Protection Web

The South African Police Service is drowning in dockets it is struggling to solve. For every ten dockets the police close every year, an average of 6 are closed without resolution, the Minister of Police revealed in a reply to Parliament in October. About 2.04-million new dockets were opened in the 2024 financial year, and 1.93-million were closed. 780k cases were solved, but 1.15-million had no resolution.

There is insufficient protection for women who face domestic gun violence, according to a report by the Remove the Trigger campaign, launched at the Saartjie Baartman Memorial Centre in Athlone on Tuesday 9 December. In the majority of cases where women are murdered, the perpetrators are their intimate partners. In about 30% of these cases, there was a prior history of domestic violence, according to the report. The true figure is likely higher.

By far the bulk of the R11.5 million worth of contraband seized on South Africa’s land borders by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in November came from a tip-off to 15 SA Infantry (SAI) Battalion soldiers tasked with vehicle inspections at the Lebombo port of entry.

South Africa’s witness protection system is failing. The deaths of the likes of Moss Phakoe, Jimmy Mohlala, Babita Deokaran, Marumo Phenya, Mpho Mafole, and now Marius van der Merwe, known in the official Madlanga Commission as Witness D, expose a grim reality: those people brave enough to speak the truth are often left entirely exposed, sometimes paying with their lives. These are not isolated tragedies; they reveal a system incapable of defending the very citizens it claims to serve.

A Free State municipality is the latest – unwilling – member of the club to lose firearms to thieves in what is an ongoing crisis – over five years, nearly 3 500 police firearms have been lost or stolen. Moqhaka Local Municipality, headquartered in Kroonstad, joined the SA Police Service (SAPS) and the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) as government organisations/structures where “a large quantity” of firearms and ammunition were taken from a municipal building.

Police have arrested 16 817 suspects in connection with various crimes as authorities intensify their nationwide Safer Festive Season Operation running alongside Operation Shanela II. “In the past week, these crime-fighting initiatives and tracking operations saw police apprehending 2 626 wanted suspects for serious and violent crimes including murder, attempted murder, rape, car-hijackings, sexual offences, house and business robberies.

When 11 women are murdered every day, is it still accurate to call it crime—or is it time to call it terror? South Africa is in crisis. But this is not a crisis declared on the evening news. It’s not listed as a national disaster. There is no war room. No emergency deployment. Yet, thousands of women across the country—of every age, race and background—live as if they are in a war zone. This is not just gender-based violence. It is a sustained, systematic assault on women.

Like its new colleague the Border Management Authority (BMA), the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) has to put up with and under-funding and, to a lesser extent, short staffing. In July, Commissioner Michael Masiapato’s fledgling BMA (it marked its second anniversary in October) told Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations (JSCA) and the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs (PCHA) its 2023/24 budget request was R2.9 billion but it received less than half (R1.34 billion).

Border Management Authority (BMA) Commissioner Dr Michael Masiapato says South Africa is facing one of its busiest travel periods in recent years, with traveller movements increasing sharply and enforcement operations yielding thousands of interceptions.

SVI Engineering, specialist manufacturer of armoured products in South Africa, has revealed the five vehicles that proved most popular with SVI customers purchasing armoured protection in 2025. “We’ve had another incredibly busy year here at SVI.