A staggering number hangs over the South African Police Service, one that speaks not of crime prevention, but of profound institutional failure: R56.7 billion. This is the total value of pending civil claims against the police, a tidal wave of litigation largely rooted in unlawful arrests, wrongful detention, and assault. When Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia recently revealed this figure in Parliament, he laid bare a system in crisisone that is financially bleeding the state and morally bankrupting public trust.
The scale is almost incomprehensible. Nationally, there are 48,569 pending cases of unlawful arrest and detention. In 2022 alone, SAPS paid out R2.8 billion for related claims. Experts now describe an institution “drowning in litigation,” where incompetence, corruption, and a blatant disregard for constitutional limits have turned the police from a public protector into a national liability.
The Root of the Crisis: Ignorance, Impunity, and a Corrupt Culture
According to specialists, the crisis is systemic. Veteran investigator Mike Bolhuis pulls no punches, estimating that “up to 80% of police officers are corrupt.” He identifies a fundamental flaw: many officers either do not know or deliberately ignore the law they are meant to uphold.
A key culprit is the frequent misuse of Section 40 of the Criminal Procedure Act, which governs warrantless arrests. “Many arrests are made without reasonable suspicion, often to investigate later,” Bolhuis states. This is compounded by holding detainees beyond the legal 48-hour limit before a court appearance and denying due bail processes.
Perhaps the most perverse incentive is the lack of personal accountability. The civil claims, Bolhuis notes, “were paid by the state, not by the responsible officers.” With no financial or career consequences for unlawful actions, and with repeat offenders often remaining on active duty, a culture of impunity flourishes.
“Acting Above the Law”: An Academic’s Verdict
Professor Witness Maluleke, a criminology expert at the University of Limpopo, echoes this damning assessment. He states that some officers “act as if they were above the law,” driven by a police subculture in “disarray” that severs the vital link with the communities they serve.
“It is without doubt that we have incompetent cops with a limited understanding of the law, which fuels civil claims against them,” Maluleke says. He warns that the competent officers are often “lumped with” the incompetent, creating a “rotten apple” environment that corrupts the entire organisational culture.
