POLICE SERVICES: LONG-AWAITED DRAFT AMENDMENT BILL SUBMITTED TO PARLIAMENT

POLICE SERVICES: LONG-AWAITED DRAFT AMENDMENT BILL SUBMITTED TO PARLIAMENT

• 04 June 2026
• Safety and Security
• SA Legal Academy

Parliamentary papers have announced the submission of a draft South African Police Services Amendment Bill for information and planning purposes only. This comes six months after the Bill’s procedurally required pre-tabling explananatory summary was gazetted – a development on which SA Legal Academy reported at the time. Once certified by the Office of the State Law Adviser, the Bill will be formally tabled for processing.

According to the long title of a draft Bill dated 2025 and available on the Parliamentary Monitoring Group website, among other things the proposed new piece of legislation seeks to address myriad issues related to governance, accountability, conflicts of interest, performance, disciplinary proceedings and dismissals. Other proposals include:

• consolidating various units into a ‘single national police service’ [as prescribed in Constitution sub-section 199(1)]
• strengthening existing provisions for the establishment, powers, functions and control of municipal police services (including the DNA profiling of all members)
• providing for a raft of matters relating to:
  • the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation
  • community policing forums and boards, and
  • public order policing
• further regulating the powers and functions of the National Commissioner and Provincial Commissioners
• providing for the establishment of specialised units
• providing for the establishment of a national policing advisory committee focusing on ‘issues such as’:
  • appointment and promotion selection criteria, and
  • ‘the professionalisation of the service’
• providing for:
  • the integrity testing of new members of the service, and
  • lifestyle audits of all members
• providing for the establishment of an ‘intelligence division’
• ensuring that ‘the use of force must be reasonably necessary and proportionate in the circumstances’
• providing for service outside South Africa, and
• making offences of:
  • the unauthorised use of blue light vehicle equipment
  • hoaxes, and
  • spreading false information.

Please click the links below for more details:

• draft Bill
• parliamentary papers

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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