 157 per 100,000 people for the 2023/24 year.

However, Nyanga is not the only police department to drop below its granted capacity. Only the Mitchells Plain and Cape Town Central departments were not at capacity in 2020/21, at 91% and 88% respectively.

The rest – Delft, Khayelitsha, Kraaifontein, and Mfuleni – have all seen a 10 percentage point drop in capacity over the five years.

The most significant exodus of officers occurred at the Delft Police Station, where the capacity dropped from 118% to 84% over the five-year period.

This is despite the Western Cape police spokesperson, Andre Traut, stating that the South African Police Service (SAPS) is adequately resourced to tackle the ongoing gang-related and other violent crime in the province.

“We have the situation under control and have the necessary resources to curb the crime in the Western Cape,” Traut said in an interview on 13 November 2025.

“We are deploying high numbers of police officers on the streets through numerous crime prevention operations, including Operation Shanela II and Operation Lockdown III, to curb the violence,” Traut said.

Police resources are lacking nationwide

A similar trend has been observed in KwaZulu-Natal, where only one of the seven police stations in areas considered high-risk for contact crimes has seen an increase in capacity.

This was the Empangeni Police Station, which saw an increase in capacity from 97% in 2020/21 to 103% in 2024/25.

The rest, apart from Durban Central, have all plummeted to below 80% of the approved capacity, which includes Inanda, Kwadukuza, Phoenix, Plessislaer, and Umlazi.

Half of the police departments in the top 30 are in Gauteng. Only three of these have had police officers join to bring staffing numbers closer to the desired amount.

These are the Akasia, Moroka, and Randfontein police departments, with the latest rates sitting at 100%, 86%, and 87% respectively.

This makes Akasia only one of two on the Gauteng list to be at or above capacity, with the Temba Police Station being the other.

In the 2020/21 period, seven stations were at or above capacity. All, apart from Temba Police Station, have dropped to below capacity.

Police stations in the North West and Limpopo, which are among the top 30, have all experienced increases in staffing capacity.

Calls to increase metro policing powers

A DA MP and chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police said that the City of Cape Town’s Metro Police can compensate for SAPS’s lack of resources in the area.

However, it does not have the same policing powers as SAPS.

“They are already on the frontlines, but without the legal powers to investigate gang-related gun crime, conduct ballistic testing, or gather intelligence on organised criminal networks, their ability to respond remains constrained.”

“The DA therefore calls for the immediate authorisation for the City of Cape Town’s Metro Police to assume expanded policing powers so they can act decisively against gang violence and restore safety to communities abandoned by SAPS.”