Overworked and underpaid: The struggles of South African detectives

Detectives in South Africa face overwhelming caseloads and inadequate resources, leading to a crisis in the investigative unit.

Being underpaid, under-resourced and overworked are the main reasons police officers resist becoming crime detectives despite the department adding a R1,000 monthly incentive on top of their salaries to boost the low morale in the unit.

This is the view of a Durban-based detective sharing her personal experience of seeing case dockets piling up on her desk every day.

Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) said the situation in KwaZulu-Natal reflects a broader national crisis within the detective environment.

DA MP Mzamo Billy, a member of the Select Committee on Security and Justice sounded the alarm on Sunday about the situation facing detectives.