After new Police Minister Senzo Mchunu’s commitment to enhance police capacity by expanding the workforce to bolster their fight against crime, ActionSA has called on him to ensure that thousands of side-lined police reservists are fully integrated into South African Police Service (SAPS) crime-fighting efforts.

ActionSA MP Dereleen James said in a statement that the planned workforce expansion centres on the appointment of 10,000 police trainees in the 2024/2025 financial year and while this is certainly necessary, “the Minister failed to mention any plans in his Department Budget Vote to include the thousands of already trained, experienced and committed reservists who are already diligently serving in their police stations and their communities.”

Across South Africa, James stated, police reservists, many with service numbers, have answered the call of duty to assist in the fight against crime. However, their valuable contributions have been undercut for years, leading to a decline in the number of police reservists by tens of thousands over the past decade due to the collapse of the reservist programme.

“These reservists are also severely prejudiced by having PERSAL numbers that imply that they are employees of the State which precludes them from any social assistance and housing, despite the fact that they do not get paid a salary as reservists but only receive stipends upon official call ups.

“It is now incumbent on Minister Mchunu to break from the disastrous tenure of his predecessor, which led to the collapse of the reservist programme. Thus, ActionSA will be engaging with the Minister to immediately embark on a proactive programme to resurrect and fully integrate the thousands of able and committed reservists who are ready to contribute to SAPS’s plans to increase visibility with more boots on the ground, improve community responsiveness and detection rates, and build public confidence in the police service.

“ActionSA is fully committed to supporting the increased participation of police reservists in South Africa’s fight against crime and will fight to ensure that experienced reservists are properly integrated into SAPS and are recognised and fairly compensated for the valuable contributions they make to the police service,” James concluded.