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This introductory chapter of a 2007 monograph by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) outlines the methodology and scope of a study assessing the capacity of South African Police Service (SAPS) Crime Combating Units (CCUs) to manage public order. The research focuses on the impact of 2001 and 2006 restructuring processes on the units' ability to handle protest marches and security for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

This report assesses the rural safety capacity lost by the phasing out of the South African National Defence Force’s (SANDF) Territorial Reserve, known as the Commandos, and evaluates the South African Police Service's (SAPS) ability to replace these functions. Through fieldwork in the Free State, Eastern Cape, and Gauteng, the author argues that while Commandos primarily protected the interests of the rural middle class and could be socially destructive if deployed inappropriately, they provided a critical force-multiplication capacity for policing agricultural crimes. The report concludes that the transition to SAPS is likely to result in a deterioration of rural policing because SAPS organizational incentives and national performance targets prioritize urban 'contact crimes' over rural property crimes.

A draft reply from the South African Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs regarding fish kills in the Blaaubankspruit in January 2011, attributing the event to sewage effluent rather than acid mine drainage.