SAPS REPORT CARD 2025-2026: Cops on a hot tin roof: how scandals pummel SAPS’ plans
As corruption accusations spread among officers, SAPS bosses are scrambling to address a recruitment crisis, overworked detectives and the growing threat of transnational organised crime.
In the 2025-2026 SAPS Report Card, South African Police Service (SAPS) officials grapple with a range of challenges that threaten their operations. Corruption allegations, an ongoing recruitment crisis, and the pressures of transnational organized crime have placed significant strain on the department. During a police committee meeting on October 7th, the SAPS unveiled its annual report covering the period from April 1st, 2024 to March 31st, 2025.
The report reveals that alleged corruption cost the country 5,500 entry-level trainee police officers, despite more than a million people applying for the positions.
SAPS leaders have had to adapt quickly to the mounting demands placed on their officers, as many struggle with overworked detective docket loads and some officers leaving due to high crime rates in their provinces. To address these issues, SAPS officials are tightening management and focusing on accountability. Acting Commissioner Puleng Dimpane emphasized that "all our problems circle back to command and control."
The scandal has its roots in the July 2025 accusations made by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, who claimed that a cartel, known as the Big Five, had infiltrated the criminal justice system, politics, and the private sector. The Madlanga Commission and an ad hoc parliamentary committee were established to investigate his allegations.
The investigations have resulted in several police officers being arrested and criminally charged, casting a shadow over the police service's performance.
SAPS leaders, including Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia and Acting National Commissioner Puleng Dimpane, have acknowledged the destabilizing impact of these scandals on police leadership. Permanent appointments are scarce in the department, as Cachalia and Dimpane are both acting in their roles. Mkhwanazi's accusations forced Senzo Mchunu to step down from the police minister position last year, and Dimpane was appointed as acting national commissioner when Fannie Masemola was sidelined after being criminally charged in April 2025.
In the face of these challenges, SAPS is working to boost staffing and address lifestyle anomalies picked up through police lifestyle audits.
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