An alarming rate of police officers are battling to cope with the demands of their profession with more men and women in blue harbouring suicidal thoughts due to a high workload and exposure to violent crime.
“Crime and violence in South Africa are rampant, placing officers’ lives in constant threat, especially given the current levels of under staffing. The horrific situations they encounter and the dangers they face working at the front line every day are taking a very heavy toll on their mental well-being.”
Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) treasurer Thulani Nsele told Sunday World.
In August SAPS management told the parliamentary portfolio committee on policing that 33 officers committed suicide in the 2019/20 financial year, 30 in the 2020/21 financial year and 39 in the 2021/22 financial year, and 38 homicide–suicide incidents occurred from 2019 to 2022.
The committee also heard that there are only 621 health and wellness employees
servicing about 187 278 personnel within SAPS.
Committee chairperson Ian Cameron told the meeting that “in the context of the high crime rate, especially violent crimes, SAPS members are faced with gruesome scenes that are bound to have a negative impact on their mental health. Resilience building and general support care should be a central pillar of the work of SAPS to ensure the mental wellbeing of officers expected to fight crime effectively.”
A former police detective who left the service due to dejection and stress, has lifted the lid on the pressing working conditions and how being overlooked for promotion forced him to quit the police service.
“The working conditions had become unbearable because of the volume of the case load. It was not commensurate with the salary I was getting. It was having a heavy toll on my
family, and I was on the brink of a divorce,” said Buyani Masinga, who now works as a private investigator.
Masinga was in the police service for 23 years before exiting at the age of 51.
The depth of health woes among police officers was also highlighted by Polmed, the medical scheme for Saps employees. In its 2024 Mental Health Report, Polmed raised alarm that close to 18% of its members have sought care for mental health conditions.
“The concerns range from depression and anxiety to bipolar disorder and substance abuse,” the report stated. It also emerged in the report that the medical scheme itself has a 7.4% prevalence of depression, which represents a total of 36 000 of the police workforce.
The report also noted that the number of mental health admissions for alcohol use disorder had nearly doubled in 2024 compared to 2021.
SAPS did not respond to requests for comment.
