According to SAPS National Instruction 4, all Public Order Police must be equipped with a shield, a tonfa (baton), pepper spray, stun grenades, a shotgun (rubber bullets), and a 9mm sidearm (live ammo).

During crowd management operations, the following restrictions apply:

  • Pepper spray and tear gas: may not be used unless specifically ordered by the operational commander. May not be used at all in confined spaces or in a stadium.
  • Rubber bullets (fired from a shotgun): may only be used to disperse a crowd “in extreme circumstances, if less forceful methods have proven ineffective”.
  • Sharp ammunition (i.e. live ammo): may not be used in crowd management.
  • Stun grenades: the National Instruction 4 is silent on the use of stun grenades. Police training manuals state this must never be thrown directly at protesters, and must be rolled to avoid injury.

    • Any SAPS member who breaks these rules is guilty of misconduct – you can lay a charge at the local SAPS station.