Dept of Police Annual Report 2008/09; Extradition & Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties with Hong Kong: Dept of International Relations briefing; Committee Report on provisional suspension of Magistrate C M Dumani & of Report on Northern Cape oversight visit

NCOP Security and Justice

27 October 2009
Chairperson: Mr T Mofokeng (ANC)
Share this page:

Meeting Summary

The Department of Police /South African Police Service presented its Annual Report and Financial Statements for year 2008/09. The Department had received an unqualified audit once again. A brief presentation was given on each of its five programmes, as well as on the financial statements. It was noted that the budget had been spent in full, and that virements across programmes fell within the permitted figures. Various statistics were presented and noted, including numbers of crimes, responses and staffing issues. Members asked what SAPS was doing to protect a community in the Free State from gang fights, as the setting up of a satellite station had been refused, and asked for a list of provincial commissioners who could be approached to approve such stations. Members asked SAPS to explain how their targets were set, what support was offered to disabled staff members, what was being done to combat abuse by SAPS members of State vehicles, what it was doing to address poor relationships with communities, internal disciplinary matters and those officials who seemed unable to cope with stress. Members felt that police response times were too slow, enquired what was done to recruit scarce skills, particularly in forensics, and to comment on the crime situation.

The Department of International Relations briefed the Committee on the extradition and mutual legal assistance treaties between South Africa and the People's Republic of China, outlining the purpose and terms of these treaties. Members commented that it would be important to support them.

The Committee confirmed the suspension of Magistrate C M Dumani. The Committee also adopted its Report on the Northern Cape oversight visit.

Meeting report

Department of Police (SAPS) Annual Report 2008/2009 Annual Report
Mr Joe Phahlane, Divisional Commissioner, SAPS, presented on Programme 1: Administration Services of the SAPS Annual Report. He noted that when developing human resources, training was provided in terms of the Training Provisioning Plan. 137 780 members attended Operational Training and 119 608 members competently completed the training. Of the 5 992 members who attended the Management and Leadership Development Training, 5 640 completed the training. 19 853 members attended the Entry Level Training and 19 801 members completed the training.

As part of the drive to institutionalise a professional service ethos, 42% of outstanding cases were finalised in terms of the Disciplinary Regulations Act 2006. He also noted that 1,77% of claims were finalised in the reduction of civil claims instituted against the Service.

With regard to reorganising the SAPS to enhance service delivery, Comm Phahlane stated that station and cluster structures were finalised, and enabling structures for provincial and national levels were also finalised for 2008/09. In its efforts to optimise the application of physical resources, a number of police stations were completed in Khuma (Stilfontein), Debenek, (Eastern Cape), Ceza (KwaZulu Natal), Kagiso (Gauteng), Paarl East (Western Cape), and Saldanha (Western Cape). There had been  development and implementation of Service Delivery Improvement Programme (SDIP) and Service Delivery Charters in divisions, provinces, and stations.

In pursuance of the implementation of risk management, risk assessments were conducted at national and provincial levels. Risk registers were compiled and the risks were cascaded to the performance agreements of divisional and provincial commissioners and risk owners. The National Risk Committee decided that risk management would not be applied at station level at this stage. The implementation of risk management was included in the generic performance agreements of provincial commissioners. The implementation of the Fraud and Corruption Plan was included in all the performance agreements of divisional commissioners, national component heads, provincial commissioners, and station commissioners.

Programme 2: Visible Policing, amongst other things, looked at partnerships established to prevent contact and property related crime. A partnership between the SAPS and the Primedia Group was established in 2007 to encourage the community to blow the whistle on crime by reporting it anonymously. As a result of this partnership, 758 arrests were made. The partnership between SAPS and Business against Crime South Africa continued,  with specific focus areas being the Criminal Justice Review and Improvement Programme, the Violent and Organised Crime Reduction Programme, and the Non-Ferrous Metal Theft Reduction Programme. Various community based crime prevention projects continued within the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme / Urban Renewal Programme nodes, which included Crime Prevention through environmental design, youth crime prevention capacity-building programmes and local government initiatives.

With regard to Programme 3: Detective Services a graph showing figures and percentages was tabled (see attached presentation).

Programme 4: Crime Intelligence focused on two aspects - intelligence operations and information management. A number of operations were conducted to neutralise crime threats. This saw a decrease from 18 631 operations in 2007/08 to 17 035 operations in 2008/09. With regard to intelligence and information management, there was an increase from 95 848 reports in 2007/08 to 142 020 reports in 2008/09.

Programme 5 dealt with Protection and Security Services. No security breaches occurred on VIP Protection Services. With regard to static and mobile security, seven security breaches occurred, compared to nine security breaches in 2007/2008. 40 428 cases were reported within the railway environment compared to 26 567 cases in 2007/2008. 35 161 arrests were made within the railway environment, compared to 21 314 in 2007/2008.

Mr Stefan Schutte, Divisional Commissioner: Finance and Administration, SAPS, gave the presentation of the finances. He noted that the Department had received an unqualified audit opinion for the 2008/09 financial year, the fourth unqualified audit in a row. SAPS had used all its voted funds, with a surplus of only R20,16. Virements for all programmes were well within the 8% threshold permitted by the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). Most objectives were accomplished. For example, personnel were appointed and capacity building initiatives were implemented. There was a spending variance of merely 0,6% between budget for compensation and actual expenditure for the vote. Revenue collected for the National Revenue Fund during the year was R376, 456 million. Local and foreign aid assistance received for the year was R7, 234 million. The opening balance from the previous year was R16, 6 million. The main reasons for the increased collection of revenue for the period under review were outlined as the improved recovery of incidental debt, the sale of non-capital items at auctions and the higher number of firearm applications. He concluded that the end result was that the main spending priorities for 2008/09 were accomplished. Graphs and slides showing item expenditure were shown.


Discussion
Mr D Bloem (COPE) commented that in Free State there was a community that was ravaged by gang fights. The police station was situated 5 km away. He tried to arrange to have a satellite station set up in the community, but this was unsuccessful. He asked what SAPS was doing to save the community from these gang fights.

Mr Arno Lamoer, Divisional Commissioner: Visible Policing, SAPS replied that the establishment of satellite police stations was the responsibility of the provincial commissioner, who would  have to identify a need for that service. However, he noted that SAPS would take up the matter with the provincial commissioner in that region, and it would send the Committee a written response.

Mr Bloem asked the Department to send the committee the list of all provincial commissioners, so that they could be contacted when a need to have satellite stations established arose.

Mr L Nzimande (ANC) wanted to know what the formula was in setting up the targets, and what support services the Department had for disabled people.

Mr Moneo, Assistant Commissioner: Detective Services: Department of Police, explained that SAPS took into consideration the historical information over a period of five years. The performance of SAPS was considered and a baseline was set. From those figures, a higher target was then established. When SAPS started to use this system, the target was 19%, and presently it was standing at 32%. The target was increased yearly. The department had tried to come up with a system that would have the same measurement.

Mr Phahlane said that SAPS embraced disability. Legislation was enforced. A Disability Management Programme was in place. It was managed by social workers, psychologists, and spiritual services personnel. The programme was in place to create an environment conducive to accommodating disabled colleagues.

Mr B Nesi (ANC) enquired of what the Department was doing about the abuse of State vehicles by police, and how it planned to deal with the fraught relations between the police and the community.

Mr Lamoer explained that every member of SAPS, irrespective of rank, would be disciplined for any misuse. The introduction of Automatic Vehicle Location devices would monitor the movement of all police vehicles.

In respect of complaints, Mr Lamoer added that all cases should be reported to the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD). There were many cases that were being reported already. Commissioners took direction from the ICD. The Department would thoroughly look at the poor relationship between the community and the police, and would reply to the Committee in writing.

Mr J Bekker (DA) commented that internal discipline was wrong and worrying, and asked SAPS to explain what it would be looking at when recruiting police. He said that it had come to his attention that some police were unable to handle stress.

Mr Phahlane admitted there were elements within the police who misbehaved but he assured the Committee that there were mechanisms in place to deal with that. He said that when SAPS was recruiting, the criminal record and physical fitness of the applicants would be checked, a psychometric test would be conducted to check whether the individual was likely to have skills to cope with matters, and these tests were even administered as the personnel progressed on to senior ranks.

Mr H Mokgobi (ANC) asked SAPS to comment why the police response was always slow.

Mr Lamoer explained that not all provinces had 10111 call centres. At present, SAPS had twenty centres. Where a call centre did not exist, the call would be routed directly to the nearest police station, and the police should respond. If they failed to respond, the provincial police commissioner should be contacted.

The Chairperson wanted to know what the Department was doing to recruit forensic experts and other members in areas that require special expertise.

Mr Edward Ngokha, Assistant Commissioner: Forensic Science, SAPS, answered that training for such people took a period of three years. The SAPS personnel had to do practical and theoretical training, write exams, undergo mentorship, write proficiency tests, and be assessed to see if he or she was able to work independently. Retention programmes were in place. Bursaries were also available for members to continue studying.

Assistant Commissioner Chris De Kok, Statistician: SAPS, noted that with regard to the crime situation there were positives and negatives. Of the 2.1 million crime cases, most were police-generated. Murder had decreased by 3.4%. However, there was an increase of 10.1% in sexual offences, although this did not necessarily mean rape cases. He reminded the Committee that the passing of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act had broadened the definition of rape and sexual assault considerably, and much of the increase in this type of crime was due to the broader definitions and new offences, and also were mostly related to sex-work.

Briefing on the Extradition treaty between the Republic of South Africa and the People's Republic of China
Mr J Makhubela, DeputyChief State Law Advisor International Legal Relations DOJ &CD, briefed the Committee on the treaties of extradition and mutual legal assistance signed by South Africa and the People's Republic of China. Both governments had authority to conclude agreements according to the laws of their respective countries. It was felt desirable to conclude these treaties with a view to assist these two countries in extraditing fugitives of law, investigations, and obtaining evidence.

He noted that this extradition Treaty differed from other treaties South Africa had signed in the sense that it provided a listing of crimes as proposed by the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). The modern trend was to conclude extradition treaties without the list of crimes. On the other hand, the Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance was not unique, being fully in keeping with other modern treaties that South Africa had concluded. These treaties cast some obligations and implications on South Africa. South Africa must have (as it did) the required legislative and administrative measures to implement the treaty. In terms of the international practice, the State being requested to extradite someone had the responsibility to incur costs. However, extraordinary costs were usually shared between parties.

Discussion
Mr Bloem commented it was important to support the concluding of these treaties, because they showed that the government was trying to strengthen the law.

Members welcomed the briefing.

Magistrate C M Dumani: Provisional Suspension
The Committee unanimously confirmed the suspension of Magistrate CM Dumani.

Committee Report on Northern Cape Oversight visit.
The Chairperson tabled the report on the Northern Cape oversight visit.

The Report was unanimously adopted.

The meeting was adjourned.

 

Audio

No related

Present

  • We don't have attendance info for this committee meeting

Download as PDF

You can download this page as a PDF using your browser's print functionality. Click on the "Print" button below and select the "PDF" option under destinations/printers.

See detailed instructions for your browser here.

Share this page: