DASO UFS

💙 Happy Youth Day!

A better future starts with opportunity.

Opportunity to learn.
Opportunity to find work.
Opportunity to build a business.
Opportunity to reach your full potential.

Today, we celebrate the young people who will shape tomorrow's Free State and recommit ourselves to building a country where every young person has the chance to succeed.

Happy Youth Day! 🇿🇦

🚨DA calls for enhanced support for Free State SAPS officers🚨
by Roy Jankielsohn - DA Spokesperson on Community Safety in the Free State Legislature

- DA conveys condolences to the families and colleagues of four people who died in the Hennenman shooting

- Concern that there is a lack of support for SAPS officers

- DA calls for enhanced support to strengthen the effectiveness of the SAPS

The Democratic Alliance (DA) conveys our condolences to the families and colleagues of four people who died as a result of a shooting, one of whom is a police officer. On Sunday, 7 June 2026, a SAPS officer shot five people, killing three and injuring two in Hennenman, after which he shot himself.

The DA remains concerned about the lack of emotional support for SAPS members, while 3424 members do not meet the requirements to maintain firearm competency, and 221 members do not comply with legal training requirements. Competency should include psychological assessments in stressful jobs such as policing. The DA remains deeply concerned by statistics that 29 South African Police Service (SAPS) members in the Free State took their own lives between 2021 and 2025, mostly with service pistols. Hennenman has featured in many instances over a three-year period, with at least one su***de taking place at a Hennenman police station every year between 2021 and 2024. These shocking statistics were revealed in a reply to a DA question in the Free State Legislature by the MEC for Community Safety, Roads and Transport, Mr Jabu Mbalula, in 2025.

Oversight visits to SAPS stations and interactions with individual members of the SAPS indicate that they are working under very stressful conditions. Officers are expected to deliver results despite severely inadequate resources, such as vehicles, computers, printers, and basic equipment. They operate in dilapidated buildings that undermine professionalism and are often subjected to bullying and victimisation.

The stressful conditions officers face include:

A lack of trauma management and psychological support.
Lack of promotions and a poor outlook for career improvements.
Stressful work environments and long hours.
High case-loads with unreasonable pressure to perform detections and arrests. SAPS detectives, including specialised units, have average caseloads of 395 dockets per person, while the ideal number is 100 dockets per person.
A violent and negative work environment, facing crime scenes, victims and criminals on a daily basis.
Forced to act against community members with whom they share service delivery frustrations during protests.
The lack of ongoing training and support has limited the effectiveness of the SAPS to the extent that many law-abiding residents are losing trust in the SAPS to win the battle against crime. When police officers are not properly supported, trained and equipped to perform their duties, it is ultimately the public who become the victims. It is clear that urgent intervention is needed to restore dignity, support and professionalism to the SAPS, and to ensure that those tasked with protecting residents are not themselves left abandoned and broken by the system.

🚨DA welcomes SIU report on Free State Premier Office bursary funds abuse🚨
by Roy Jankielsohn - DA Free State Leader

Date: 02 June 2026
Release: Immediate

The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU) investigations and actions regarding the Free State Premier’s bursary scheme. In a statement, the SIU indicates that gross irregularities amounting to R8 million were exposed after examining the 2017/18 bursary report. The investigation found irregularities relating to payments for travel, accommodation, and stipends that were improperly allocated in terms of the bursary policy. The SIU has made 38 disciplinary referrals against implicated officials.

This is the same bursary scheme that made payments to various international universities, one of which was the privately owned Bahcesehir University in Turkey, from which former Premier Ace Magashule was awarded an honorary doctorate. In the 2014/15 financial year, R107 868 000 was paid to international institutions, in the 2015/16 financial year, an amount of R117 870 228,88, in the 2016/17 financial year, R147 202 996 and in the 2017/18 financial year, R91 769 649. Of the R464 710 873,88 spent on international bursaries over three years, Bahcesehir University received a total of R69 278 755. Many returning students from international universities, some of whom studied medicine, were unable to receive accreditation for their international degrees on their return to South Africa. This is also fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

Many students missed opportunities and had their expectations dashed due to these controversial bursaries. Money spent at international universities, as well as abused funds, could have funded many students at local tertiary institutions in the Free State, which would circulate this money in the province. Every cent of taxpayers’ funds must be scrutinised in order to ensure that our residents in the province benefit.

The DA has questioned the use of bursary scheme funds in the Premier’s office since the inception of this scheme. The international bursary scheme was problematic due to the lack of accountability and accounting for funds paid to these universities. It was also alleged that a former MEC abused the scheme for a family member to attend the University of Mevlana in Turkey.

The DA will continue to pursue funds allocated to Free State students to ensure that the province and the students get value for money.

Good.

🚨DA raises alarm over SAPS firearm losses and training gaps in Free State🚨
Issued by Roy Jankielsohn – DA Spokesperson on Community Safety in the Free State Legislature
26 May 2026 in Press Statements

SAPS members in the Free State are not meeting the necessary firearm training requirements and pose a danger to the public. The MEC responsible for Community Safety, Roads and Transport in the Free State, Mr Jabu Mbalula, indicated in a reply to a DA question in the Free State Legislature that SAPS members issued with fi****ms have not maintained the required training due to the following reasons:

A shortage of 9mm and R5 ammunition to conduct training.
Only one shooting range is available in the Free State for the SAPS at Makwane in the Eastern Free State, which is far from most other areas and in a dilapidated state.
SANDF and Correctional Services shooting ranges do not accommodate the SAPS with slots to complete necessary shooting assessments.
This implies that SAPS members who carry fi****ms and are mandated by the state to use them if necessary, in line with their responsibilities, are not competent to do so.

Furthermore, 221 members do not comply with the legal requirements in terms of the training required by the Fi****ms Control Act, and 3424 SAPS Act members do not meet the requirements to maintain firearm competency. This has serious legal implications for SAPS members who may use their fi****ms and have been issued fi****ms illegally. Last year, in 2025/26, only 190,260 rounds of ammunition were available for training and 75,354 for operational use, which is inadequate since 58% of SAPS members in the Free State have been issued with fi****ms.

Another concern is that in the last three years, three fi****ms have been lost and 34 have been stolen. These fi****ms are now in the hands of criminals who will not hesitate to use them against law-abiding citizens.

While members of the public face prosecution by the SAPS for not complying with the conditions to possess a firearm as required by the Fi****ms Control Act and its regulations, the SAPS appear to be above the law, and those who use and carry fi****ms without the necessary legal compliance could even face prosecution. The lack of support for the SAPS and their non-compliance with legal requirements to carry and use fi****ms implies that citizens, in conjunction with community organisations and private security, must defend themselves against criminals.

The DA will continue to fight for a well-trained and resourced SAPS that is able to carry out its mandate to protect our citizens and detect and apprehend criminals.

📸💙The DA in the Free State has just flighted the first voter registration posters in the province ahead of the 2026 Local Government Elections.

Our campaign to build a South Africa that works for all is gaining momentum!

Ensure that you are ready to vote and support our mission today, whatsapp : https://wa.me/27600140305/?text=Hi

DASO UFS out supporting the UFS Debt Alleviation Marathon this morning 🌇📚🏃🏽‍♂️🇿🇦

Our presence today demonstrated our solidarity towards students and emphasizes our continued commitment to No Student Left Behind! 🏗️🎓

It was a privilege to support the cause with fellow Kovsies! Thank you to the DASO & DA Youth team! 🙏🏽

We were joined by the DA's Mayoral Candidate for Mangaung, Werner Pretorius MPL, who served on the Student Representative Council as Treasurer in 2011/12! 🧢📘