South African Police Service Announces That 4500 Trainees to Commence Training

• Almost half of the trainees the South African Police Services recruited will begin training in the last week of April
• The SAPS said it received more than one million applications for the 2024/2025 recruitment process
• South Africans questioned the recruitment process as some believed some applicants may have bribed their way into the academy

Tebogo Mokwena, a dedicated Briefly News current affairs journalist, contributed coverage of international and local social issues like health, corruption, education, service delivery protests and heritage in South Africa during his seven years at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News.

JOHANNESBURG – South Africans accused the new South African Police Service trainees of bribing their way into the police academy after SAPS announced that 4500 will begin training next week.

SAPS trainees selected

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SABC News states 5,500 recruits will begin training in January next year. The force also revealed that 1 million citizens applied to be members of the South African Police Service. Police's national spokesperson, Brigadier Athlenda Mathe, said those successfully recruited will be notified in writing when they should report for training.

Mathe added that those who completed their training would be deployed to different stations in high-crime stations, detective units as well as the Public Order Policing Unit nationally.

South Africans question recruitment processes

Netizens on Facebook, though, accused the recruits of paying bribes to join the police academy.

Motshabi Mosikatsana said:

"We all know they paid bribes for those jobs!"

Zolile Mthunjwa said:

"The cool drink gang."

Kamohelo Vho Calvin said:

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"We all know bribes are at play."

Khwathelani Mulondo said:

"One honest police officer is better than 10,000 dishonest police officers."

Shweme Nolundi Zila-Mkhonto said:

"I've been applying for five years now, just like everyone else, but I received no positive feedback all these years. Why are we even told to apply when they know they already had their people to choose from after taking bribes?"

SAPS warns about fake recruitment drive

Similarly, Briefly News reported that SAPS warned South Africans about a bogus statement that circulated.

A message announcing that SAPS has begun psychometric tests went viral, and the police quickly debunked it as fake.

Source: Briefly News