ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the historical development of policing in South Africa before 1994. In analyzing the societal and political circumstances that led to the need, establishment, functioning, and evolution of policing, it briefly reflects on the country’s origins, factions, ideologies, divisions, conflicts, and political landscape up to the county’s first democratic elections. It discusses the pivotal role of the South African Police force in defending apartheid against what the government framed as a total communist onslaught. Particular focus is placed on the allegiances, influences, and intricate strategies that would later shape post-apartheid South Africa and, by extension, its new police service.
