Cobus Steenkamp

South Africa does not need another diagnosis of what has gone wrong in policing. The country has heard the allegations, witnessed institutional failures and seen public confidence steadily eroded. What it now needs is a credible route from exposure to reform.

The Reset Agenda announced by the Acting Minister of Police offers an opportunity to begin that work. However, a reset cannot remain a slogan. It requires clear priorities, identifiable leadership and enough time for institutional change to take root.

I propose a 555 Plan for the South African Police Service (SAPS): five focus areas, five accountable leaders and five years in which to rebuild respect and legitimacy. The framework is not presented as a quick fix. It is a disciplined attempt to translate the lessons emerging from the Madlanga Commission into practical and measurable reform.

The first focus area must be professional and operational competence. Public trust rests on a simple question: when police officers arrive, can they do the job? Recruitment, training, deployment and promotion should be based on the demands of each position. SAPS needs role-specific standards and regular assessments of officials’ knowledge, judgement and practical capabilities. A uniform confers authority, but competence gives that authority credibility.

The second focus area is physical readiness. Policing is a responsive service, and that response is often physical. Officers must be able to enter and leave vehicles quickly, pursue suspects, restrain dangerous individuals and handle firearms with precision and control. Their bodies are among the most important tools they carry, and firearms should never become a substitute for basic mobility or fitness.

SAPS should introduce a compulsory fitness regime, including weekly organised or self-directed physical activity. Requirements should reflect the demands of particular posts and, where appropriate, be linked to promotion. Officers should receive nutritional guidance, while progress is consistently measured and reviewed. A visibly capable police service inspires confidence before an arrest is made.

The third focus area is emotional regulation. Police officials work under sustained pressure and exercise discretion in circumstances where one poor decision can destroy a life, end a career or create enormous liability for the state. Yet officials are often expected to demonstrate calmness, courage and impartiality without being given the practical tools needed to regulate fear, anger, frustration or entitlement.

Emotional regulation is an operational policing skill encompassing emotional literacy, agility and resilience. It should form part of police training as a practical toolset for daily interactions with the public. A regulated officer can make sound decisions, protect a career and treat people with consistency and dignity.

The fourth focus area is constitutionally driven policing. Every legitimate police action has one point of origin: the Constitution. Human rights, due process, accountability and the rule of law must guide police conduct rather than political expediency, personal loyalty or force for its own sake.

Merely requiring officers to read the Constitution will not achieve this. SAPS structures and practices must support constitutional conduct. Existing oversight frequently operates only after misconduct has occurred. That amounts to oversight by autopsy. SAPS should develop peer-auditing systems that identify questionable conduct early and allow intervention before damage is done. Daily accountability can make constitutional policing a lived professional standard.

The fifth focus area is the creation of a high-trust police culture. Such a culture rests on a willingness to serve, the skills to perform, reliability in meeting professional standards and responsiveness to the public’s need for safety. It must be reinforced through ethical codes, traditions, insignia and other symbols of police dignity, but symbolism alone is insufficient. Integrity, transparency and accountability must govern relationships among officers themselves.

An organisation that does not offer its members a secure professional identity creates space for patronage and loyalty networks to flourish. Internal trust, supported by self-assessment and peer accountability, is therefore not a soft organisational aspiration. It is part of the defence against corruption.

These five priorities require five named leaders. One SAPS official should own and audit each area, report against targets and answer for progress. The National Commissioner should remain the overall custodian, supported by designated leaders responsible for professional competence and physical readiness, emotional-regulation training, constitutional compliance and organisational culture. Responsibility cannot be dispersed so widely that nobody is accountable.

Finally, reform requires time. During year one, SAPS should establish baseline data, finalise standards and design auditing systems. In year two, the frameworks should be piloted at selected high-priority stations. Year three should bring national implementation and the alignment of outcomes with promotion policies. During year four, independent public-trust measurements should test whether reforms are working. In year five, SAPS should publish the results, review shortcomings and embed a sustainable system of internal accountability.

The 555 Plan is offered not as criticism from outside the profession, but as a practical contribution grounded in more than two decades of operational police experience. South Africans do not expect perfection from their police service. They are entitled, however, to expect competence, discipline, constitutional conduct and honest leadership.

Trust cannot be commanded, announced or manufactured through public relations. It is accumulated through thousands of encounters in which officials arrive prepared, act lawfully, remain composed and fulfil their duty. Five focus areas, five accountable leaders and five years will not solve every problem confronting SAPS. They can, however, provide the structure through which respect and legitimacy steadily begin to return.