President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for a renewed national effort to protect South Africa’s police officers, strengthen the South African Police Service (SAPS) and restore public trust in policing after 12 members were killed in the line of duty during the last financial year.
Speaking at the SAPS National Commemoration Day at the Union Buildings in Tshwane, the President said the deaths were not only a matter of personal tragedy but an assault on
the rule of law and the constitutional order.
He urged government, communities and the private sector to share responsibility for police safety and for supporting the families left behind.
“When criminals target a police officer, they are attacking the integrity of the State, rule of law and the constitutional order,” Ramaphosa said.
Gauteng accounts for most deaths
Nine of the 12 officers remembered at the ceremony were from Gauteng. North West, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga each recorded one death.
The roll of honour included one woman, a mother of three who served at Temba Police Station. Ramaphosa said seven of the officers were husbands and fathers of young children.
Among the bereaved families was a woman who was pregnant when her husband was killed, as well as a family whose father and husband left behind seven-month-old twins.
The youngest officer remembered was 25. The deaths occurred in a range of circumstances.
Several officers were killed while working the same shift, responding to business -robbery complaints or transporting awaiting-trial prisoners.
Others were killed during routine crime-prevention and patrol duties in their own precincts.
Police safety plan already in place
The president said the number of police officers killed in the line of duty had declined significantly over the past several years.
He attributed the improvement to operational interventions, police-safety initiatives, community partnerships and cooperation between government and the private sector.
He nevertheless stressed that “even one life lost is one too many” and pointed to the SAPS Police Safety Action Plan, titled “Think First ‒ Act Safe: Every Call, Every Time.”
The plan covers governance, proactive and reactive interventions, the security of police stations and other infrastructure, redress and support, as well as monitoring and evaluation.
Provincial plans are aligned with the national framework, according to the
address. Ramaphosa said the plan must be reinforced by stronger community involvement.
Residents, he said, should report threats, protect sensitive information and reject criminality rather than treating police safety as the responsibility of law enforcement alone.
Call for institutional renewal
The address came as SAPS faces intense public scrutiny following revelations emerging from a Judicial Commission of Inquiry.
Ramaphosa said the scrutiny had raised legitimate questions about policing, leadership, accountability and institutional integrity.
He rejected the idea that the investigation should lead to institutional paralysis.
Instead, he described it as an opportunity for renewal and said the service must respond through professional conduct, measurable results and safer communities.
“The best response to scrutiny is not defensiveness. It is performance,” Ramaphosa said
He called on SAPS members to serve with authority and humility, courage and discipline, while upholding professionalism, integrity and the Constitution.
He also said officers needed effective systems, intelligence, equipment, training and leadership to perform their duties safely.
The president said the service’s core mandate remained unchanged: preventing crime, combating criminality, protecting communities and keeping South Africans safe.
Rebuilding trust, he added, would require progress “station by station, community by community.”
Private sector urged to support children of fallen officers
Ramaphosa also appealed to businesses to provide long-term support for children whose parents died while serving in the police service.
Since its establishment in 2010, the South African Police Service Education Trust, known as SAPSET, has supported 2,215 children of fallen officers and raised more than R25 million through sponsorships, according to the address.
The programme has helped beneficiaries complete their education, including postgraduate studies at master’s and doctoral level.
The president urged companies to contribute through sustainable donations and scholarship programmes.
He said such support could turn the experience of loss into educational and economic opportunity.
A national pledge beyond remembrance
Ramaphosa told the families of the fallen officers that no ceremony, pension or tribute could replace the people they had lost.
He nevertheless pledged that the Republic would remember their service and keep their families part of the national community.
The President framed the commemoration as a commitment not only to remembrance but also to
accountability and action.
The broader response to crime, he said, must include responsible citizenship, rejection of corruption, reporting of criminality and investment in families, schools, early-childhood development, youth programmes and sport.
The president concluded by calling for a South Africa in which those who protect the public are themselves protected by government and the communities they serve.
The country, he said, owed the fallen a safer nation, their families sustained support and future generations “a country worth inheriting.”
What the address signals
The keynote placed police safety within a wider programme of institutional reform and social prevention.
Its immediate message was that operational measures must continue to reduce attacks on officers.
Its longer-term message was that safer policing depends on public cooperation, credible leadership, professional conduct and support for vulnerable
families.
The speech therefore combined commemoration with a demand for measurable performance.
While acknowledging a decline in police killings, Ramaphosa made clear that the govt’s standard would be not simply improvement, but the protection of every officer serving the public.
