Minister of Police Budget Speech

Briefing

23 May 2017

Minister of Police, Mr Fikile Mbalula, gave his Budget Vote Speech on the 23 May 2017.

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Hon. Speaker, Baleka Mbete and Honourable members of Parliament,
Deputy Minister of Police, Honourable Bongani Mkongi 
Honourable Ministers that are here today, 
Deputy Ministers that are here to grace this important occasion, Members of executive council for Police, for Safety and Security that are in our mist, 
Entities of policing in the Republic, 

The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), Civilians Secretariat, Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA), Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), 

All our important organs, members of parliament and the media. 

I rise before you today to table the budget vote, No. 20 and 23 for the financial year.

We do this inspired by the words of O.R Tambo when he addressed the international community on the pernicious system of apartheid on 27 June 1987 at George Town University in the United State of America. 

In his address O.R Tambo had this to say about the tyrannical criminality and genocide violence against people. 

He had this to say: 

“The only way to bring about peace and prosperity is to liquidate all forms of crime and criminality.  Crime can never be amended or reformed but it should be fought against and be defeated” 

We need to close the oxygen for criminals. The breath should be limited. Their conception of life should be reduced to ordinarily. Their contemplation of reality should be reduced into nothing. This is our war cry against criminals and criminality in the Republic of South Africa.

In recent day our country had been engulfed by a new scourge and wave of lawlessness. Criminals are running amok in this country terrorising our people. We must declare war against crime. We must declare crime as domestic terrorism. In this regard, when I went around Gauteng and the entire country I had listened with great concerned the excruciating cries of our ordinary South Africans. Criminals are brutalising our society with impunity. 

Since our time in office, we have seen brutal assaults against our people by the criminal elements. In the few weeks that we have been in office, we have seen amongst others:

Ø The Nyanga hostage scene, where criminals held innocent civilians against their will, they had to be rescued by the Task Force, 

Ø Mandla Hlatshwayo and his friend being killed in Johannesburg, whilst trying to help two women,

Ø Three teenagers killed during gang violence in Elsies River, Cape Town,

Ø Two police officers shot at, one injured and the other one died, whilst conducting stop and search in Soshanguve,

Ø A young lady, Karabo, brutally killed by her boyfriend in Johannesburg and 

Ø Flora Moetshe reported missing after last being seen with her boyfriend.

This situation is unacceptable. It calls on all of us to respond equally to the fight that criminals are muting on us. As the Ministry of Police, we want the country and the world to know that we are declaring war against criminals and criminality. It is in this same spirit that we table this budget vote to you today as an integral part of our sustained war against crime. 

We have observed that the South African Police Service (SAPS) has limitations. When we went through the Annual Report and the Annual Performance Plan of SAPS, we have identified key under performing area with three financial programmes, which include:

1.  In programme one which is Administration we have the following observation. The anomality of Management Service Termination including the weak provision of Employees Health and Wellness Programme

As well as unacceptable Civil Claims against the Police Service. This will be dealt with accordingly: 

We also observed in Programme 2, which deals with Visible Policing of particular importance is under reporting and the looseness of crimes against women, children, people with disabilities and the elderly.

As we move forward, we want to disarm South Africa. We must silent guns by 2063 in doing so, we have developed a tailored programme for the recovery of stolen and state owned fire arms. Parallel to this programme is the recovery of the stolen and robbed vehicles of the police, including the brutal killing of the police. This will not be successful if we lack necessary skills in detective services. We are determined, more than ever before to look acutely in the areas of detection rade, counter intelligence and the reinforcement of informers.  

We hope this will limit serious crimes against our people, especially crimes like the contract crimes, crimes against women and crimes against our children. 

How do we resource this fight against crime: 

The budget allocations of the IPID increased from R197.9 million in the financial year 2012/13 to R255.5 million in 2017/18 at a growth rate of 29%, a significant increase due to implementation of IPID Act. Since the implementation of the IPID Act with additional responsibilities, the budget allocation has been showing an insignificant growth.

The independence of the IPID have been reconfirmed by the rulings of both the North Gauteng High Court and the Constitutional Court in their judgements on the 6th of September and the 4th of December respectively. As the Ministry, we are committed to maintaining and upholding the decisions of our courts. 

In this financial year, the Firearms License Appeal Board intends to forward proposals that will better manage the spread of firearms and reduce the proliferation of the firearms. In line with the Africa Agenda 2063 to reduce the flow of guns in Africa and ultimately silence the guns in Africa by 2020, the process of the Firearms Appeal Board will be fully supported.

The Private Security Industry Regulation Authority is one organ that serves as an oversight on this crucial industry. There is no denying of the fact that the Private Security is one of the growing industries in the country. The private security industry continues to play a critical role towards the growth of the economy and the safety of all South Africans in general.  The current growth in the number of the actively employed security officers from 488 666 during to 498 435 as at 31 March 2017 bares testament to the pivotal role the industry continues to play in creating entry level employment for the majority of South Africans especially young people and women who are employed in the industry.  According to PSIRA’s registration statistics, the number of women currently employed within the private security industry has increased by over 5.2% from 102 907 to 108 234 as at 31st March 2017. This growth naturally poses the challenge of the need to monitor and practice oversight on this important component of our security.

But, the growth of the industry also brings along with it challenges of none compliance and unfair labour practices.  Exploitation of employees, none compliance with provident fund contributions by employers and unfavourable working conditions are but some of the regulatory challenges that PSIRA must continue to address. In light of these challenges, the Authority is continuously strengthening its stakeholder engagement network among others with the Department of Labour, the SAPS and the Private Security Sector Provident Fund.

Hon. Speaker, the South African Police Service constitute the bulk of the budget of the Ministry. Policing is the cornerstone of our mandate and it is a highly sensitive matter as it is integral to maintenance of peace, security and stability. The state as a custodian of peace and stability, has to have requisite capacity to enforce the laws that governs it. That capacity resides with the SAPS.

In view of our collective desired destiny, we thought that it would be prudent for us to take stock of our road-map, pause and evaluate where we are going. As we look back we identified the following as key anchors of our road-map to transform policing in South Africa:

  • Establishment of a single Police Service: In this regard the White Paper on Policing has been developed, and the consultation process is underway in order to realise this noble goal;
  • Improvement of the conditions of service of the members of the SAPS at all levels in particular those at lower ranks: To put this into effect, the Transformation Task Team has been established to produce, develop and retain a “Proud, Patriotic and Honest Police Personnel”;
  • Establish Street Committees to assist in the fight against crime: We are realistic that we cannot win the fight against crime without the involvement of civil society. The Ministry is in the process of reviewing the Community Police Forum Policy. This will ensure that we build strategic partnerships with the communities in our effort to push back the frontiers of criminality;
  • Transformation of the Security Departments: The work of the Transformation Task Team will be accelerated this year. Those targets that have not been achieved in the previous financial year will be identified and the challenges will be addressed as a matter of extreme urgency;
  •  Increase the human capacity to fight and combat Rhino Poaching;
  • Implementation of the resolutions of the National Security Structures: This will be done in cooperation with other Departments; and 
  • Implementation of the process of protecting National Key Points by the National Security Agencies: The process to replace the National Key Points Act with the Critical Infrastructure Bill is currently under way and undergoing consultations at NEDLAC.

Hon. Speaker, in order to achieve this, the SAPS has been allocated a budget of R87 Billion for the 2017/18 financial year which includes a transfer to the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service of R124.7 Million. 

Last year, we announced the SAPS Back-to-Basics approach to policing. In order to intensify this approach, the organisational structure was reviewed which resulted in the establishment of the Management Interventions function headed by a Deputy National Commissioner. 

The Back-to-Basics Approach to policing is primarily benefiting the Visible Policing and Detective Services programmes, which are the Department’s core service delivery programmes. These two programmes constitute of R62 billion, or 71.3 per cent, of the total budget for this financial year with a combined personnel count of 140 657 in 2016/17. The expected outcomes of the Back-to-Basics approach are improved departmental performance on the prevention, detection and investigation of crime. 

The department has identified one police station in each province for the pilot implementation of the frontline service delivery project, which aims to improve the professional conduct of police officials. The project also aims to ensure that police stations are accessible, and interactions between the police and the public are positive. 

Enhancing police visibility entails optimising spending on personnel, vehicles and infrastructure to ensure that the police service is accessible to communities and can make its presence felt. A significant proportion of the department’s budget, approximately 76.4 per cent over the medium term, is allocated to spending on compensation of employees. 

The department is developing a plan to expand public order policing to support the implementation of the recommendations of the Marikana Commission of Inquiry. Allocations of R242 million in 2017/18 and R355.8 million in 2018/19 were approved by Cabinet in the 2016 budget for this purpose. This explains the projected increase of 7.9 per cent over the medium term in expenditure in the Specialised Interventions sub-programme in the Visible Policing programme.

We believe that through enhanced police visibility we are going to make major inroads in decreasing the levels of serious crime and therefore, a medium-term target to reduce the number of serious crimes reported, from 1 788 139 in 2015/16 to 1 587 692 in 2019/20, has been set. 

Structural alignment and capacitation in support of the Back-to-Basics Approach will include the continued implementation of structural improvements, including the cluster concept and a reviewed governance framework, in addition to the efficient and effective utilisation of allocated resources and skills development that has specific operational relevance.

Towards the end of 2017/2018 financial year and emanating from staffing priorities defined within the department’s Annual Performance Plan for 2017/2018, adequate human resource capacity will be established at local level with specific focus on the Visible Policing and the Detective environment. In terms of planned figures, the total percentage distribution of personnel in relation to the total staff compliment of the department at station level will be increased from 60.4% to 61.78%. In terms of the planned post allocation criteria of the department for the 2017/2018 financial year, 81% of all replacement posts will be prioritised towards the recruitment of SAPS Act personnel. This will ensure an improved frontline capability of the department. In addition, the department has prioritised the recruitment of reservists, as a force multiplier at local level, during the 2017/2018 financial year. It is envisaged that a total of 2610 reservists will be appointed. 

A total of R2.5 billion is allocated over the MTEF period to the Administration programme to build, upgrade and maintain police stations. The department plans to build 63 additional police stations over the period at an estimated cost of R588.3 million. The department also plans to prioritise the replacement of vehicles that have mileage in excess of 200 000 kilometres as these vehicles, which constituted 35 per cent of the total fleet at the end of 2015/16, require significant maintenance each year. An amount of R5.7 billion is allocated over the medium term for transportation equipment, including vehicles, and R4.5 billion is budgeted for fleet maintenance. 

The Department is currently procuring 3379 vehicles to address the shortages in the provinces. Work sessions were conducted with all the Provincial Fleet Managers to sensitise them on the issuing of vehicles to the correct terrains in the Provinces.

Hon. Speaker, the current biggest challenge faced by the SAPS is the “Trio Crimes” or the three most serious crimes in our country, namely;

·       Car-Hijacking

·       Robbery-Residential; and

·       Robbery-Non-Residential

On the 7th of March 2017, the Acting National Commissioner officially launched the National Trio Crimes Task Team with a view of ensuring integration of SAPS response to this crimes and ensure that the task team leverage on all available resources. The Task Team was mandated to develop a National Action Plan to address Trio Crimes in the Top 20 Trio Crime Clusters and the plan be implemented with effect from 1st April 2017.

The maintenance of internal stability remains one of the key challenges for the SAPS in the current epoch. The key drivers of broad public discontent persisted during 2016/17 and included issues of inadequate access to housing; the provision of basic services; lack of employment opportunities; corruption associated with the allocation of tenders; dissatisfaction with the restructuring of municipal boundaries and economic disparity, including #FeesMustFall campaign which manifested in peaceful and violent community protests. 

A trend that was identified in the build-up towards the 2016 Local Government Elections of increased number of violent protest actions continues. The violent protest increased by 87.9% as opposed to peaceful protests which increased by 25.1%. There those who want to perpetuate crime and seek to divert our attention by using public protests to masquerade their acts of criminality. 

A growing culture of lawlessness, impunity and violence during protest actions, including disrespecting state authority, continues to be a threat to the continued development of the democratic dispensation in the country. The new Public Order Policing policy provides direction for a human rights-based approach to dealing with public protection and is supported by the Dangerous Weapons Act, 2013 (Act No 13 of 2013).

In the State of the Nation Address, President Jacob Zuma directed the Justice Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) Cluster to put measures in place to ensure that any incidents of violent protest are acted upon, investigated and the perpetrators prosecuted. The SAPS will ensure that dedicated capacity exists to manage public disorder and will integrate with all relevant capabilities in the public and private sectors to ensure that the President’s requirements in this regard, are met.

In addition, partnerships with other government departments become essential in addressing the root causes of public protest. The Republic is currently experiencing an upsurge in violent incidents which is requiring urgent additional interventions from SAPS. The department plans to develop a plan to expand public order policing; re-establish units in Cape Town, Durban and Nelspruit; re-establish 15 dormant units; establish eight new units; and expand public order policing personnel to 8 820 members by 2019/2020.

In conclusion I want emphasise that we stand here today rejuvenated by the words of Steve Tshwete when he said: 

“We fight criminality with ferocity of a corned bull and agility of a cat” 

We are inspired because this year we celebrate 15th anniversary of the life and times of Steve Tshwete. The exuberance and the fire of Steve Tshwete sill lines on in us.  

Inspired by the words of Comrade Steve our message to the criminal elements is unequivocally loud and clear 

#operationwayatsotsi 

Washa tsotsi 

I thank you

 

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