The South African Police Service (SAPS) has embarked on a recruitment campaign in which an additional 6 252 members will be enlisted during this 2015/2016 financial year, in order to bolster service delivery where it matters most – at the coalface.
Of the 6 252 additional personnel, 5 000 will be appointed in terms of the South African Police Act in areas where the SAPS is in need of additional capacity, such as detective services, visible policing, crime intelligence, forensic services, and protection and security services environments. These divisions, which report directly to the national office, will be allocated 1 507 new members.
Forensic Services will have 500 new forensic analysts while 400 graduates will be allocated to Crime Intelligence and the other graduates will join other divisions to bolster capacity at these divisions. The remaining 3 493 entry-level Police Act recruits will be allocated to provinces, with a clear instruction that recruitment for the detective services remains a priority in line with the medium term expenditure framework cycle that began in 2013 and ends in 2016.
The remaining 1 252 will then be employed in terms of the Public Service Act. The National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, General Riah Phiyega, who approved the allocations last month, emphasized that stringent measures will be implemented to ensure that people with criminal records, pending cases and those that do not meet the criteria do not find a way into the SAPS.
“We are expecting thousands of people to apply for these posts. Therefore, we must take every precaution possible to ensure that we select the best as the overall plan going forward is to have the SAPS fighting crime with clean hands,” said General Phiyega.
This latest recruitment campaign follows hot on the heels of an invitation two months ago to former police members to re-enlist. So far the SAPS has received a total of 2 800 applications from former police officers, a thousand of whom are former detectives, who have expressed interest to re-join the SAPS. The plan is to have these posts filled by the end of the current financial year.
All of these interventions are part of a broader plan by the top echelons of the SAPS to bring the services of the police to the people.
Enquiries:
Lieutenant-General Solomon Makgale
Cell: 082 781 8863
HR Queries:
Colonel Olivier
Cell: 076 060 7919
Tel: (012) 393 2158
Colonel Siwela
Cell: 082 478 5442
Tel: (012) 393 1474
