Minister of Police (incl IPID and CSPS) Budget Speech, responses by DA, ACDP

Watch: Mini-plenary

BUDGET VOTE 28, 24 & 21 PRESENTATION: DEPARTMENT OF POLICE, IPID AND THE DEPARTMENT OF THE CIVILIAN SECRETARIAT FOR POLICE SERVICE DELIVERED BY THE MINISTER OF POLICE, GENERAL BHEKI CELE (MP) ON TUESDAY 24 MAY 2022

Honourable Chairperson;
Honourable Ministers;
Honourable Deputy Ministers;
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police; Ms Tina Joemat -Peterson and members of the Portfolio Committee;
Honourable MECs;
Members of Parliament;
National Commissioner of the SAPS, General Fannie Masemola;
National Head of DPCI, Lt Gen Dr/Adv Godfrey Lebeya
Acting Secretary of Police, Mr Takalani Ramaru;
Executive Director of IPID, Ms Dikeledi Ntlaseng;
PSiRA CEO Mr Manabela Chauke;
DPCI Judge Kgomo;The leadership of organized labour;
Ministry of Police;

Ladies and gentlemen.

Sanibonani, Dumelang, Molweni, Ndimadegwane, Avuxeni,Good Afternoon.

Today I address this august house delivering the Budget Vote of the Police, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) and the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service (CSPS).

As the country and the world at large embraces the economic, social and political rainbow; post the devastating Covid 19 overcast in the past 2 years.

The ‘3 -legged pot’ in the Ministry of Police, together with the supporting entities have reinforced and regrouped in support of a call to action; of taking steps to strengthen our democracy and reaffirm our commitment to a Constitution that protects us all.

Chairperson, even the strongest ‘3 -legged pot’ cannot perform miracles in the absence of adequate collection of strong firewood.

Therefore, after constructive deliberations and progressive diagnosis; we all agreed that the strongest firewood that will make the (the 3 legged pot) Police, IPID and the Civilian Secretariat to be effective and efficient, is the COMMUNITIES we serve.

Honourable members, it is on that score we dedicate this Budget Vote to REBUILDING AND STRENGTHENING COMMUNITY RELATIONS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CRIME. TODAY WE SAY UMUNTU NGUMUNTU NGABANTU, IPHOYISA, IPHOYISA NGESIZWE – WE ARE ANCHORING OUR POLICE TO THE COMMUNITIES THEY SERVE.

WE ARE ADVOCATING FOR PROGRESSIVE CHANGE.

Communities must be able to say THESE ARE OUR POLICE and the police must equally EMBRACE COMMUNITIES and continue to SERVE AND PROTECT.

His Excellency, President Cyril Ramaphosa during the State of the Nation Address said I quote. “Another area of immediate attention will be the re-establishment of community policing forums to improve relations and coordination between local police and residents of the areas they serve”. Unqoute.

Chairperson, before the dawn of democracy in 1994, I attended a Safety and Security Training in Scotland Yard – London, together with Dr Johan Burger of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).

Part of the Training was to conceptualise and understand the notion of Community Policing Forums.

Hence I took particular interest in the article Dr Burger published on the 1st of November last year where he penned his views on the current state of our Community Policing Forums.

It therefore, becomes increasingly imperative that we minimise debates in this regard and meaningfully engage in a discourse that will ensure that the directives of his Excellency the President are realised.

Honourable members, you would recall that the establishment of CPFs is provided for in section 221(2) of the Constitution and section 19(1) of the South African Police Services (SAPS) Act 68 of 1995.

The CPFs and Business together with the police must establish and maintain a partnership with the community, promote communication between the police and the community.

Furthermore promote cooperation and ensure that the police fulfil the needs of the community in respect of policing, improve the service of the police to the community, improve transparency and accountability of the SAPS and promote joint problem identification and problem solving.

Therefore, the Philosophy of Community Policing is not new, in fact it has been proven that,the more involved law enforcement is with the residents they are sworn to protect, the more residents can help police achieve their goals of reducing crime.

To date, there are currently 772 functional CPFs countrywide.

The death of over 300 people during the weeklong lawlessness that befell us in July last year, will remain one of the darkest times in our democratic history.

The unrest called for clear reforms of security services and at the same time exposed the divide between the police and the communities they serve.

The Police needed the community and the community needed the Police. But it was clear Community Policing was at its weakest and there was little to no trust between the police and the communities.

The July 2021 unrests that engulfed South Africa posed a serious security threat to the country’s economy and highlighted some security gaps in intelligence-driven collaboration between the private security industry and other government law enforcement agencies.

In responding decisively to the July unrests, a total of 19 instigators of violence were arrested including those who meted untold brutality to another race group, under the disguise of defending their community and property during the unrest.

To date 36 suspects have been arrested for their alleged respective roles in the murder of 35 people and 31 people have been arrested for attempted murder in Phoenix.

Meanwhile, PSiRA has conducted an analysis to determine what went wrong and what needs to be improved in terms of the private security industry’s involvement as a force-multiplier in the fight against crime and the protection of the country’s economy.

PSiRA believes that a concerted effort in building relations between the industry and other law enforcement agencies in terms of information gathering and sharing will go a long way in preventing similar incidents in the future.

In line with the many improvements to follow, the collaboration of PSIRA, SAPS and SSA will see the Authority launching a mandatory counter-terrorism awareness campaign in the form of 40 hours of training for the Private Security Industry in the next two quarters of this financial year.

PSiRA and SAPS will collaborate to ensure a practical working relationship between the Private Security Industry and State Security agencies in line with the established and existing partnership frameworks.

Honourable members, I deliver this Budget Vote with a clear Presidential directive in mind; for the police to be embedded in the communities they serve.

DEPARTMENTAL BUDGET PRIORITIES ACROSS SAPS, IPID AND CSPS

Chairperson, I present to you the South African Police Service Budget Vote 28 for this financial year to the amount of R100,695 billion; the Independent Police Investigative Directorate Budget Vote 24 to the amount of R357 million and the Department of the Civilian Secretariat for police service Budget Vote 21 to the amount of R 150 228 million.

SAPS has allocated R10 million to support community outreach programmes. The robust and progressive community engagements through Izimbizo will continue to gain priority and momentum going forward.

Our visits to Pimville, Diepsloot, Botshabelo, Mafikeng, Lusikisiki, Delft, Khayelitsha, Loskop, Daggakraal, Phoenix, Amaoti, Malamulele, Bushbuckridge, Paballelo and many more; are evident towards achieving our goal of promoting community participation in governance.

In responding effectively to public unrests, capacitation of Public Order Policing through recruitment has been prioritised. POP will receive an additional 4000 members during this financial year.

R150 million was allocated to the Operational Response environment as part of once off allocations over a three year period for capital modernisation, including procurement of armoured vehicles and aircraft; and a further R9 million allocation has been set aside for the procurement of protective gear for POP members.

Equally, the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service as the custodians of civilian oversight have allocated R4.8 million to improve effective community partnerships in this regard.

Meanwhile, the CSPS has developed the National Policing Policy which provides the policy direction for responding to the current policing, crime and violence challenges in the country.

Chairperson, it is imperative to note a significant milestone, where, in March 2022, Cabinet approved the Integrated Crime Prevention and Violence Strategy, which is an implementing tool for the 2016 White Paper on Safety and Security with the primary objective of addressing the root causes of crime and violence through ‘WHOLE OF GOVERNMENT AND WHOLE OF SOCIETY approach to crime and violence prevention in the country.

The balanced yet independent approach in the functioning of the SAPS, IPID and CSPS will contribute positively in the fight against crime. The three institutions will be forever be encouraged to operate independently of each other when responding to their respective legislative mandates.

While CSPS is providing policy advice and strategic oversight, the IPID is a significant watchdog, in ensuring that the SAPS constitutional mandate is realised.

In this regard, the IPID plays a critical role in contributing towards the improvement in police conduct by engaging in station lectures across all provinces. In the previous financial year 33 station lecture awareness sessions were conducted and a total of 40 station lectures will be undertaken this financial year.

Moreover, in June 2021 IPID launched Access and Awareness Rural Strategy which is aimed at improving accessibility to IPID services and strengthening relations with stakeholders in rural areas.

During this financial year IPID will continue to establish new offices in other provinces. To date 11 new offices were established in 3 provinces in the previous financial year.

This administration is working with agility to improve community relations at all levels of governance. The (3 legged pot) SAPS, IPID and CSPS is hell-bent in restoring the trust deficit that impacts on our overall fight against crime.

The organisation has taken up the challenge to REBUILD itself and at the same time, IMPROVE its image and REGAIN the TRUST in the communities’ we serve.

Yes honourable members, the TRIO led by the Ministry is similar to an active construction site, as the much needed repairs, demolitions, alterations, restorations and refurbishments get underway.

All these minor to major changes are aimed at improving the overall functionality of the SAPS and supporting entities, especially at police station level.

As we roll out plans to REBUILD AND STRENGTHEN COMMUNITY RELATIONS in the fight against crime - key to this, is to channel adequate and functional resources and manpower to police stations to ensure that the fight against crime is effective and efficient in winning public confidence in policing.

Chairperson, to qualify the above, the National Treasury allocated additional funding for the recruitment of 12 000 new Police Trainees over the MTEF with an allocation of R5.8 billion to rejuvenate and improve policing capacity.

Honourable members, for the current financial year, the biggest intake of 10 000 trainees is aimed at closing the gap of the past two years, where training was halted due to Covid-19 lockdown.

To this end over R500 million has also been reserved from the baseline for expenditure associated with trainees undergoing basic police development. A further recruitment of additional 5000 New Recruits for the next financial year will commence in June 2022. While an additional 200 Graduates (Mainly Bsc Graduates) will commence Training in August 2022.

To date, myself, Deputy Minister Mathale and SAPS management have visited and addressed the New Police Recruits stationed at SAPS Tshwane Academy and Kimberly SANDF 3 SAI military base respectively.

As the Ministry we remain confident in the ability of the SAPS and SANDF management to iron out some of the teething problems experienced at some of our training facilities.

Provinces with the highest incidence of reported crime, have been prioritised in terms of the allocation of baseline budgets.

The top 30 High Contact Crime Weight Stations have been prioritised in terms of resources which includes an additional budget allocation of R62 million, while R25 million additional allocation will be directed to safety and security at Police stations; The KwaZulu- Natal, Gauteng, Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Limpopo provinces received the biggest allocation of funds in this regard.

A further R26 million additional funding will continue to capacitate the Anti- Gang Units in this regard. The Western Cape Province has the lion share of this budget with R10 million allocated towards preventing, combating and investigating gang violence in that province.

Honourable members this budget will support continued efforts and operational plans to deal with stations that contributes high murder and attempted murder statistics including other violent crimes.

The additional budget allocations over and above the baseline budget must make a difference in Umlazi, Inanda, Plessislaer, Harare, Kraaifontein, Delft, Mfuleni, Khayelitsha, Kagiso, Thohoyandou and Lusikisiki and others.

Station Commanders and their members; including Provincial Commissioners and their management teams will have to occupy the streets more often than before and saturate these places with continuous crime prevention and multi-disciplinary operations. This budget allocation must be spent to its entirety, we will not accept any roll overs in this financial year otherwise heads will roll.

Key in achieving the ultimate goal of halving violent crimes by 2030, policing at station level must be enhanced and adequately resourced. This includes significant investment towards boosting the Morale of our members. No matter the willingness of the communities to enhance partnerships with the police; a demoralised workforce will not add value in the fight against crime.

We therefore call upon the National Commissioner and his management to prioritise the wellness of police members across the board.

I am happy to announce that the last leg of the agreement reached with organized labour during 2018 (SSSBC Agreement2/2018) will be implemented.

This agreement will see 8 607 constables and sergeants promoted to Sergeant and Warrant Officer respectively. These promotions will contribute significantly to an improvement in employee morale.

The organization seeks to renew the trust and confidence amongst the people of South Africa, through enhanced service and performance.

With every planned rebuilding project, there is a design or a plan; that must be followed. The required materials to build a credible and solid structure are being prioritised. After all, “Trust is earned when action meets words!”

There are four pillars that form the cornerstone of this rebuilding project and they include;
· Increased recruitment of more members to bolster police response times and police visibility.
· Adequate and increased funding of Gender Based Violence and Femicide investigations and programs.
· Capacitation and resourcing of critical and specialised units of the SAPS.
· Strengthening community organisations and partnerships with law enforcement to join the fight against crime.

DIRECTORATE FOR PRIORITY CRIME INVESTIGATION (DPCI)

Chairperson, to date, Investigations of Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) cases emanating from the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act 34 of 1995 investigations are receiving priority by the DPCI which has since hired investigators, on a three-year contract basis.  Of these investigators, 34 have been specifically assigned to investigate TRC recommended cases.

These contract workers started in 1 April 2021. From the 100 TRC cases on hand, six of these are currently on the court roll, with an inquest case also in court. Seventeen cases have been referred to the NPA for decision while 76 cases are under investigation.

Furthermore, the DPCI will be attending to the 22 210 cases involving National Priority Offences. Of these, more than 13 000 accused are appearing before the various court rolls in the country.

It is worth mentioning that last financial year the Directorate effected approximately 2 400 arrests and secured 1 137 convictions:

- Of these arrests, 342 were for illegal mining, 178 for damage to fuel pipelines, 146 for cash-in-transits of which 10 life sentences and 365 years imprisonment been secured.

- Ten life sentences with 215 years were secured for murder of police officials.

The DPCI is one of the key role players in the Fusion Centre.  Since its establishment, about R3,39 billion from the proceeds of crime which includes Covid-19 relief corruption has been recovered and more than R613,2 million in suspected criminal funds frozen.

As at the end of the financial year, a total of 230 incidents were registered with 171 under investigation. 61 cases are in court with 129 accused. 20 court cases have been finalised with 19 convictions.

In the VBS case, the investigation team recorded more than 2000 statements. To date, 27 suspects have been arrested and are facing 188 counts of patterns of racketeering activities; money laundering; corruption; fraud, and theft in the courts of law.

Amongst the 22 000 cases handled by the DPCI, is the Steinhoff International Holdings N.V investigations.

Even though the unforeseen delays in resolving this matter are concerning - So far over 300 statements have been obtained and this highly complex investigation extends to 12 other jurisdictions.

Currently, there are 32 additional witnesses whose statements are to be obtained in South Africa and abroad.

The DPCI shall in conjunction with the Investigating Directorate of the NPA, also be focusing on the cases emanating from the State Capture Commission.

Of the various recommendations relating to law enforcement, a number of cases were already under investigation and some of these matters were already serving before court.

In the 2021/22 financial year, the DPCI contributed towards the preservation, restraint and forfeiture orders impacting on R208.9 million of criminal networks assets.

IMPROVEMENTS IN CAPACITATING FORENSIC SCIENCE LABORATORIES AND GENDER BASED VIOLENCE AND FEMICIDE 

Honourable members, there is a progressive and significant down management of DNA backlog within the Forensic Science Laboratory to date.

The backlog has been reduced by 38.71% from 251 603 to 154 204. To this end, additional allocation of R50 million will support all Buccal Samples and Collection kits operations.

Meanwhile, another additional budget of R100 million will be allocated to provinces over and above baselines to support all programmes related to GBVF Action plans and FCS Unit resourcing including the Top 30 stations.

Continuous breakthrough in GBVF related crimes boosts public confidence in policing.

True to our Gender Based Violence and Sexual Offences Action Plan, R1,3 billion is allocated to baseline activities related to the GBV and resourcing of FCS Units.  R 1,263 billion of this amount will go towards the units’ operational expenses including human and other resources.

R30 million will be geared towards the servicing of youth, children and vulnerable groups including awareness campaigns.

Chairperson, on the 29th of April, the Police Ministry led an Imbizo hosted in Lusikisiki.

This community engagement further showed that the residents of this area, which has one of the highest rape incidents in the country, struggles with access to police services due to shortage of police vehicles.

Urgent policing interventions have since been put in place to allow for the better servicing of this community. But it is also equally crucial that victims of this dreadful crime are met with professional services at the point of reporting.

To date, GBV Desks at police stations have been established at the Top 30 National GBV Hotspots such as Lusikisiki. GBV Desks are also available at all 1153 police stations countrywide.  These desks are staffed with members trained in GBVF related courses.  To date 82,577 police officers have undergone such training.

PROTECTION OF CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND EXTORTION OF PRIVATE ENTERPRISES

President Cyril Ramaphosa pronounced succinctly in his State of the Nation address, that infrastructure the ongoing vandalism and theft of economic infrastructure has damaged confidence and severely constrained economic growth, investment and job creation.

He then said, “Government has established specialised multi-disciplinary units to address economic sabotage, extortion at construction sites and the vandalism of infrastructure”.

These crimes will not be allowed to go an anabated, this is why Task Teams will be established in 18 identified hotspots, linked to municipalities with highest reported cases of such crimes.

These multidisciplinary Task Teams will focus on extortion at construction sites and businesses and Illegal mining. The highly-skilled teams will tackle theft of non-ferrous metals, copper cables and put in measures to combat and stop illegal mining.

Residents of Pimville, Diepkloof, Eldorado Park, Klipspruit and many more communities cannot continue to be held ransom and left in the dark due to cable theft and related crimes.

Task teams will also tackle essential Infrastructure crimes such as the tampering, damaging or destroying of infrastructure related to energy, transport, water, sanitation and communication services.

Critical Infrastructure crimes will also be on their radar which involves the attack, damage or theft of fuel pipelines and related crimes. Legislation to this effect is also underway.

The draft regulations have been published in the government gazette for public comments.

SAPS PLANNED BREAKDOWN ON PLANNED PRIORITIES

Expenditure is expected to increase at an average annual rate of 1.3 per cent, from R100.5 billion in 2021/22 to R104.4 billion in 2024/25. Compensation of employees accounts for an estimated 78.3 per cent of the department’s total expenditure over the period ahead.

This includes additional funding of R5.8 billion over the medium term to rejuvenate and improve policing capacity through the appointment of 12 000 entry level constables, of whom 10 000 will replace personnel who have left the service through natural attrition.

As such, the number of personnel is expected to increase to 178 708 over the medium term.

The department’s spending focus for the year, which is mainly on goods and services as well as capital investment over the medium-term includes the following:

• Previous reductions in the compensation of employees budget baseline, requires SAPS resource allocation reprioritisation as well as investment in technology;

• The department will sustain the Forensic Services baseline allocation previously increased to allow for implementation of the amended DNA Bill;

• Human Capital Investment through skills development;

• Capacitation of functionalities pertaining to cybercrime and specialised multi-disciplinary units;

• Investing in capital assets consisting of machinery and equipment, essentially transport assets as well as mobile police stations;

• Focus of other critical items to equip members for effective policing, such as bullet resistant vests, uniform etc, will remain as these are critical tools of trade for police to successfully render their duties

• In our efforts to continue to with the implementation of the Farlam Commission recommendation tabled, funding has been set aside to continue to capacitate the existing POP units, and also with the deployment of these units in various provinces to address and stabilise crime in hotspot areas.

Departmental spending over the medium term will be in relation to the core programmes with Visible Policing more than 51% weight of the total Vote in 2022/23.

The Programme: Detective Services in terms of weight is also a significant portion of more than 20%.

CONCLUSION

Chairperson and honourable members, allow me to conclude this budget by affirming our commitment of REBUILDING AND STRENGTHENING COMMUNITY RELATIONS in the fight against crime; across the SAPS, IPID, CSPS and supporting entities for better community centred policing.

POLICE NEED THE COMMUNITY AND THE COMMUNITY NEED THE POLICE - IPHOYISA, IPHOYISA NGESIZWE

Lastly, may I take this opportunity to thank the Deputy Minister of Police Mr Cassel Mathale, Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police, Ms Tina Joemat Peterson and members of the Portfolio Committee, National Commissioner of the SAPS General Fanie Masemola, his management team and all SAPS members, the Ministry of Police – Chief of Staff Ms Nonkululeko Phokane and her team, Acting Secretary of Police Mr Takalani Ramaru and his team.

The Executive Director of IPID Ms Dikeledi Ntlatseng and her team, the CEO of PSIRA Mr Manabela Chauke and his team, the National Head of DPCI Dr/ Lt Gen Godfrey Lebeya and his team, The DPCI Judge Kgomo and his team, The Chairperson of the DNA Board Adv Lindiwe Thomas Nkosi SC and her team, the Chairperson of the Firearms Appeals Board Ms Lungelo Shandu and her team and most importantly my lovely wife Mrs Thembeka Cele and our family for the unwavering support in executing my duties in this portfolio.

I thank you

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MINISTRY OF POLICE BUDGET VOTE 28, 24 & 21 PRESENTATION: DEPARTMENT OF POLICE, IPID AND THE DEPARTMENT OF THE CIVILIAN SECRETARIAT FOR POLICE SERVICE DELIVERED BY THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF POLICE, CASSEL
MATHALE (MP) ON TUESDAY 24 MAY 2022

Honourable Chairperson;
Minister of Police, Honourable Bheki Cele
Honourable Ministers in attendance;
Honourable Deputy Ministers;
Chairperson of the portfolio committee on police and members of the Portfolio Committee;
Honourable MECs present;
Members of Parliament;
Heads of entities;
Ministry of Police;
Distinguished guests;

Ladies and gentlemen;

Kindly receive our greetings.  It is with a sense of great honour and humility to once again be afforded this opportunity to deliver this inputs to our budget vote under the auspices of the

South African Police Services, a Department that is charged with an enormous responsibility of keeping our nation safe. 

We have a pressing obligation to continue pursuing every effort that will realise a crime-free

South Africa, where the populace and everyone within our borders live without fear of being attacked or becoming victim of criminality, where our women and children do not live in fear of falling victim to Gender-Based violence and Femicide.

Honourable Members;

During the South African Police Service budget vote debate of 2021, my input was opened with a quote from one of the renowned Japanese authors, Mr Hauki Murakami, which says:  “...once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”

This year’s budget vote is indeed held post the stormiest years of our recent history, with South Africa and the world emerging from the overwhelming effects of the COVID 19 pandemic. We are not even sure if the storm is really over or we are still within the storm. 

Our beautiful coastal province of KwaZulu-Natal has just experienced severe flooding with loss of lives and immeasurable damage to infrastructure. As a department we have also lost loved ones in both these occurrences, but one thing is certain, we are stronger as a nation than we were before. It is not easy but we are pulling through and we will ultimately emerge.

Now the hard-work of rebuilding our country through improving and strengthening our service delivery mechanisms has already started, a lot still awaits us, but with all hands on deck we will succeed. Hence, as Minister Cele mentioned earlier, we are dedicating this budget vote to Rebuilding and Strengthening Community Relations in the fight against crime.

We can comfortably stand in front of you today and state with certainty that we know what lies ahead and as the Ministry and the family of the South African Police Service, we are ready for the task at hand and we further invite everyone to join in our determination to fight crime.

As we have always iterated, fighting crime is not the sole responsibility of our men and women in blue. But it is our shared responsibility, which should be appreciated and acted upon. Under all circumstances we should always remember that fighting crime is a national commitment that must never be failed or compromised.

COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION TO FIGHT CRIME THROUGH COMMUNITY IN BLUE

Chairperson, as part of our efforts to closely and effectively work with communities in fighting crime, the Community-in-Blue directives and reporting template were developed for implementation in all the nine provinces and about nineteen thousand patrollers were recruited nationally, which is almost double the number we reported in the previous financial year.

The goal is to intensify efforts to improve community policing, focussing on the mobilisation of the community in blue initiatives in order to improve visibility particularly in high crime areas. We remain resolute to achieve our target, notwithstanding certain occurrences of nature, which at times reduce our speed.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMMES (IZIMBIZO)

We are continuing to strengthen our outreach programmes in partnership with the CSPS and other stakeholders, under the stewardship of our Visible Policing. Our direct interaction with our people through Izimbizo affords us an opportunity to understand various difficulties and challenges affecting our communities.

We are ensuring that issues raised by community members are correctly recorded and followed-up. We have ensured regular meetings to monitor progress made on issues raised by the community members until closure of each case.

In addition, as part of Izimbizo we intend to include “public education” on the processes and functioning of the criminal justice system as a whole. It has come as serious course for concern to learn during our engagements that our people do not understand how the justice system works and are therefore unable to protect themselves in the event that their rights are violated.

In consideration of the increasing incidents of crime and violence amongst our youth, and as part of our School and Campus Safety Strategy, we intend to intensify our safety and security interventions, especially in Institutions of Higher Learning. In this regard, we will be appointing safety and security liaison officers and together with the Department of Higher Education and Training, the institutions management and student structure. We will also establish safety structures and student care centres to support students who are victims of crime, especially Gender-Based Violence.

OVERSIGHT INSTITUTIONS

Chairperson;  In his State of the Nation Address in February this year, President Cyril Ramaphosa emphasized, amongst others, the need for us to rebuild the State and restore trust and pride in public institutions.

For us this entailed that, over and above the interventions and programmes that the Minister spoke to in his address asserting that we strengthen internal oversight mechanisms through ensuring proper checks and balances.

By its nature, the policing or law enforcement environment lends itself to an imbalanced exercise or execution of power. Necessary as this maybe, it needs to be balanced in one way or the other.

As an ancient historian, Lord Acton stated, power has the tendency to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. We have therefore ensured that we establish internal oversight institutions, which are part of the SAPS family but are tasked with independently maintaining oversight, checks and balances over SAPS as well as ensuring monitoring and evaluation of its interventions and impact.

These institutions are aimed at providing the Ministry and SAPS Management with independent, objective assurance, advice and evaluation designed to add value to and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our interventions and operations.

These internal institutions include the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service (CSPS), The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations Judge (DPCI Judge), amongst others.

The Minister has already spoken about the planned programmes and the budget allocated to these institutions. It is worth to elaborate on some of these institutions’ interventions from the perspective of oversight:

THE CIVILIAN SECRETARIAT FOR POLICE

The Civilian Secretariat for Police Service (CSPS) was established to, amongst others, exercise civilian oversight on the governance, service delivery and resourcing of the SAPS and in this regard has embarked on a theory of change process to strengthen its resolve in contributing to ensuring that communities are safe, by focusing all its efforts on results-based management and facilitating impact on the ground.

The emergent theory of change finds its premise on Chapter 12 of the National Development

Plan (NDP) which highlights the need for an integrated approach to safety and security; and thereby places CSPS at the forefront of strengthening community partnerships, amongst other key interventions. The CSPS has been directed to ensure that the change envisaged through the implementation of its revised strategy translates into practical and visible impact which will be felt primarily by our people.

In line with the National Policing Strategy that the Minister spoke about, the CSPS’ seeks to ensure the progressive realisation of the identified priorities of Government and reflects institutional programmes and projects which contribute to the achievement thereof. Over the remainder of the MTEF period, the Department has identified the following as its revised institutional outcomes:

• Strengthened community police relations;

• Transformed and accountable police service;

• Strengthened community participation in the fight against crime;

• Strengthened collaboration, coordination and integration towards the implementation of the Integrated Crime and Violence Prevention Strategy; and

• Strengthened relationship between SAPS and CSPS to ensure responsive policing.

During the 2022/2023 financial year, the CSPS will embark on a consultation drive with all the relevant stakeholders with a view to finalise the National Policing Policy. With the world rapidly embracing and implementing the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the CSPS will ensure that the e-Policing Policy is finalised during the current financial year with a view to provide policy direction and guidelines for the use of technology in order to create a smart policing environment.

In terms of monitoring and evaluation, the CSPS will advance its role to support the SAPS through continuous monitoring of the top 30 high crime police stations and developing initiatives with various stakeholders to assist and empower the police in effectively responding to the scourge of gender based violence and femicide.

THE INDEPENDENT POLICE INVESTIGATIVE DIRECTORATE

The role of the IPID in relation to investigating Police conduct has already been mentioned by the Minister.  The IPID remains committed to delivering an efficient, effective and qualitative service. In order to achieve this, key interventions were identified to accelerate its services; implementation of District Development Model Strategy, development of case screening and prioritisation framework, training of investigators and appointment of Investigation Quality Assurers.

To ensure a wider reach, the IPID will continue to identify and establish new offices in other provinces in addition to the ones mentioned by the Minister earlier.

THE DIRECTORATE FOR PRIORITY CRIME INVESTIGATION JUDGE

Minister has spoken at length on the role and the priorities of the DPCI/HAWKS. However, it is important to bring to the attention of this august house our intervention in ensuring oversight and the checks and balances in relation to the DPCI so as to reduce the risk of absolute power and absolute corruption within the HAWKS.

We are reinforcing the DPCI Judge as an oversight body to be able to engage in processes that seeks to strengthen its operational efficiencies and ensure that members of the DPCI investigate their cases without fear, prejudice or favour.

The DPCI Judge was established as an oversight institution to further engage in processes to strengthen accountability and efficiencies of the DPCI. The DPCI Judge has embarked on programmes to streamline its processes to ensure that it improves its turnaround times in the investigation of its cases.

GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

As much as the Minister went at length in relation to our budget and programmes relating to improving the capacity of forensic science laboratories and combating gender based violence and femicide, It is befitting to elaborate slightly, on our plans to further curb the scourge of the 2 nd pandemic, as dubbed by the President, which continues to engulf our Country.

Chairperson, allow me therefore to share with the nation, the following as part our endevours:

1. We have to date established GBV Desks in all Police Stations since the 31 March

2022. This was implemented in three phases, which can be outlined as follows:

a. 1 st Phase –Top 30 identified National GBV Hotspots and Western Cape police stations by 30 September 2021.

b. 2ndPhase –30 GBV Hotspots identified by each province by 31 December 2021

c. 3rdPhase –Almost all remaining police stations by 31 March 2022.

2. Having established GBV Desks in almost all police station, our focus for this financial year will be to capacitate these GBV Desks and establish Victim Friendly Rooms.

3. In addition, we will prioritise the conducting of Izimbizo and awareness campaigns at the top 30 GBV Hotspots.

4. During the Basic Police Learning Programme and the Basic Reservist Learning Programme, all new SAPS recruits and reservists are now trained to effectively deal with crime prevention as well as complaints and cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV) and violence against vulnerable groups.

5. After the basic police training, selected SAPS members are subjected to further and/or specialised In-Service training courses in these fields to sharpen skills and improve service delivery at selected priority points.

6. The 2022/23 Training Provisioning Plan contains preventative measures for GBV related crime and crime in general and 226 training interventions will be presented with 3736 learners attending.

7. The 2022/23 Training Provisioning Plan aims to have 29 training interventions to effectively deal with complaints of violence against vulnerable groups that will be presented with 3269 learners attending.

8. During the detective training, all detectives are trained to investigate any type of crime, including GBV, and to utilise the available investigative support provided by Crime Intelligence, Specialised K9-Service and Forensic Science Services.

9. A whole array of Intelligence and Forensic courses are also presented to equip the members working in these support services to provide effective support services to detectives. The 2022/2023 Training Provisioning Plan contains 288 training interventions, presented with 5 863 learners attending.

There are numerous pre and in-service training that have been developed and we believe these will go a long way in ensuring that our Members are equipped and empowered against secondary victimization of complainants.

DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT MODEL

The President introduced the District Development Model (DDM) to bring all three spheres of government together with other social partners in every district to grow inclusive local economies and improve the lives of citizens.

In particular, the DDM facilitates integrated planning and budgeting across spheres of government and improves integration of national projects at a district level.

This we found to fit in well and strengthened our The Safer Cities Framework, which is an initiative that unites a variety of related organisations and departments at city-level to deliver coordinated, integrated and community related services as one of the interventions that must be employed to fight and prevent crime. With minor adaptation here and there we believe we are ready to add value to the President’s DDM programme in all identified Districts.

PSiRA continues to strive to be an excellent regulator of the private security industry and must further all efforts of assisting in the protection and safety of our people. The Private Security Industry must complement our efforts to fight crime and should never be abused to undermine our endeavors.

We are fighting and pushing back criminals in order to protect our people and their respective properties. People must be discouraged to leave this country because of criminals. Instead, we must jointly assist each other in fighting these criminals for we have no option but to win. South Africa will never become a lawless country, never.

Thanks.