The constitution provides that the objectives of the SAPS are ‘to prevent, combat and investigate crime, to maintain public order, to protect and secure the inhabitants of the Republic and their property, and to uphold and enforce the law’.2 The main objective of the detective service is to ensure the effective investigation of crime.

In order properly to understand the detective service, it is necessary to be clear on how the detective service fits into the larger SAPS management structure. It is also useful to consider the budgetary structure of the detective service, in particular, the portion of funds allocated to the detective service within the SAPS.

The budgetary structure of the detective service as a distinct entity is also revealing and may help to indicate what is achievable by the detective service. The following two sections therefore consider the management and budgetary structures of the SAPS and of the detective service.

Structure of the South African Police Service

The SAPS is a national organisation made up of 101,639 police members and 20,503 civilians. These are distributed across four levels: 1,103 police stations which are grouped into 43 areas, located within the nine provinces. A substantial portion of the total SAPS members are situated in the head office in Pretoria or have head office related functions.

The detective service is a distinct division within the SAPS with its own reporting lines. The SAPS has a highly hierarchical structure. Under the national commissioner and three deputy national commissioners are 11 divisional commissioners responsible for various functions within the SAPS, including the detective service.3

The divisional commissioners are those of national evaluation, crime prevention, operational response service, crime intelligence, detective service, logistics, financial and administrative services, training, personnel services, career management and legal services. Each of these divisions has their own lines of reporting (Figure 1).

Click here to see Figure 1: Management structure of the South African Police Service

Layered alongside these divisional commissioners, are the nine provincial commissioners, who are responsible for operations within their respective geographical areas.

This implies that at any one time, a detective must ultimately report both to the divisional commissioner of the detective service and the provincial commissioner of the province in which he or she is based. While many detectives interviewed did not feel this to be problematic, others were emphatic that problems did result. This was particularly the case with higher-ranking detectives.

Another consequence of this structure is that when a detective based in one province wishes to pursue his or her investigations in another province, permission must first be obtained from the provincial commissioner of the province concerned, detailing why the province is being entered and what work will be carried out by the detective. A detective may not simply enter the province and pursue leads without first carrying out this formality. Conversely, any police member within a province wishing to make use of the detective service must obtain permission through the ranks in the detective service.

The detective service functions at national level, at provincial level, at area level, and at station level. Only at local or station level are the activities of the detective service limited to classic detective responsibilities, that is:

Attending crime scenes


The gathering or collection of evidence


The tracking of suspects


Use of investigative techniques


Searching premises


The execution of warrants in respect of detective cases


The serving of summonses and subpoenas


Preparation and processing of court cases.4

The setting of national standards and policy, evaluation and monitoring, maintaining structures necessary for effective detection of crime such as the Forensic Laboratory and Criminal Record Centre, representation on the National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee (NICOC), inter alia, are the responsibility of the national level of the detective service. At provincial level, provincial standards and policies are determined, monitoring of training, and command of specialised units, among others, occurs. At area level, much of the functions revolve around the gathering of crime intelligence.

The bureaucratic nature of the SAPS and the detective service is often mentioned as a factor which impedes the work of conscientious detectives. When detectives flout the rules regarding obtaining permission through the ranks, they do so at their peril, even when they have a successful investigation to show for it. For example, one former superintendent described a highly urgent operation which required the use of a helicopter. She was unable to obtain the relevant permission for its use in time. She therefore carried out the operation, which was successful, without the necessary permission. She was subsequently disciplined as a result.

Most of the bureaucratic controls are in place to ensure effective monetary management and to combat corruption in an organisation of substantial size. Unfortunately, this is often perceived to result in delays, duplication and waste, not only in the detective service, but in the SAPS as a whole. For example, police in a rural town in the Western Cape must use their police vehicles, needed daily for both policing and detective work, to travel a distance of 900km to obtain a service at an officially approved service station.

Indeed, at the launch of the Directorate of Special Operations (DSO), many mentioned its far more ‘flat’ structure as a factor counting in its favour over the SAPS detective service. As it expands, the DSO should be careful not to duplicate the bureaucratic nature of the SAPS.

Structure of the detective service

The detective service is headed by a divisional commissioner, supported by the deputy divisional commissioner and the section heads of, firstly, management and administration support, and secondly, the detective service and crime intelligence academy.

Under the divisional and deputy divisional commissioners and section heads, are the six heads of organised crime, serious and violent crime, the commercial branch, the criminal record centre, the forensic science laboratory, and legal services.

At provincial level, this structure is largely duplicated. There is a provincial head of the detective service, a commander of management and administrative support, and provincial commanders of general investigations, organised crime, serious and violent crime, the commercial branch, and the local criminal record centre. There may be units or task teams falling under the broader categories. For example, under organised crime, there may be a diamond and gold task team.

The comments regarding the bureaucratic nature of the SAPS are also of application to the detective service. The exact structure of the specialised units will be considered briefly in the section below, and in more detail in the chapter on restructuring.

According to the head office of the SAPS, specialised units were originally established in the detective service in an ad hoc manner throughout the SAPS’ existence. If a particular type of crime became a problem in a province or an area, then a specialised unit was established.

In some provinces specialised units reported to the provincial level of command of the SAPS, and in other instances they reported to the area level of the SAPS. There are 43 distinct policing areas in South Africa; prior to 1994 there were 94. The reduction in number of areas is analogous to the current attempt to simplify and streamline the number of units.

This varying operational responsibility (to area or provincial level) was as a result of practical difficulties such as geographical distance, problems around budgetary responsibility, lack of inspection capacity at a particular level, and arguments around the principle of community policing, according to some detectives.

Indeed, in some provinces, units were established without the proper authority to do so, according to SAPS head office. This lead to a proliferation of such units throughout the country. Immediately prior to the restructuring of the specialised units, there were as many as 503 such units all over the country—which is almost half as many as there are police stations in the entire country. In other words, for every two police stations there existed a specialised unit. These ranged from well-known units such as the Brixton murder and robbery unit in Gauteng to the occult related crime unit in Port Elizabeth to stock theft units in the rural parts of the country to the gang unit in Bellville, Western Cape.

Each unit became an entity in itself, with its own offices and administrative staff. They became entirely separate from the police stations in the areas they served and there was little interaction between the specialised units and the police stations. Detectives serving at specialised units have never, for example, served on community policing forums.

Furthermore, there was almost no interaction between the various units themselves, or even between various divisions within the units (for example, the fraud unit within the commercial crime unit). Where there was sharing of information and interaction among units, it was on an informal and individual basis. The same applied to interaction of the SAPS units with intelligence structures such as the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). Only personal networking was in place.

The specialised units operated under mandates, which detailed which crime types, which pieces of legislation, or which priorities would be the preserve of the specialised unit under consideration (see the section on the serious and violent crime unit in chapter 4 for an example of a mandate).

The problems relating to the specialised units in the past, their current restructuring, and the rationale for their restructuring will be considered in more detail in chapter 4. The next sections consider the budgetary framework, and spending priorities within the detective service.

SAPS budget

Since 2001 the budget of the SAPS has been detailed under the Safety and Security budget which covers both the SAPS and the Department of Safety and Security (the latter includes the office of the Minister and the national Secretariat of Safety and Security). In previous years the SAPS had its own distinct budget.5

There are five budgetary programmes within the Safety and Security budget.6 These are listed and briefly described below:

Administration covers policy and management work, as well as funds used for medical benefits.



Crime prevention covers the work at police stations in the country, as well as functional units such as the dog, equestrian, radio control and diving units.



Operational and response service covers border policing and services related to maintaining public order, crowd management, and high risk functions performed by the Special Task Unit.



Detective services and crime intelligence includes investigative and intelligence related work, training of detectives, and provision of forensic evidence, crime trends analysis and maintenance of criminal records.



Protection services provides protection for foreign and local dignitaries.

As can be seen from Table 1 below, spending on the detective services programme as a proportion of total spending (almost R16bn in 2001) has increased from 19% in the 1997/98 to 20% in 2000/01. It is set to increase marginally to 21% of the SAPS’ total spending in 2003/04.

Table 1: Budget of the SAPS by programme

Programme (R million)	997/98	1998/99	1999/00	2000/01 (Revised)	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04
Administration	2,910	3,789	4,359	4,356	4,623	4,929	5,150
As % of total	23%	27%	30%	28%	27%	27%	27%
Crime Prevention	6,438	6,340	6,129	6,870	7 548	8 076	8,512
As % of total	50%	46%	42%	44%	44%	44%	44%
Operational Response Service	822	850	896	1 010	1,106	1,181	1,244
As % of total	6%	6%	6%	6%	6%	6%	6%
Detective services and crime intelligence	2,458	2,682	2,924	3,199	3,536	3,783	3,987
As % of total	19%	19%	20%	20%	21%	21%	21%
Protection Services	216	273	273	292	319	342	360
As % of total	2%	2%	2%	2%	2%	2%	2%
Total	12,844	13,935	14,572	15,727	17,132	18,311	19,253

Source: Department of Finance, 2001 Estimates of National Expenditure, Vote 23 Safety and Security

The crime prevention programme consumes the bulk of the SAPS’ budget, at 50% in 1997/98, at 44% in 2000/01 and remaining at 44% by 2003/4. This covers spending on South Africa’s 1,103 police stations, as well as specialised visible policing, which consumes around 12% of the crime prevention budget (R829,175,000). This implies a rough estimate of spending of R5.5m per station for the year 2000, in other words, just under R500,000 per month per station.

With respect to standard items of expenditure (Table 2), most spending has remained pretty constant. However spending on administration fluctuated from 23% to 30% and down again to 27%; the main casualty of that increase in spending has been a spending on crime prevention.

Table 2: Budget of the SAPS by standard items of expenditure (R million)

	1997/98	1998/99	1999/00	2000/01 (Revised)	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04
Personnel	10,574	11,359	11,807	12,261	13,230	14,202	15,042
As % of total	82%	82%	81%	80%	77%	78%	78%
Administrative	413	549	559	755	852	877	892
As % of total	3%	4%	4%	5%	5%	5%	5%
Inventories	671	684	698	868	985	1,014	1,032
As % of total	5%	5%	5%	6%	6%	6%	5%
Equipment	406	430	437	552	671	721	752
As % of total	3%	2%	3%	4%	4%	4%	4%
Land & Buildings	47	85	90	134	156	216	232
As % of total	<1%	<1%	<1%	1%	1%	1%	1%
Professional and Special Service	559	646	778	1,034	1,188	1,231	1,253
As % of total	4%	2%	5%	5%	7%	7%	7%
Transfer Payments	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Miscellaneous	173	181	203	124	48	49	50
As % of total	1%	1%	1%	1%	<1%	<1%	<1%
Total	12,844	13,935	14,572	15,727	17,132	18,311	19,253

Source: Department of Finance, 2001 Estimates of National Expenditure, Vote 23 Safety and Security

It is also worth noting that personnel expenditure in 1997/98 was at 82% of total spending in the SAPS, decreasing to 80% in 2000/01 and 78% in 2003/04. This decrease was intended to release resources for spending on vehicles, fuel and the renovation of physical infrastructure. Yet, equipment, on the other hand, moves up only marginally from 3% in 1997/98 and 2000/01 to 4% in 2003/04.

As at May 2001, there were 101,639 police members in the SAPS. Civilians, temporary members, and those on contract made up a further 20,503 employees.7 This implies, very roughly speaking, an average per person spending on personnel of R100,386 per annum in the SAPS as a whole.

The five spending programmes outlined above are meant jointly to implement the four main medium term strategic priorities of the SAPS, as determined after the appointment of national commissioner Selebi in January 2000. These four priorities are:

Combating organised crime,


Combating serious and violent crime,


Combating crimes against women and children; and


Improving service delivery at police stations.8

The organised crime priority focuses on drugs and firearm trafficking, vehicle theft and hijacking, corrupt public officials, and organised commercial crime. The serious and violent crime priority focuses on countering the proliferation of firearms, improving safety and security in high crime areas, combating specific crime generators such as taxi and gang violence, and maintaining security at major public events.9

Budget of the detective service

The largest sub-progamme in the detective service is general investigations (Table 3). This sub-progamme accounted for 46% of total spending on the detective service in 1997/98, and 48% in 2000/01, and is set to drop to 47% in 2003/04. The organised crime sub-programme consumed 27% in 1997/98 and 2000/01, and is set to decrease slightly to 26% of spending in the detective service programme in 2003/04.

Table 3: Detective service budget (R million)

Subprogramme	1997/98	1998/99	1999/00	2000/01	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04
General Investigations	1,140	1,290	1,412	1,482	1,661	1,777	1,876
% of total	46%	48%	48%	48%	47%	47%	47%
Organised Crime	659	733	786	845	905	966	1,017
% of total	27%	27%	27%	27%	26%	26%	26%
Commercial Crime	103	118	123	135	152	162	171
% of total	4%	4%	4%	4%	4%	4%	4%
Criminal Record Centre	183	197	215	229	268	292	307
% of total	7%	7%	7%	7%	8%	8%	8%
Detective Academy	-	-	-	11	64	67	69
% of total	14%	11%	11%	<1%	2%	2%	2%
Crime Intelligence	332	294	325	346	395	423	447
% of total	14%	11%	11%	11%	11%	11%	11%
Total	2,458	2,682	2,924	3,116	3,536	3,783	3,987

Source: Department of Finance, 2001 Estimates of National Expenditure, Vote 23 Safety and Security

With respect to standard items of expenditure (Table 4) spending on personnel accounted for 86% of spending in 1997/98, 85% in 2000/01, and is set to decrease to 83% in 2003/04. However, this is still a higher proportion of spending on personnel than in the SAPS as a whole, which is set to decrease to 78% in 2003/04.

Table 4: Detective service budget by standard items of expenditure (R million)

	1997/98	1998/99	1999/00	2000/01	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04
Personnel	2,107	2,354	2,494	2,663	2,894	3,113	3,303
% of total	86%	88%	85%	85%	82%	82%	83%
Administrative	82	95	110	107	193	198	202
% of total	3%	4%	4%	3%	5%	5%	5%
Inventories	66	77	162	137	240	247	252
% of total	3%	3%	6%	4%	7%	7%	6%
Equipment	85	41	37	85	90	97	101
% of total	3%	2%	1%	3%	3%	3%	3%
Land and Buildings	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
% of total	<1%	<1%	<1%	<1%	<1%	<1%	<1%
Professional and Special Service	86	79	82	103	118	127	129
% of total	3%	3%	3%	3%	3%	4%	3%
Transfer payments	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Civil Pensions Stabilisation Fund	32	35	39	20	-	-	-
% of total	1%	1%	1%	1%	-	-	-
Total	2,458	2,682	2,924	3,116	536	3,783	3,987

Source: Department of Finance, 2001 Estimates of National Expenditure, Vote 23 Safety and Security

There are approximately 22,000 detectives in the detective service; this implies a rough per capita personnel spending of R120,863 which is marginally more than the average for the SAPS as a whole (see above).

Equipment spending hovers at around 3% but tending under 3% by 2003/04, which is the reverse of the trend in the SAPS as a whole.