POLICING, LEADERSHIP AND THE EVOLUTION OF CRIME COMPLEXITIES IN GAUTENG PROVINCE, SOUTH AFRICA.

The aim of this article is to outline the factors that prohibit the reduction of Policeable crimes in Gauteng Province, South Africa. Statistical evidence shows that policeable crimes have increased in South Africa, nationally, by 22 percent in the 2008/09 financial year whereas aggravated robberies rose by 8 per cent during 2015/16 and 2016/17 financial years, notwithstanding police efforts and emphasis on containment of business and house robberies, and car hijacking. This article frames the question thus: What inhibits the reduction of policeable crime in Gauteng? Accordingly, the article develops an interpretive conceptual framework and reports on empirical evidence on factors that inhibit the reduction of policeable crime in Gauteng Province. The research results and findings show that South African Police Service (SAPS) leadership in Gauteng Province still rely on traditional forms of policing that has not kept up with the evolution of strategies used by crime perpetrators. This article shows that the SAPS in Gauteng Province has not aligned its policing strategies with the evolving crime environment, resulting into a general lack of credibility and gaping management inefficiency, except for a few police clusters whose commanders have adopted area-specific strategies. The status quo is, as this article argues, attributable to wanting provincial, if not national, leadership. This article's conclusion corroborates the generally held hypothesis that the absence of public credibility and ineffectiveness of the SAPS are a function of the perennial top management and leadership crises. To this extent, the article recommends that successful reduction and prevention of policeable crime in Gauteng Province, and in the rest of South Africa, has to be preceded by redress of SAPS for visionary leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]