‘Police are the chief criminal syndicate’: Saps R120bn budget criticised by MPs

MPs have sharply criticised the police’s budget, with several voicing concerns over persistent corruption in the South African Police Service (Saps).

On Friday, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu presented the department’s budget for the 2025-2026 financial year at the Good Hope Chamber in Cape Town.

The presentation was followed by a debate in which MPs scrutinised both the spending plan and annual performance targets.

Mchunu tables Saps budget

In his address, Mchunu highlighted the police’s key priorities, which include reducing the murder rate, tackling gang violence, addressing gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) and rooting out corruption.

To support these goals, he said several critical enablers had been identified to bolster the crime-fighting strategy.

These include strengthening crime intelligence, enhancing forensic services and upgrading infrastructure such as police stations.

“This budget is about improved policing,” Mchunu told MPs.

The total allocation for Saps stands at R120.89 billion.

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Specific allocations include R219.2 million to secure the G20 conference in November 2025, R400 million for the 2026 local government elections and R34.8 million to cover the appointment of an additional deputy minister.

Additionally, R150 million is being reallocated from Saps’ operational budget to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), also known as the Hawks.

Mchunu also announced the recruitment of 5 500 new police trainees in January 2026.

“Additionally, 250 police trainees with qualifications in law, forensic investigation and information technology will be placed in the directorate [Hawks] upon completion of their training.”

Watch the budget vote debate below:

The minister emphasised the need for targeted, intelligence-led deployments in high-crime zones across four provinces, including Gauteng and the Western Cape.

He highlighted that R85 million was earmarked for the top 30-plus five high-contact crime stations.

Community engagement efforts will receive R28 million for community policing forums (CPFs) and R8.5 million for initiatives such as imbizos.

A significant R1.6 billion is allocated to combat GBVF.

Infrastructure investment includes R670 million for constructing and upgrading police stations, R20 million for procuring and converting vehicles to enhance mobile service centres and R45 million for day-to-day maintenance of existing facilities.

Saps budget criticised

While ANC MP Erald Cloete expressed support for the budget, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party MP David Skosana rejected the spending plan, saying that South Africans were being “betrayed by the very same institutions meant to safeguard them”.

He accused both Saps and the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) of failing in their mandates.

Skosana likened the country’s crime levels to a war zone and condemned the lack of accountability.

“It is a chilling indictment of a police service that has lost control,” he said on Friday.

He warned that if the budget is passed, it would amount to a “death sentence” for citizens.

Skosana also said Ipid’s annual performance targets, particularly regarding rape and corruption cases, were “laughable”, “inadequate” and reflected what he described as an under-resourced institution.

He highlighted Ipid’s backlog of 10 500 cases and slammed its proposed R428.6 million budget.

“Only R9 million was allocated for forensic investigators. We are essentially throwing a glass of water on a forest fire. [It is] pure strategic failure.”

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The MK party member further took aim at Saps’ administrative budget.

“R72 billion is set aside for administration, much of which goes to a bloated management structure and a system that seems more interested in sustaining itself than saving the public.”

Moreover, Skosana condemned the lack of a concrete strategy to fight internal corruption.

“The so-called lifestyle audits mentioned in the budget are nothing more than a PR exercise.

“Officers implicated in criminality continue to rise through the ranks, protected by political connections and institutionalised silence.”

He called for urgent action to reduce case and DNA backlogs, hire more officers and tackle corruption effectively.

‘Chief criminal syndicate’

Democratic Alliance MP Lisa‐Maré Schickerling also criticised the budget, calling it “obscene” in the face of the police’s declining credibility and rising crime statistics.

“One must ask, are we funding public safety or institutional failure? The reality on the ground is devastating,” she said.

Schickerling raised alarm over South Africa’s high GBV rates and Ipid’s plan to only address 35 rape cases this year.

“That’s not a plan, that’s an admission of defeat and a resignation letter addressed to every woman that the system has failed.”

Despite her concerns, she acknowledged there were some positives in the proposed budget.

EFF MP Leigh‐Ann Mathys also rejected the budget, expressing scepticism that it would lead to any real reduction in crime.

“Minister, even if we add your President [Cyril] Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala dollars, it is not going to help,” she said.

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Mathys warned that the reported dysfunction in Saps was a “tip of the iceberg”.

“If we continue down this path, South Africa is going to lead the world in committing mob justice purely because the police are the chief criminal syndicate,” the EFF MP said.

“We have a history of high-ranking Saps officials caught with their hands in the cookie jar of corruption,” Mathys added.

IFP MP Russel Cebekhulu echoed concerns about police corruption, referring to recent arrests of senior crime intelligence officers, including the division’s head, Dumisani Khumalo.

“This undermines public trust and threatens the integrity of policing in South Africa,” Cebekhulu said.