Department of Police 2010/11 Annual Report & 2012 Strategic Plan

Meeting report

Department of Police 2010/11 Annual Report
General Stefan Schutte, Finance and Administration, noted that there had been full utilisation of voted funds over the preceding three years. Key spending priorities had been related to the State of the Nation Address (SONA).  Personnel appointment and capacity building objectives had been achieved. Virements had stayed within the 8% of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) on all programmes.

The SAPS had fully utilised the R53 million voted to it. Besides voted funds, the SAPS had also collected other revenue and received donor funds to the value of R295 million. Voted funds had been spent to reduce serious and violent crime, and to increase the police force numbers by 20%. Key spending priorities had been to increase investigative powers; to invest in skills development; ICT renewal; physical infrastructure; and the 2010 World Cup.

Revenue had been created through fines, penalties and forfeits, and the sale of scrap like Caspir armoured cars which were no longer used.

General Magda Stander, Human Resources Management, gave a briefing on the Adminstration programme. The target of maintaining a minimum 95% workforce, had been achieved. The ratio between personnel and other expenditure of 73% to 27% had been achieved as a target. Management of physical resources included the acquisition of bullet-resistant vests. Vehicle management saw the ratio of 4,57 people per vehicle achieved. The target for building new police stations had not been achieved. Bids had had to be re-advertised because of delays and poor performance by contractors.

General Fanie Masemola, Deputy National Commissioner (Operations), briefed the Committee on the remaining programmes. The Visible Policing programme was aimed at discouraging crime through maintaining a police presence. More victim-friendly stations had been established. Only ten rooms for rape counselling had been established, because of funding problems related to the World Cup. Targets for crime prevention had been achieved. Escape from police custody targets had not been achieved because measures had not been cascaded down. Targets had been achieved in respect of syndicated crime; enforcing the Immigration Act; corruption; human smuggling and the stabilization of incidents. There was a learning programme for vulnerable children. Police had maintained a high visibilty on the country’s borders. There had been an increase in peaceful public gatherings, wherever these had been properly authorised.

 In the Detective Services programme, targets for crimes against women and children had been achieved, but not for organised crime. There were forensic training courses for DNA recovery at crime scenes.

In the Crime Intelligence programme, targets had been overachieved, due to reports generated by the World Cup.

In the Protection and Security Services programme, devoted to the guarding of VIPs, there had been one incident where the former President had been blockaded, but a 100% target had been achieved. The target for security breaches in government installations had been achieved.

Discussion
Mr D Bloem (COPE, Free State) asked where the Commissioner and the Head of Department were. He reminded the Department that the National Assembly was not above the National Council of Provinces (NCOP). It was unacceptable for the NCOP to be undermined by any department.

Mr Bloem noted that the Department had stated that they had achieved targets around women and children. In his own family, there had been a grandchild who had been severely beaten by a stepmother the year before. The family had never been informed about the case. The case had been concluded. A four-year-old child had been involved. The question was, how many others had to go through similar experiences? The woman only had to pay an admission of guilt fine of R500, yet the Department was telling the Committee that it was rendering service. There were rural areas where people could not interact directly with the police. The question was how widespread that kind of occurrence was.

Mr D Joseph (DA; Western Cape) said that during an oversight visit to KZN the year before, people had complained in public meetings about domestic violence. Traditional practices were referred to community leaders. Police had failed to communicate to individuals that the law had to take its course. He said that the police had to ask themselves about their image. He asked if any surveys had been done, and whether the public had been asked. He also asked about the internal image in the SAPS itself. He asked what the department had to say about their external and internal image.

Mr Joseph asked about the use of the term “surplus.” He believed that it was not an appropriate term for government. The correct term was in fact under-spending. He referred to the failure to reach the target for building new police stations. The need for new stations that would result from population growth, might have been foreseen as early as the census ten years before. He asked why targets had not been determined at that stage.

Mr A Matila (ANC, Gauteng) said that he could see no valid reason why the Commissioner was not there. He said that the Department had produced a nice looking document, and had reported on targets achieved. Yet it had to be compared with what was actually seen to be happening on the ground. People were taking the law into their own hands. A number of police officials had been arrested for crimes. A week before, senior police members had been exposed for being involved in crime in Gauteng. There were allegations of hijacking, heists and social crimes. In Cape Town the night before, he had heard that his son had been abducted by the initiation schools. He had tried to get hold of the station commissioner, and had been told, after some delay, that there was no police van. He asked what the implications were for that entire community. The Department had admitted, years before, that Mamelodi was one of the worst police stations.

Mr Matila complained that he could see no reports from South Africa. He asked where the police got their statistics from. In the past it had been said that the forensic laboratories were struggling with problems of analysis. He asked why the situation had suddenly changed. The Committee had then been told that the laboratories were under-resourced. Now it had heard that the Department had spent well. The Committee was hearing a different story from the same people who had been there the year before, and the year before that. Three or four years before, two Heads of Department had been in serious trouble. The Mduli saga showed that there were serious problems.

Mr Matila conceded that good things were being done in some areas. But three weeks earlier, the Committee had visited Mamelodi police station, where the community had wanted to meet with the police because nobody was coming back to them. Crime was rife 500 meters from the police station. His house had been broken into in December, and no one had informed him about progress with the case. There were hundreds of cases where the police had done nothing. Stations were supplying wrong information to provincial and national levels.

Mr V Manzini (DA, Mpumalanga) said that the presentation looked good and sounded good, but the Department did not monitor police stations. He had reported a case where police were supplying firearms to a boy. The behaviour of police officials was cause for concern. Police brutality was a serious problem. His son had been brutally assaulted by police the year before. He cited the case number. The police had only said that his son was cheeky.

The Chairperson asked that members refrain from referring to specific cases.

Mr M Mokgobi (ANC, Limpopo) said that police stations had to be upgraded. There had to be programmes where this matter could be accommodated.  African people were especially suffering from a lack of readiness at police stations. He asked about visible policing, and whether that referred only to parading in police cars. There had to be action when police suspected an intention to commit crime, and the police had to be able to detect such intention. The police had to move around to prevent crime. He asked if the budget spoke to that. The question was what could be done to prevent hardened criminals from committing crime.

Mr M Makhubela (ANC, Limpopo) said the police had a duty to reduce violence, according to the President, and more police had to be employed to achieve that. He asked about training, whether people were actually passing courses. He asked what happened to those who failed. He referred to the unauthorised expenditure and the eradication of corrupt practices cited in the report. He asked what had happened to the pyramidal command structure of the SAPS.

General Bonang Mgwenya, Chief Operating Officer (COO), answered that the Department had adopted a matrix structure because it had expanded.

Mr J Gunda (ID, Northern Cape) said that the SAPS had to promote Government policy. He complained about the state of police station buildings in places like Upington, Kenhardt and Kakamas. He said that he would bring photographs to the Committee. He asked if it was known what distances station commanders had to travel in the Northern Cape. At Griekwastad, the area covered enclosed 200 farms. The commander had to travel from Griekwastad to Witsand -- a vast area. He had only 35 staff members, who served 7 000 people. Crime was not serious in the area, but justice was not being done to that station commander.

Mr Gunda said that at Mier one would be lucky to find a single officer on duty on a Saturday night. He asked if the SAPS themselves were happy with their performance, and whether the police budget was really sufficient to serve the South African communities. He asked how well ordinary police officials were looked after. He asked about their salaries.

Annual Performance Plan for 2012/13
General Mgwenya, COO, said that the Annual Performance Plan was informed by the State of the Nation Address (SONA). Priorities were to reduce crime; address structural unemployment; employ disabled people; promote economic transformation and gender equality; recruitment; training; rural safety, and the improvement of service delivery programmes. The capacity and professionalism of detectives had to be improved. There was a commitment to human capacity development and to enhance information systems.

General Schutte gave a briefing on spending policy and Estimates of National Expenditure (ENE). New allocations were needed for salary adjustments. Priorities under the economic classification included current payments; transfers and subsidies, and payments for capital assets. Expenditure under capital assets would increase, to acquire vehicles and build police stations. The compensation budget would deal with the wage bill; overtime; rental and housing; medical schemes; scarce skills and promotions.

General Stander briefed the Committee on human capital development and capital infrastructure. She assured the Committee that no one would lose jobs, there would only be natural attrition. There was a community-based approach to recruitment. Management and leadership development were priorities.

Major-General Ravi Pillay, Acting Divisional Commissioner, Supply Chain Management (SCM), said that the vehicle fleet had to be optimised, and relations with the Department of Public Works (DPW) had to be strengthened.

General Bonginkosi Ngubane, Divisional Commissioner, Technology Management Services (TMS), said that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure and networks had to be upgraded. There had to be systems integration and modernization of infrastructure. Relations with the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) had to be strengthened.

General Masemola emphasised specialised interventions for safety and security, including the recovery of stolen and lost firearms and vehicles. Police reaction time to complaints had to come down to five minutes. He referred to a rural safety strategy; victim empowerment programmes and the enhancement of a victim-friendly service capacity, as well as a focus on youth crime prevention. A strategy and plan to manage detention had to be developed, so that no one would remain in a police cell for longer than seven days. Liquor legislation had to be enforced. Borderlines had to be handed back to the Defence Force. Protest actions had to be stabilised.

At that point the presentation had to come to an end as the meeting time had expired. The Chairperson asked the Department to respond in writing to questions put by members, and other possible questions.

There was no further discussion. The Chairperson adjourned the meeting.