Training police officers on how to deal with crowds or for public order policing has been neglected since 1994, it was reported on Wednesday.
National police commissioner General Riah Phiyega told Parliament's police committee on Tuesday that crowd control training had "not been a priority" after 1994 as the country had become "pretty stable", the Star reported.
"It is only in the wake of the new protests that crowd management training is once more coming to the fore," briefing documents handed to the committee explained.
Thirty-four people died and 78 were wounded when police opened fire on protesting mineworkers in Marikana, North West on 16 August.
Ten people, including two policemen and two security guards, were killed in the preceding week.
A 33-year-old man has been arrested for raping and killing a 98-year-old North West grandmother.
A Gauteng man sent his children to their rooms before allegedly murdering and decapitating his wife.
Shrien Dewani has reportedly been admitted to hospital "suffering from severe chest pains".
