Police have closed 13,2-million criminal cases without resolution in the past 10 years.
This is according to the ministry of police in a parliamentary response to questions posed by Build One SA (BOSA) leader Mmusi Maimane, revealing data from 2015 to date and saying some dockets can be reopened if there is new evidence.
“The totals should also not be added to conclude that this is the total for 10 years, as dockets are reopened for investigation,” said the police ministry.
According to the statistics, Gauteng is leading with 375,613 unresolved cases for the 2024/25 financial year, followed by Western Cape, which is sitting at 236,764, and then KwaZulu-Natal with 179,631 cases.
BOSA spokesperson Roger Solomons said this was a damning indicator that the police service was struggling to keep pace with the country’s crime levels.
He said the stats highlighted a system overwhelmed by a combination of rising crime and severe detective and police officer shortages.
“Crime is rampant, and South Africans are paying the price for a police service that cannot cope. The shortage of trained detectives and under-resourced police stations is crippling our ability to fight crime effectively.”
Solomons said thousands of criminal cases were going cold, with no follow-up investigations, no arrests, and no justice for victims.
“As more and more files pile up on the desks of detectives, criminals are not being brought to book and justice is not being served for victims.”
Crime is rampant, and South Africans are paying the price for a police service that cannot cope. The shortage of trained detectives and under-resourced police stations is crippling our ability to fight crime effectively.
— Roger Solomons, Build One SA spokesperson
BOSA called for the police to expand capacity and recruit new officers.
Solomons said there should be an increase in funding and resources, as well as digitising criminal dockets.
This is not the first time police have responded to a number of closures over the years.
Last year, in response to the DA’s questions, the police ministry revealed that more than five million dockets have been closed “due to insufficient evidence or leads” since 2018.
At the time, the DA MP Lisa Schickerling said between 2018 and 2023, the number of dockets closed without result were: murder: 76,655, attempted murder: 40,089, assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm: 141,026, aggravated robbery: 256,162, rape: 61,740, sexual assault: 5,523, and kidnapping: 9,114.
Law enforcement expert Prof Quiet Mabunda, who is also a former police officer, said the growing number of unresolved criminal cases stems largely from a shortage of detectives within the police.
He said the loss of experienced officers was the main reason why so many files are closed without real closure.
Mabunda said one unresolved case was one too many.
“As citizens, we are not interested in the statistics; we are interested in seeing the police doing their work and not getting their hands dirty by getting themselves involved in criminal activities.
“Detectives keep exiting the police in their numbers. Some leave because a carrot is dangled and they are told they would earn [more].”
He said even when the police recruit more officers, it takes time to train them, resulting in more cases not being resolved.
“If you visit detective offices, there is a section where the dockets are closed as undetected, and that results in a cold case, and it might be kept on a shelf or [in a] storeroom for years because there is no one to investigate further.
“An officer would have investigated, but halfway through they leave, and a new officer is not prepared to start working on something that was handled by someone [else]. Unless new evidence comes up, that docket will die a slow death and remain there for years and years.”
Police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said no case is permanently closed.
“Some cases remain undetected until such a time when there is a positive hit, meaning forensic data or new information is received in order to finalise the case. As soon as new forensic leads are received, investigations continue,” she said.
Sowetan
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