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Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia presents the quarterly crime statistics for the fourth quarter of the 2025/26 financial year on 22 May 2026.
Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia says strengthening protection for whistleblowers remains a key priority for the police service.
Cachalia says whistleblowers play a crucial as they expose crime and corruption.
He was speaking during the release of the fourth quarter crime statistics for the 2025/2026 financial year in Pretoria today.
He emphasised the need to strengthen protection for whistleblowers.
“I’m very concerned about the fact that so many whistleblowers, councillors, auditors in the public service, even private auditors, are being targeted by these criminals. There have been some important developments recently where the police have had some success. The Department of Justice has tabled a building cabinet on the protection of whistleblowers, which I think is an important development. That bill has been approved for public comment.”
Meanwhile, plans are underway to secure a funding model for the patrollers program which will assist in combating crime in various communities.
Earlier this year, Cachalia announced the establishment of this program as a solution for provinces plagued with high crime rates.
The program is also expected to provide financial relief to struggling households by offering stipends to the patrollers.
“I have a proposal, I asked them some time ago, the civilian secretariat, to come up with a funding model. We have already engaged with the MECs in those provinces to implement the patroller program and I’m hoping that in the next few months the department has tried it previously and then it failed and we didn’t achieve what we wanted to achieve. But this time I will make another effort and as far as I’m concerned, failure in this area is not an option.”
SAPS releases fourth quarter crime statistics:
-Additional reporting by Diteboho Ntamane
