This document discusses the history and importance of specialized units within the South African Police Service (SAPS). It provides an overview of the author's law enforcement experience and career within SAPS. It then discusses the establishment of various specialized units within SAPS over time to address organized crime, including units focused on narcotics, vehicle crime, fraud, precious metals/diamonds, and anti-corruption. It notes challenges that arose when some of these units were disbanded and recommends re-establishing all specialized units as a priority to more successfully fight crime and reduce corruption within SAPS.

1. South African Police Service
The importance of Specialised Units
Colonel Ramutsheli Ernest Madzhie
(Retired)

2. Brief overview of my Law Enforcement Experience
• Law enforcement official with just less than 40 years service in both
the South African law enforcement & International law enforcement
field
• A globally well-respected police official, known for refined expertise
and knowledge on serious and organised crime, narcotics and human
trafficking as well as financial money laundering.
• Successfully led many investigations within South Africa, and
internationally, cooperating with foreign law enforcement officials
throughout Europe and further afield.

3. SAPS Career Profile
• Joined SAPS : September 1973
• Constable in Charge Office: 1974 - 1976
• SANAB: 1976 until 1994
• National SANAB: 1994 - 1995
• Organised Crime: 1995 - 2000
• Selected Organised Crime: 2000 - 2001
• Commander - Johannesburg Organised Crime Unit: 2001 - 2004
• Senior Police Liaison Officer, South African High Commission, London,
UK: 2004 - 2010

4. Brief history of South African Law Enforcement
Recorded history suggests that police agencies started six months after the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck on 6
April 1652
• 1689: First fiscal was appointed and given policing powers
• 1774: First police station established in Green Market Square, Cape Town
Since then, various restructurings and amalgamations.
• Known agencies operating:
• Cape Constabulary (CC), Frontier Armed and Mounted Police (FAMP), Cape Mounted Riflemen (CMR), Cape Mounted Police (CMP),
Cape Police (CP), Transvaal Town Police (TTP), South African Constabulary (SAC), Orange Free State Police (OFSP), Natal Mounted
Police (NMP), Natal Police (NP), South African Mounted Rifles (SAMR), Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek Policie(ZARP), South African
Railway Police (SARP), South African Police (SAP), and South African Police Service (SAPS).
• 1893 - police officers were invited by the authorities to submit schemes for the re-organisation of the
various police forces in the colony.
• End of 1911 - police force further restructured and divided into two forces:
• South African Police (SAP)
• South African Mounted Riflemen (SAMR)
• 1 April 1913: South African Police was established under the Police Act 14 of 1912

5. Post 1994 – SAPS & Organised Crime
• SAPS established in 1994
• Amalgamation of the eleven policing agencies in existence:
• South African Police, Lebowa Police, Gazankulu Police, Ka Ngwane Police, Kwa
Ndebele Police, KwaZulu Police, Bophuthatswana Police, Ciskei Police,
Transkei Police, Qwaqwa Police, and Venda Police.
• With the promulgation of the South African Police Service Act 68 of
1995, the legislature, under section 16, envisaged to legally establish
the Organised Crime Units.
• SAPS:
• joined the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO) – known as
INTERPOL
• became a member of the SARPCCO
• participated in the Heads of National Drug Law Enforcement Agencies
(HONLEA)

6. Organised Crime: South African context
Various organised criminal groups identified and dealt with, involved in a variety of crimes:
• Murder
• Theft of motor vehicles
• Drug trafficking
• Robberies
• House breaking and Theft
• Crimes relating to endangered and protected species, precious metals and
diamonds
• Fraud
• Trafficking in firearms
• Stock theft
• Trafficking in persons
• Theft from ATMs
• Illegal gambling
• Corruption

7. Creation of Organised Crime Units
Recognising the complexity and diverse manifestation of organised
crime, SAPS established a number of specialised units:
Specialised Units
Cross Border Operations Unit (CBOU) International Vehicle Crime Investigation Unit
(IVCIU)
Special Task Force, an Organised Crime
Investigation Unit (OCIU)
Fraud Units
Selected Organised Crime Unit Syndicate Fraud Units (SFU)
Border Police Office for Serious Economic Offences (OSEO)
Railway Police Commercial Crime Units (CCU)
Precious Metals and Diamonds Units (PMDU) Aliens Units
Serious and Violent Crime Units (SVU) Family Violence Child Protection and Sexual
Offences Units (FCS)
Endangered Species Units (ESPU) Gang Units
Trucks Hijacking Units Anti-Corruption Units (ACU)
Transit Theft Units Motor Vehicle Crime Investigation Units
Firearms Investigations Units (FIU) Taxi Violence Unit
Motor Vehicle Finance Investigation Unit Dog Units
Crimes Against the State (CATS) Special Task Force (STF) Units
Special Investigation Unit (SAPS SIU) Tactical Response Team (TRT) Units

8. Organised Crime & Specialised Units
• Organised crime is manifested in various ways. While it may be easy
to identify a criminal act, it is a mammoth task to identify organised
crime.
• Strong need to have efficient and well experienced crime intelligence
units within SAPS to work together, tackling the complexed organised
crime network existing in South Africa.

9. SAPS Commercial Branch – Specialised Unit
• 1947 - Commercial Branch established
• 1969 – Expansion to have offices in Cape Town, Pretoria, Durban, Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth and
Klerksdorp
• 1988-1997 - reorganised in order to cope with the increasing challenge of Commercial Crime
• Establishment of 12 Commercial Crime Units, 13 Syndicate Fraud Units, and 43 Fraud Units
• 2000-2002 - Completion of the first phase of the restructuring of the Detective Service, the Commercial
Branch comprised 17 Commercial Crime Units and 1 Serious Economic Offences Unit
• 1974- Establisment of SANAB by general Bassie Smith. Investigate drugs related cases by specialized
trained detectives.
• When SAPS lost all its members belonging to the original Office for Serious Economic Offences
(legislated to become Investigating Directorate Serious Economic Offences -IDSEO) – they built from
scratch, another unit, which still operates.

10. SAPS Office for Serious Economic Offences OSEO
1992 – Establishment of the Office for Serious Economic Offences (OSEO)
In terms of the Investigation of Serious Economic Offences Act 117 of 1991
• Investigate any offence which in the opinion of the Director: Office of Serious Economic Offences
is a serious and complicated, economic offence.
• The National Prosecuting Authority Act 32 of 1998 repealed this Act, and the Directorate was
deemed to have been created in terms of this Act and came to be known as the Investigating
Directorate Serious Economic Offences (IDSEO).
• The Act further specifies the categories of offences in the Schedule as published under
Proclamation No. R.123 of 4 December 1998, in respect of which the Investigating Directorate
must exercise its functions.
• These offences are: (a) Any offence of fraud; theft ; forgery and uttering; or corruption in terms of
the Corruption Act 94 of 1992; or (b) any other economic common-law offence; or economic
offence in contravention of any statutory provision, which involves patrimonial prejudice or
potential patrimonial prejudice to the state, anybody corporate, trust, institution or person, which
is of a serious and complicated nature.

11. SAPS Organised Crime Intelligence Unit - OCIU
• Organised Crime Intelligence Unit, (the predecessor of the Organised Crime Investigation Unit),
was the first unit created to deal directly with organised crime.
• Key tool utilised: Compile an Organised Crime Threat Analysis (OCTA) in order to have a national
insight into the activities of crime syndicates operating in the country.
• Unit was to focus on organised crime syndicates, by gathering information, and evaluating and
providing information to the detectives for the purpose of effecting arrest without usurping the
control by the investigator.
• 1990 – 1991: The South African government appointed a Commission under Police Commissioner,
General Hennie de Witt, to look into the restructuring of the SAP.
• SAP was restructured into five divisions.
• One of these five divisions, which was a merger between Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the
Security Branch (SB), was called the Crime Combating and Investigation Division (CCI), which came into effect
on 1 April 1991.

12. SAPS Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU)
• 1992 – Anti-Corruption Units were established in South Africa
• Deal with corruption against members of the then SAP.
• Enabling law used was the Corruption Act 94 of 1992, which was later repealed by the
Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act 12 of 2004.
• The mandate of the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) was to investigate corruption cases
against members of the SAP, whereas other corruption cases were investigated by the
Commercial Branch.
• 2001 – Restructuring of the Detective Service - Corruption Units were closed down
• Unclear as to whom was to investigate corruption cases against members of the SAPS –
therefore no uniform standards in the provinces.
• The Organised Crime Component took upon itself to investigate these cases in 2004.

13. National Crime Investigation Service (NCIS)
• 1994 – NCIS established in South Africa to operate in the same way as the FBI,
Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Regional Crime Squads (RCS) – England.
• Twenty operational offices were established, primarily with the South African
Narcotics Bureau (SANAB) detectives. The detectives from Vehicle Theft Units
and the Crime Intelligence and Commercial Branch were later added.
• Operational problems with this setup were that organised crime offices and some
specialised units such as SANAB and Vehicle Theft Units worked as rivals, and in
some instances against each other.
• Organized Crime units focussed primarily on drug trafficking, money laundering,
financial crime, and to a lesser extent on stolen vehicles investigations supported
by prosecutors.

14. Formation of Selected Organised Crime Unit
• 1999 - Establishment of a Directorate for Special Operations (DSO) based on the Federal Bureau
of Investigations (FBI) model in the South African Department of Justice.
• Former Assistant Commissioner Timothy Charles Williams wanted an agreement between the
SAPS and the DS, stressing:
• that the OCTA process offers a perfect vehicle for such a common approach
• the need to strengthen the efficiency of crime intelligence desks dealing with specific types
of crime
• Former Divisional Commissioner, Louis Eloff stated in his strong recommendation
• “We cannot allow ignorance and ‘power play’ to further delay the fight against organised crime.”
(Eksteen 1999: 17).
• 29 September 1999 - establishment of Selected Organised Crime Unit – as approved by National
Commissioner Fivaz (National Instruction 5/1999)

15. Restructuring of SAPS Detective Service
• January 2000 - Instruction 3/1/8 dated 21-01-2000
• Closure of some specialised units and the opening or enhancement of
Organised Crime Investigation Units.
• Mining community influenced some of the decisions – which saw the
establishment of three sections:
1. Organised Crime Investigation Units
2. Assets Investigation Section (AIS)
3. Precious Metals and Diamonds (PMD)
• Team to head Selected Organised Crime Unit was established under
leadership of Supt RE Madzhie and Supt Taljaard.

16. SAPS – Anti-corruption initiatives
• 1 September 1999 - an Investigating Directorate Corruption Unit (IDCOR), that
was established to deal with offences relating to corruption, but did not become
operational until the formal legal creation of the Directorate of Special
Operations (DSO).
• Acknowledged by the NPA, it was, in essence, built on the successes of the
existing Investigating Directorates.
• January 2001 – became a legal entity, in terms of Proclamation R3 of 2001
published in the Government Gazette No 21976 of 12 January 2001.

17. Challenges: SAPS and DSO
2005 Khampepe Commission of Inquiry
1 April 2005, President Mbeki appointed Justice Sisi Virginia Khampepe to head a Commission of
Inquiry into the mandate of the DSO
The final report was submitted in February 2006 and was released in April 2008 with the following
core findings:
1. The DSO was established to supplement the law-enforcement agencies
because of constraints with capacity and credibility in the SAPS.
2. The Ministerial Co-ordinating Committee (MCC) failed to properly discharge
its responsibilities.
3. The DSO and the SAPS share a legal mandate in respect of the
investigation of serious organised crime, with potential conflict.
4. The DSO is not subjected to security scrutiny by the Inspector General of
Intelligence.
5. The DSO has been leaking information that caused prejudice or
embarrassment to those who are the subject of investigations.
6. No systems of coordination existed between the DSO and the SAPS, which
resulted in an irretrievable breakdown of relationships.

18. SAPS Organised Crime Secretariat
In an effort to coordinate its activities, the SAPS established a forum called the Organised Crime Secretariat:
• Designed to operate at regional, provincial and national level.
• Projects are identified, registered, investigated, evaluated and monitored by the Secretariat.
Since July 2006, the Organised Crime Component, the AFU and the National Prosecution Service (NPS), have
jointly undertaken an Organised Crime Initiative (OCI):
• Jointly address organised crime from the moment of identification, through to conclusion of criminal prosecution.
• Initiative has empowered the investigators and prosecutors to have a better understanding of organised crime.
• This link is crucial to the success of investigations.
Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) – Hawks:
• The South African Police Service Amendment Act 57 of 2008 created the DPCI - also known as the Hawks - that was
launched on 06 July 2009.
• Part of its mandate is to investigate serious corruption. However, the legislature failed to define serious corruption.
• In an attempt to clear the confusion of mandates, Colonel Siane Lebakeng, one of the senior enforcement officers at
the Hawks, improvised a definition of serious corruption cases as “those in which large amounts of money or high
value goods are involved, or where several SAPS employees or employees from more than one station, provincial
division or national division are involved”.

19. Importance of Specialised Units
• Since the disbandment of specialised units, crime in South Africa is highly
uncontrollable.
• Current scenario SAPS faces: Inexperienced police officials are arresting criminals,
however, when the case is presented to court, it is often withdrawn or there is
not enough evidence due to lack of investigative experience in the field of specific
crime.
• This has led to increased number of police officials involved in corruption.

20. Recommendation – Specialised Units
The Vision of the South African Police Service is to -
create a safe and secure environment for all the people in South Africa
If SAPS wants to fight crime successfully, and make South Africa a safer country for all who live
in it, the re-establishment of all specialised units is strongly recommended
and should be a priority:
• SANAB, Organised Crime, Commercial units and General Detectives need to work together using OCTA.
• Bottom up approach for highly skilled detectives, supported by prosecutors, working hand in hand will
yield more convictions.
• Ensuring case dockets are prepared and well presented.
• Prosecutors will ensure that the case dockets, when taken to court are properly investigated and the
court is ready.
• This will directly impact on the reduction of the intensity of corruption.

21. Colonel Ramutsheli Ernest Madzhie
(Retired)