Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela has said that the South African Police Service (SAPS) didn't receive any intelligence that the July unrest would happen.  

On Monday, Mawela gave testimony at the South African Human Rights Commission's (SAHRC) national investigative hearing into the July unrest. 

The unrest happened in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal resulting in the deaths of around 340 people. 

"We received early warnings with other domestic-related issues, but not an early warning that indicates that we are going to have any mass unrest," Mawela said.

The police commissioner admitted that intelligence gathering was a weakness. Mawela was off sick from 14 June to 16 August after undergoing two surgeries. In his absence, Major-General Tommy Mthombeni was acting commissioner. 

In his testimony, Mawela painted the SAPS as overworked and in desperate need of modernisation. 

He said, ideally, the public order police (POP) department should have 12 000 personnel, but they only have 5 500 members. He said there was a plan to increase personnel, but was not followed through because of "competing needs" in the police service. 

"We don't have resources. If you can look at Gauteng, we have 23 000 people responsible for policing 15.8-million people here. The number of police officers to ensure safety and security for Gauteng residents, surely what we have on the ground is not enough.

"We have one police [officer] to 540 civilians. It's a challenge. With these numbers for our public order police officers, surely they will be overwhelmed. We need lots of boots on the ground." 

Mawela also spoke about the lack of resources in the service. He said the province only has two water cannons. He said the province should have 10 water cannons.  

At the time of the unrest, police didn't have any helicopters because most were grounded due to mechanical problems, Mawela said.

"We also lack modern equipment. Some police units have drones that they can use during operations." 

Staff retention was another issue he raised. 

"People are leaving en masse. People are retiring, taking early retirement and getting sick but the recruitment to replace them is a challenge."

He said there had been no intake for basic training of recruits in two years because of  Covid-19."

The hearing continues.