Silence on police reservists raises questions about commitment to fighting crime – AfriForum

The South African Police Service’s (SAPS) failure to answer questions about the state of its reservist programme and its plans for training new reservists is setting off alarm bells, says AfriForum. AfriForum argues that the lack of transparency raises serious questions about SAPS’ commitment to deploying all available resources to fight the country’s crime crisis.

AfriForum requested information about the SAPS reservist program in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) more than a year ago. This included details about the number of reservists recruited since 2010, how many are currently active, and how often new reservists are trained. To date, however, SAPS has failed to provide adequate answers to these questions.

According to Jacques Broodryk, AfriForum’s Chief Spokesperson for Community Safety, it is unacceptable that the police are unwilling to be transparent about a programme specifically designed to strengthen an overstretched police service.

“South Africans should ask themselves why the police are unwilling to provide information about this programme. If the reservist programme is a priority, the police should have no problem sharing their plans, successes and challenges with the public. This silence creates the impression that the programme is simply not being taken seriously.”

Broodryk points out that many South Africans are willing to sacrifice their time, energy and expertise to help protect their communities.

“There are law-abiding citizens who are willing to put up their hands, without any remuneration, to support the police, but SAPS is simply not seizing this opportunity. In a country buckling under a serious crime crisis, the mobilisation of civilian support should be one of the highest priorities,” says Broodryk.

“The reservist programme is not a luxury, but an essential force multiplier. SAPS simply cannot solve the country’s crime problems on its own. Communities want to help, but the police appears instead to be intent on ignoring this resource.”

According to SAPS’ annual reports, there were more than 52 000 reservists on the books in the 2011/2012 financial year. In the 2024/2025 financial year, the number of active police reservists had dropped to fewer than 3 300. While SAPS’ reservist programme is collapsing, AfriForum’s neighbourhood and farm watches grew from 1 to 177 over the same period, with thousands of volunteers actively involved.

“This proves that citizens are willing to take responsibility for their own safety. The problem is therefore not a lack of interest from communities, but rather a lack of political will and leadership,” says Broodryk.

AfriForum warns that the continued weakening of the reservist programme has serious consequences for public safety. AfriForum therefore calls on the Acting Minister of Police and SAPS top management to be transparent about the future of the reservist programme and to take decisive steps to expand it.

“Communities want to help. The question, however, is whether SAPS is truly willing to accept that help. AfriForum will continue to hold the police to account until answers are provided and concrete action follows,” Broodryk concludes.