The National Police Commissioner, Lt Gen. Fannie Masemola , has sought to clarify the more than R2 billion in claims lodged against the South African Police Service (SAPS) by more than 4 000 claimants for alleged unlawful arrests in the 2023/2024 financial year.
About 4 100 claims were lodged with the police by those who believed they were unlawfully arrested and detained during the year under review.
Masemola says these claims have not been paid out as the SAPS legal division is still interrogating the merits of each case to determine if SAPS might need to settle or defend the matter in court.
For the past financial year, we have arrested over 850 000 people. So, 4 000-plus alleged unlawful arrests is a quite minute. Is it right to say we have paid them? No, we have not paid them. They are still going to be litigated; we may even pay very little for them.
So, if you take all claims for the past financial year, we have paid around R600 million. Well, it is money lost that we wouldnt want to pay. But remember the police - we work outside, we work with people. Now and then people will always make claims, adds Masem0la.
