43% of the South African Police’s Flying Squad phone numbers don’t work, and it dropped 12.8 million calls over the last 5 years

Only 119 of 207 South African Police Service Flying Squad phone lines are working, and the service dropped 12.844 million calls over the last five years.

This was revealed by the acting Minister of Police, Firoz Cachalia, in response to a Parliamentary question from Ian Cameron.

Cameron is the chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police, and asked Cachalia for details about the Flying Squad phone lines across South Africa.

He requested information on the number of lines in each province, how many were operational, and the dropped call rate.

Cachalia responded, saying the South African Police Service has 207 Flying Squad phone lines, of which 119 were operational.

There were many reasons for Flying Squad numbers not working, which he listed in his reply. They include:

• The VoIP platform depended on PRI connectivity carried over copper infrastructure, which was disrupted by copper theft.

• One of the five historically allocated services is operational as an IPT line. The other four were legacy analogue lines and are no longer operational.

• Faults on two devices were reported on 12 October 2026 and are being diagnosed for restoration.

• The allocations relate to historical analogue services. The number of additional IPT devices and licences required is being assessed.

• The requirement for additional IPT services and licences is being validated as a priority under the Hybrid Unified Communication upgrade programme.

• The historically allocated lines are not operational because the legacy PABX switchboard was removed.

Cachalia also revealed that 49.960 million calls were received from 10111 dispatch over the past five financial years.

Of these, 37.117 million calls were answered, and 12.844 million were dropped. The average response time was 53 seconds.

Ian Cameron comments on the Police’s Flying Squad

Cameron said that it was concerning that 88 of 207 allocated Flying Squad phone lines were non-operational.

He also provided details about Flying Squad vehicles, of which many are not available for service.

He explained that nearly half of Flying Squad vehicles in the North West are unavailable. “15 vehicles are in use, and just 17 are operational,” he said.

“That is the worst provincial availability rate in the country. In the Eastern Cape, more than one in three is unavailable. In Mpumalanga, almost one in three.”

He said that the South African Police Service Flying Squad is too often overlooked as a specialised unit.

“These members are frequently on the frontline against the most dangerous violent criminals, racing to people who desperately need help,” he said.

“Servicing is necessary. The SA Police Service must plan for it and ensure that these units can still respond.”

“The Minister and National Commissioner must explain how long vehicles have been unavailable, when they will return and what replacement capacity exists.”

Cameron said that members of the South African Police Service need reliable vehicles and that people in danger need help that can reach them.