The Democratic Alliance (DA) is demanding that the Provincial Police Commissioner, Lt Gen Koliswa Otola, address the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature on raising performance and standards of accountability across all levels of the South African Police Service (SAPS) in the province.
This follows the release of the latest crime statistics which again show that criminals are running circles around the police.
Violent crime remains out of control. Attempted murder has risen sharply in the Northern Cape, increasing by 9.5% from January-March 2025, with 578 incidents recorded for the same period this year. This is compared to just 131 cases reported for the fourth quarter in the 2020/2021 financial year.
Concerning is that kidnapping has increased, rising to 43 incidents, doubling over the last five years. Residential burglaries also continue to show a year-on-year increase, deepening public safety concerns across the province.
The crime situation reflects the deterioration of policing through a weakened SAPS.
As of May 2025, the Northern Cape faced a shortage of 231 detectives, while almost 200 police vehicles currently remain out of service at the Kimberley garage alone. Furthermore, over the past decade, at least 12 Northern Cape officers of varying rank have received significantly reduced sanctions for serious cases of misconduct, undermining accountability.
These failures point to poor resource management, vacancies in critical posts, and weak internal oversight, leaving SAPS increasingly unable to combat crime effectively.
The DA wants a full briefing from Lt. General Otola on what more will be done to re-instil discipline and integrity within the police service, and to enforce consequence management to ensure the best possible management and operationalisation of human and other resources.
We further reiterate the call on Parliament to urgently consider the DA’s SAPS Amendment Bill, which would strengthen accountability measures, including initiating lifestyle audits for SAPS leadership and high-risk units.
Communities deserve a clean police service that has the will, the resources and the capacity to catch criminals, get them convicted, and keep communities safe.