9 000 we cannot afford to lose

Just when I thought South Africa could not shock me- it does again.

South Africa is renowned worldwide as being one of the most crime filled countries on this planet. This is a fact. The police force consists of some 200 000 personnel. Not very large for a nation of some 40 million people. (Probably millions more from over the borders who are unaccounted for)
So, in a report reflecting it's infinite wisdom, the National Treasury recommends that the number of police personnel be reduced by 9 000 members. Nope, you did not read it incorrectly. Reduced!!

Now, maybe it is just me- but logic dictates, when you are policing such a crime ridden country, where murder, rape and violent robbery hardly even make the newspapers because we are so used to hearing about them, any recommendation would be to 1)Increase the size of the force 2) Improve the training.
There is no doubt that on top of this, we need better trained specialized units as well.
Cutting an already stretched police force would not even feature in any report worth reading.

Police spokesman and good smoke blower, Colonel Vish Naidoo, was at pains to defend this. He went on to say that nobody would lose their jobs (heard that one before hey ABSA) but due to the world cup in 2010, we had appointed 11 000 policemen/women a year, as opposed to the usual 3 500( between 2005-2009.)
Spin the report as you will, we cannot afford to have less policeman protecting the residents of South Africa.

Another knock on effect, is that we will have another potential 9000 unemployed people in South Africa. The way the ANC spends money on stuff like 5 star hotels, expensive travel, chartering two or three planes at one time for JZ, lavish parties..well, the list goes on. Not to mention the billions spent of refurbishing minister's home. The money is there for employing more police personnel, the ANC are just to greedy to stop their spending. So as a result, the fools who pay their inflated salaries (us, the public) are placed in further danger, as now they want to reduce the little protection they will have.I can also guarantee you, that none of the 9 000, will come from the bunch that guards these governmental money leeches.