Trust in South African Police hits historic low
A recent study by the Human Sciences Research Council [HSRC] has revealed a concerning trend indicating that the public trust in the South African Police Service [SAPS] has reached an all-time low.
According to round 21 of the HSRC’s South African Social Attitudes Survey [SASAS], trust in the police has declined significantly over the past two decades.
Only 22% of citizens expressed trust in the police in 2022, with the 2023 and 2024/25 confidence levels almost unchanged.
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The survey found that trust levels in the police have remained relatively low over the 1998 to 2024/25 period.
Notably, during this 27-year interval, a majority of the adult public never expressed trust in the police, suggesting that police legitimacy has been a longstanding issue.
Over the 1998 to 2010 period, the average level of trust in the police was relatively static. It ranged between 39% and 42% in all but a few years.
This was followed by a sharp decline between 2011 and 2013. This follows the Marikana massacre of August 2012. However, confidence had almost returned to the 2011 level by the time of the 2015 survey round.
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The 2016 to 2020 period was characterised by modest fluctuation between 31% and 35%. The hard COVID-19 lockdown experience, which included instances of police brutality in enforcing lockdown regulations, did not appear to have had an aggregate effect on confidence levels based on the 2020 survey results.
In 2021, public trust in the police dipped to a low of 27%. This appears to be linked to the July 2021 social unrest. Many criticised the poor performance of the police during the unrest.
This was followed by a further 5 percentage point decline to 22% in 2022, with the 2023 and 2024/25 confidence levels almost unchanged, which may reflect increasing rates for certain crimes. The 2022, 2023 and 2024/25 figures are the lowest recorded in 27 years.
Limpopo is ranked sixth in terms of public trust in the Police out of the nine provinces.
