Cape Times

5.4 million dockets closed due to lack of leads in past five years

THE SAPS has closed more than 5.4 million case dockets and investigat­ions due to a lack of results and leads in the past five years.

This was revealed by Police Minister Bheki Cele when he responded to parliament­ary questions from DA MP Okkie Terblanche.

Terblanche enquired about open case dockets that were lost and stolen in each province in the last five years, and from March 2023 to March this year.

In his written response, Cele said 5 428 631 case dockets had been closed without results due to lack of leads at the time in the past five years.

The number of dockets closed in each financial year were as follows:

• There were 1 215 394 dockets in

2018-19.

• A total of 1 166 681 were recorded

in 2019-20.

• At least 1 026 005 were registered

in 2020-21.

• There were 969 211 in 2021-22.

• There were a total of 1 051 340

in 2022-23.

Cele said the informatio­n for the period starting April 2023 to March this year was not available because the crime statistics for the fourth quarter had not been officially released.

He stated that there were 59 open case dockets that had been lost over the past five financial years.

The informatio­n from January 2024 to March was not available pending the official release of crime statistics.

Cele revealed that 44 case dockets had been stolen over the past five years in all the nine provinces, with Limpopo and Free State recording 28 and 10 respective­ly.

DA MP Andrew Whitfield said the shocking figures provided by Cele highlight the utter failure of the SAPS under his leadership.

“Averaging over one million cases per year, it means that almost 3 000 cases are closed daily by the SAPS without victims of crime ever receiving justice.

“Included in these 3 000 cases closed daily are gruesome murders, rapes of family members, brutal assaults and kidnapping­s.”

Whitfield said the SAPS detective services programme was overloaded, overworked and understaff­ed, placing strain on the quality of investigat­ive work needed to get successful prosecutio­ns.

“Minister Cele has failed to bring the SAPS into the 21st century, adequately equip officers with critical equipment, and capacitate specialise­d programmes such as detectives who are a key lynchpin in the criminal justice system,” Whitfield said. The revelation of the staggering number of open dockets that had been closed without leads came after the Cape Times recently reported that there had been more than 2.5 million undetected dockets over the past three financial years.

Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Groenewald wrote to Cele, enquiring about the number and percentage of all serious crimes in respect of detection rates and closed as undetected since 2020-21.

When a docket was closed as undetected, it meant that the investigat­ion had not yielded enough evidence to identify the suspects involved.

“All available informatio­n and leads were exhausted during the investigat­ion in an attempt to gather evidence and identify those responsibl­e for a crime.

“However, if after thorough investigat­ion there is still insufficie­nt evidence to pinpoint a suspect, the case may be closed as undetected,” he said.