Deputy Speaker, the ANC welcomes the recent announcement by the SAPS that the Paarl Training Academy will be turned into a police university. This shows that our government is serious about law enforcement training in South Africa.
The academy will see the first 120 students enrolled in January 2014 for BA degrees and will later offer Honours, Masters and Doctorate courses. The facilities and the programme of this academy have been drawn up in consultation with Unisa and the Council on Higher Education.
The university will address various inadequacies within the police service and will make policing a career of choice. The SAPS will now also implement a stronger academic requirement for acceptance into the force, which will include having a degree. The ANC believes that the establishment of this university will strengthen the work of the police and empower them with high-level skills.