Gauteng, 2016-12-15

The Acting National Commissioner of the SAPS, Lt Gen Phahlane
Senior Management of the SAPS,
SAPS members,
Members on parade,
Family and friends
Ladies and gentlemen,

I am very honoured to join you at today’s Passing out Parade in Tshwane. Let me first of all, congratulate the SAPS members on parade for working so hard to complete your training.

I know that this morning similar parades are taking place at the SAPS Academies in Phillipi, Bisho and Chatsworth as well.

That brings us to a total of almost 5000 recruits who are completing an intensive eight months of training today. The new Basic Training Learning Programme is in line with the Back-to-Basics approach of the South African Police Service. The training programme has been put in place to ensure that SAPS members are equipped with the necessary tools to police in a democratic dispensation and in varying circumstances. 

The role of the modern police official is enormously varied. In addition to being a law enforcer, a police official may be called upon to perform duties as a first-aider, social worker, counsellor, negotiator and even mid-wife if the situation demands it. Therefore the revised Basic Training Programme mandates that:

• Trainees will be trained to work inside and outside the Community Service Centre. They have to conduct all relevant duties such as Custody Management, Exhibit Management, Crowd Management, Attend to Complaints, First Responder to Crime, open case dockets, the completion of forms and registers, safeguarding a crime scene, requesting the necessary investigation aids, patrol duties, perform crime prevention duties, conduct sector policing and conduct road blocks.
• They have to conduct all these duties in a tactical manner to ensure his/her own safety and the safety of others.

Crowd management has been included in the Basic Training curriculum because of the increase in protests in our country. When people commit crime or take to the streets to demand their rights or voice their dissatisfaction, the SAPS has a role to play in effecting justice, peace and stability in our communities.

In response to this phenomenon, we have included the Crowd Management Platoon Member Programme in the revised Basic Police Development Programme. Trainers of the Operational Response Services Division (ORS) presented the three week programme. Modules on the Legal Framework, Public Violence, Crowd Management, Statement taking, Crowd Management incidents as well as the Understanding of Crowd Management Dynamics were presented to the trainees.

This parade symbolises the completion of the new police officials’ training. From now on you can make an immediate and visible contribution to policing on a daily basis.

The security of our people and their property is now in your hands. As a new member of the SAPS, you are now the defender of the law and the upholder of what is right. Back away from immoral influences, criminality and corruption.

Please maintain your dignity and the integrity of the SAPS and uphold the Code of Conduct that you have committed yourself to. Ensure you understand how you have to abide by and conform to its contents.

Ladies and gentlemen, I congratulate you on becoming a proud member of the SAPS today. Make the SAPS and the people you will serve proud.

Thank you.