MPUMALANGA – In a significant move towards enhancing public safety and addressing the high rate of unemployment in South Africa, the South African Police Service (SAPS) has completed the recruitment and selection process for the first batch of 10,000 recruits for the 2024/2025 financial year.
Approximately 4,500 police officer trainees are set to undergo training at various SAPS academies starting from April 22, 2024.
The SAPS has in the last two years trained and deployed 20 000 police officers to stations and units to bolster policing and efforts to prevent and combat crime.
This initiative comes as a response to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s call three years ago to bolster police personnel capacity in order to effectively combat crime.
The rigorous national recruitment and selection process, known as Project 10,000, was undertaken by SAPS to meet these critical objectives.
Speaking on behalf of the police, Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said, “ The second batch of 5500 recruits will commence with training in January 2025; this process is yet to be finalised. Applicants are henceforth requested to be patient and await communique from the SAPS.”
According to SAPS, over one million applications were received and went through all the recruitment stages. “Upon completing the Basic Police Development Learning Programme (BPDLP), the newly trained Constables will reinforce policing capacity at high-crime stations, detective units and specialised units-such as Public Order Policing (POPs).” Mathe concluded.
