IPID Apr-Sept 2014 Cases & Recommendations Report; IPID Act implementation & progress report; Retail shop robberies increase: SAPS briefing

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Police

12 November 2014
Chairperson: Mr F Beukman (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

The Committee met with the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) to be briefed on the police watchdog’s performance. The IPID Section 9(n) Report for April-September 2013 and April-September 2014 outlined the investigative activities of IPID for the first six months of the 2013/14 and 2014/15 financial year. The bi-annual Section 9(n) Report details the number and type of cases investigated; the recommendations made as well as the outcome of those recommendations, in accordance with Section 9(n) of the IPID Act. This report seeks to present a factual analysis of cases reported in terms of Section 28 of the IPID Act and the recommendations emanating from these cases.

The Committee found some statistics particularly shocking especially on hearing about police members raping people both on and off-duty. Members wanted to know what repercussions such members faced, what was being done about corruption within SAPS, what the Committee could do to assist in increasing the effectiveness of IPID perhaps through amending legislation and how the metro police fitted into the picture presented. Members discussed possible discrepancies between numbers and whether the picture presented then was deceptive. Other questions raised related to cooperation with other departments and provinces through nodal points/provincial coordinates, public awareness about IPID as well as about specific cases.

IPID then presented its second quarterly progress report looking at the overall expenditure for the second quarter 2014/15 and the reasons for possible under-spending. A summary of the budget and expenditure per programme and economic classification was provided looking at its programmes: Administration, Investigation and Information Management, Legal Services and Compliance Monitoring; and Stakeholder Management. The performance of each of these programmes was presented focusing on where targets for the second quarter were not met and the reasons for this. The budget expenditure for provinces and districts for the second quarter was also provided.

Members were concerned about what appeared to be disproportionate numbers, prosecution of SAPS members under the IPID Act, appointment of IPID provincial heads and the filling of key positions as well as  concerns about delays in the implementation of key projects. Members questioned performance agreements, movement of funds, devolution of powers and the remuneration of IPID investigators being in line with SAPS systems.

In the second half of the meeting, the Committee focused on the topical issue of the recent spate of shopping mall robberies. The Committee was briefed by the Council for Consumer Goods which presented a picture of the consumer goods industry, the importance of the industry to SA economically, types of crimes experienced by the industry, key challenges and collaboration and partnerships to fight the scourge of robberies.

SAPS then presented its National Crime Prevention Strategy looking at the nature of the partnerships involved, the basic policing model and its link to the National Development Plan (NDP) through the three pillars of the criminal justice process, environmental design, community values and trans-national crime.

SAPS briefed the Committee on its strategic framework to combat crime in the consumer goods and retail sector presenting the current strategic framework, situation analysis, community policing partnerships, consumer goods and retail sector crime combating framework looking at three pillars – prevention, information and intelligence, investigation and prosecution. The presentation looked at the approach of the partnership, its link to other strategies, communication and the way forward.

The Committee discussed the importance of intelligence, visible policing and the need for practical solutions through tangible, concrete interventions. Members were concerned of knee-jerk approaches, elements of inside jobs in the retail industry and SAPS, the effect of second-hand goods stores and preparedness for the festive season. The Committee looked at the top-100 most wanted list, criminals needing to fear and not only respect SAPS, pre-empting the recent spate as well as the complex nature of the problem with many contributing variables making it difficult to simply place the blame on police ineptitude.
 

Meeting report

Chairperson’s Opening Comments
The Chairperson referred Members to section 205 of the Constitution – functions of the SA Police Service (SAPS). The Committee learnt within the past two weeks of the arrest of 11 SAPS members from the Goodwood Police Station in Cape Town, two members arrested in the West Coast and two members arrested in Roodeport, Gauteng. It was important that corrupt members got dealt with swiftly. It was a concern that such instances still occurred and it was important that the Code of Conduct envisaged in the National Development Plan (NDP) be implemented as soon as possible as the calibre of SAPS member needed was one that serviced the people and was not corrupt. The Committee appealed to members of the public to report corrupt police members to the relevant IPID provincial authorities. Part of today’s interaction was for the Committee to be informed of what IPID was doing and if progress was being made.

Research Report: Implementation of Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) Act
Ms Nicolette Van Zyl Gous, Committee Researcher, took the Committee through IPID's proposed amendments to its Act while also considering the implementation of the the requirements and mandate of the IPID as contemplated in the IPID Act, No 1 of 2011. She highlighted the ten most prominent amendments proposed by IPID:
1)     The definitions should include:
a.     “Torture” should be defined in terms of section 3 of the Prevention of Combating and Torture of Persons Act 13 of 2013
b.    “security clearance certificate” meant an official document issued by the Executive Director to a person that had successfully undergone security clearance by the State Security Agency (SSA)
c.     SSA meant State Security Agency.
2)     Dependencies in terms of section 4 of the IPD Act: IPID stated that section 4 of the At was not yet fully implemented as it remained to have dependencies on other departments in terms of forensic services etc. However, the dependencies listed by the IPID did not impede its independent functioning. The one aspect of concern was the fact that SAPS was still securing crime scenes for IPID. This was both a conflict of interest as well as a contravention of the Act, as sections 4 (1) stated that IPID must function independently from SAPS. Having this provision, it cannot be expected that colleagues of alleged offenders must secure the integrity of a crime scene. However without the significant expansion of the IPID geographic footprint, this situation was likely to continue. A further concern was the fact that IPID did not have independent investigator qualifications at present and should be addressed as soon as possible.
3)     Appointment, remuneration and conditions of service (sections 7, 20 and 23): This Act should clearly differentiate between the appointment, remuneration and conditions of service for support staff of the Directorate and IPID Investigators.
4)     Technical issues: the IPID Act erroneously referred to the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) where it should be referring to the SSA. The NIA became a division of the SSA and as such, the Act should refer to the main agency which was the SSA. The IPID Act also erroneously referred to the National Intelligence Act, 2002 and referenced section 3 of the Act. The IPID Act should reference the National Strategic Intelligence Act, 1994 (Act No. 39 of 1994) specifically to section 2A of the Act.
5)     Capacity (section 9):  The IPID Act was currently not capacitated in terms of the implementation of section 9 of the IPID Act. The sections that needed specific attention were:
a.     Strategic Unit
b.    Administrative support
6)     Delegations (section 10): the Executive Director stated that amendments in terms of delegations of power were being considered. This should be clarified.
7)     Consultative Forum (section 25): the Consultative Forum should be established as a matter of urgency. After the intervention of the Committee, there was a firm commitment from the Secretary of Police to convene the first meeting of the Consultative Forum as required by the IPID Act.
8)     Integrity Testing (section 26): discussions with SSA
9)     Types of crimes to be investigated (section 280: IPID proposed the following in terms of offences that must be investigated by the IPID:
a.     Include any contravention of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and related matters) Amendment Act, 2007 to broaden the section to include all instances of sexual offences not only to rape
b.    De-link torture and assault as two separate sub-sections of section 28 (f)
10)  Disciplinary recommendations (sections 7 (6), 9 (m), 30 (c) and 34 (n): the Act should include provisions for the IPID to refer disciplinary recommendations to the country’s Chiefs of Municipal Police Services. The IPID regulations, 2012 should make provision for the feedback process to be followed by the National Commissioner of Police, the relevant Provincial Commissioners of Police and the various Chiefs of Municipal Police Services in regard to disciplinary recommendations made by IPID.

The Committee should take cognisance of the provisions of this Act as it impacted on the oversight role of Parliament especially in terms of the statutory reporting duties to Parliament. Specific focus should be placed on the role of IPID was playing in terms of the NDP to enable a capable state in which the public trusted SAPS.

The Committee should further take note of the deficiencies of the IPID Act as identified by the IPID while keeping in mind the proposed amendments must be reported to the Civilian Secretariat for Police (the Secretariat) to follow the proper procedure for amendment bills tabled before Parliament. The majority of the proposed amendments did not impede the execution of the mandate of IPID. As such, the proposed amendments were not critical in nature but should be considered by the Committee in due course.

Committee Researcher Analysis of IPID Adjusted Budget Estimates for 2014/15
Ms Van Zyl Gous took the Committee through the adjusted budget allocations of IPID for the 2014/15 financial year and provide relevant details of virements (process of transferring items from one financial account to another thus transferring funds from the budget of one programme to another) and shifts (transferring funds from one item in a departmental programme t another item within the same programme) made during this period. She highlighted the significant adjustments away from the compensation of employees (R25 million) to cover shortfalls or contractual obligations (R24 million) should be seen as a significant concern especially in terms of the virements made between programmes. In the event that these adjustments were not approved by Parliament, IPID will have significant under expenditure on its compensation of employees account and significant over expenditure on its goods and services account. Contractual obligations were made at the start of the financial year and the directorate should have planned to honour these commitments. The Committee should get assurance from the Directorate that the adjustments will have the desired effect on its expenditure pattern at the end of the 2014/15 financial year and that there will be some stabilisation of expenditure.

IPID on its Section 9(n) Report April-September 2013 and April-September 2014
By way of introduction, Mr Matthew Sesoko, IPID Chief Director: Investigations and Information Management, said the purpose of this report was to outline the investigative activities of IPID for the first six months of the 2013/14 and 2014/15 financial year. The report detailed the number and type of cases investigated; the recommendations made as well as the outcome of those recommendations, in accordance with Section 9(n) of the IPID Act. This report sought to present a factual analysis of cases reported and the recommendations made on these in terms of Section 28 of the Act which obligated IPID to investigate:
(a) any deaths in police custody;
(b) deaths as a result of police actions;
(c) any complaint relating to the discharge of an official firearm by any police officer;
(d) rape by a police officer, whether the police officer is on or off duty;
 (e) rape of any person while that person is in police custody;
(f) any complaint of torture or assault against a police officer in the execution of his or her duties;
(g) corruption matters within the police initiated by the Executive Director on his or her own, or after the receipt of a complaint from a member of the public, or referred to the Directorate by the Minister, an MEC or the Secretary, as the case may be; and
(h) any other matter referred to it as a result of a decision by the Executive Director, or if so requested by the Minister, an MEC or the Secretary as the case may be, in the prescribed manner.
Section 28(2) states that IPID may investigate matters relating to systemic corruption involving the police.

There was an overall decrease of 3% in the intake of cases compared with the previous reporting period. The number of assault cases received remained high, however there was a decrease of 11% compared with the previous reporting period, from 1 924 to 1 718.

In cases of deaths in custody there was an overall increase of 1%. Eastern Cape accounted for the most increase of 56% while the highest decline occurred in Mpumalanga by 25%. In a case of death as a result of police action there was an overall decline of 6%. Eastern Cape accounted for the most declines with a 24% decline while the North West experienced an increase of 29%.

Comparing 2013/14 and 2014/15, statistics were provided for the numbers of complaints of discharge of an official firearm(s), rape by police officer(s), rape by police officer(s) on and off duty, in police custody and in police custody by a civilian. A comparison for the reporting years were provided for torture or assault with assault categorised by common assault, crowd management assault, dog attack, indecent assault, sexual assault and the intent to do grievous bodily harm. A comparison was also provided for corruption, other criminal matters and misconduct (see document).
 
Mr Sesoko explained that Section 28(2) of the IPID Act prescribed that the Directorate may investigate matters relating to systemic corruption involving the SAPS/Municipal Police Services (MPS). One matter was reported under the period of review in Gauteng Province. A comparison of the 2013/14 and 2014/15 years were provided for cases of non-compliance with section 29 of the IPID Act.

 Recommendations to SAPS increased by 20% from 395 in the previous reporting period to 475 in this period. Of the 475 cases, 33 had been concluded while 442 were still unresolved. Of the 33 concluded matters, members were found guilty in 26 matters. A comparison of disciplinary recommendations for the current and previous reporting areas was then provided along with the status of disciplinary recommendations referred to SAPS for 2014/15 per province. The categories of disciplinary recommendations were corrective counselling, not guilty, suspension, guilty, dismissal from service, withdrawn by complainant, voluntary resignation, disciplinary hearings in process, no disciplinary steps taken and non-compliance with section 30(a). Criminal recommendations referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) increased from 485 in the previous corresponding period to 896 in the period under review, which amounted to 85%. A comparison of criminal recommendations for the two reporting periods was then provided. A comparison between 2013/14 and 2014/15 was provided for disciplinary convictions, criminal convictions, disciplinary acquittals and criminal acquittals.

In conclusion, intake decreased by 3%, criminal recommendations increased by 85%, criminal convictions decreased by 26%, disciplinary recommendations increased 20% and there was disciplinary convictions in 26 matters.

Discussion
The Chairperson found some of the statistics to be "really shocking", for example, after 20 years of democracy that there were more than 66 reported cases of rape by the police that year was totally unacceptable – those members did not belong in SAPS. What was the status of these members? Had they been disciplined or suspended or were they still in SAPS? With the corruption of SAPS members, it was reported in the presentation that there were no cases of corruption in Mpumalanga but he found there had to have been a case. What was IPID going to do in the cluster to ensure corrupt members were dealt with? Looking at the stats, progress was not being made.

Mr Robert McBride, IPID Executive Director, agreed the figures were shocking but it was important to bear in mind it was the first six months of the financial year and some cases had only recently been taking up and dealt with at various levels.
           
Mr Sesoko said all rape cases reported to IPID were vigorously investigated. Recently there was a conviction of a SAPS member who received five life sentences. Cases of corruption were investigated as part of the Directorate’s strategic objectives to investigate systemic corruption to look at the issue holistically. There was collaboration with the Directorate for Priority Crimes (DPCI) to look at corruption cases involving SAPS. A specialised national investigative team was to be based at the national office to deal specifically with corruption-related issues.

Mr P Groenewald (FF+) found the stats shocking especially with an increase of cases of rape reported against police officers while on duty – this was unacceptable. Looking at the disciplinary recommendations to SAPS, of the 475 cases, 33 had been concluded while 442 were still unresolved – this effectively meant only 6.9% of cases referred were resolved. The problem was with the actual discipline – was SAPS protecting its own members? IPID was the institution where the public should feel safe to present cases of abuse of police officers yet in the end, only 6.9% of cases were resolved?

Mr McBride said IPID was looking at higher sentences for non-compliance from two to five years.

Mr Sesoko said section 30 of the IPID Act specifically provided for SAPS to initiate disciplinary action against members within 30 days of IPID recommendations. SAPS were to submit quarterly progress reports to the Minister, the Secretariat and IPID to update the files of what was done with the recommendations. SAPS met monthly with IPID at a national and provincial basis to discuss the implementation of recommendations. IPID accepted there were challenges in SAPS reporting on specific cases and recommendations. It was important to strengthen the regulations to ensure all parties knew what was expected.

Ms A Molebatsi (ANC) noted the first people on the scene of a crime was SAPS members – did IPID get complaints of tampering with evidence? When the presentation referred to “corruption” what kind of corruption was being referred to?

Mr Sesoko said IPID attended crime scenes after SAPS had reported matters so it was difficult t assess if there was tampering involved. IPID would work with what it had at the time but if there was tampering, SAPS members could be charged.

Ms M Mmola (ANC) found it very disturbing to hear of police officers raping people and she wanted to know what was done about these officers. She asked why the resolved cases referred to SAPS by IPID were so low (only 33 cases of 475).

Ms L Mabija (ANC) found the stats were indicative of something going very wrong in SAPS, and because of SAPS members protecting one another. IPID needed to be very strong in dealing with these issues because it had very negative implications for the communities. The stats showed SAPS was not doing enough with police officers being thugs and criminals themselves. The budget of SAPS was being increased while SAPS members were increasing their wrongdoings.

Mr J Maake (ANC) understood that IPID made recommendations to SAPS or the NPA – he wanted IPID to inform the Committee about what it could do to help otherwise to boiled down to IPID not fulfilling its mandate. It has always been said that people who kill the police should get harsh sentences but the same applied to the police themselves. The intensity of the sentence for rape should increase so that rape by a police officer on duty was harsher than rape off duty. Should the Act be amended to accommodate this? He questioned the incidents of death and if one incident could mean more than one death.

Mr McBride indicated making recommendations to SAPS or the NPA was as far as the IPID could take matters. It was then up to the prosecution and police management on how to process the various charges. The other step, which IPID was not involved with, was when the judicial or presiding officer made a finding. IPID could be involved through aggravation of evidence or following up. At times, SAPS members were given an inappropriate slap on the wrist and IPID too was unhappy with this. The Directorate would appreciate the help and support of the Committee in amending the legislation to get harsher sentences for non-compliance at any level.

Mr Z Mbhele (DA) was concerned the high level picture of the presentation was actually quite deceiving with an increase in the number of cases dealt with accompanying a decrease in the number of cases reported and it did not amount to a qualitatively different service provided to the public. He asked for how many of the case intake, did IPID actually initiate investigation. He found the word “convictions” extraordinary misleading because it did not imply conviction but rather investigations – he asked that the correct terms be used because a conviction spoke to a legal finding where a consequence would follow.

Mr McBride took the point that it was a conviction and not a finding but the sanction was out of the hands of IPID. There was nothing deceiving about the intake of cases because IPID presented it according to case intake mandate by mandate. Total intake included serious and non-serious crimes but IPID saw all misdemeanours by SAPS as serious. The insinuation of deception was not true. SAPS members needed more of an onus to act responsibly and where they did not, there should be harsher sentences.

Mr Sesoko added that variance influenced the higher numbers and percentages. With convictions, there were criminal and disciplinary convictions which both varied. The challenge of the disciplinary sanctions, in the view of IPID, is that they did not match the gravity of the offence. This was an issue that could be addressed through legislative amendments/regulations with the support of the Committee.

Ms Molebatsi noted the case where a woman was raped in 2013/14 and reported it to a Gauteng police station. Unfortunately, she was raped by the very policeman she reported the crime to. She wanted to know what happened in this case.

Mr Moses Dlamini, IPID Spokesperson, said IPID investigated the case and the docket was sent to the Director for Public Prosecutions (DPP) for decision but it declined to prosecute.

Mr Groenewald noted the discrepancy in numbers between the number of cases referred to the NPA and the number of recommendations made to SAPS. He was concerned about the case intake. Were the statistics referring only to SAPS members or did it include the metro police? He read of a number of metro police involved in assauLt

Mr McBride indicated the metro police was a big problem and it was related mainly to an absence of uniform standards in relation to the disciplinary dispensation of the metro police. It was very different to that of SAPS – within the metro police, the disciplinary process would be the same as for a plumber or gardener i.e. there was no need for the metro police to be held accountable at a higher level in terms of their conduct. The collective agreement of the metro police on disciplinary matters was different to SAPS. It would help to look at the legislation which dealt with this omission in terms of uniform standards. In terms of the Act, metro police were accountable to the councillor and municipal manager, while in other matters the Act made reference to the executive and chief of police. This made it difficult to ascertain who should be charge in cases of non-compliance. This was the situation IPID dealt with and it did not receive the number of reports required. Legislative review of this aspect was needed, namely, uniform standards, disciplinary issues and reporting lines.

Mr Groenewald asked that in future, separate stats for the metro police be provided because he was very worried but what he had heard.

The Chairperson asked if SAPS had tabled its September 2014 Report.

Mr Dlamini said the report was tabled on 5 November 2014.

Ms Molebatsi asked to what extent SAPS depended on other departments for executing duties and what difficulties were encountered in dealing with such.

Mr McBride said IPID did a lot of joint operational work with the DPCI in some investigations. The most important department for IPID was SAPS but on key investigations, the Directorate did not always receive the best cooperation. This was seen at more of a senior level.

Ms Mabija understood the cancer of corruption in SA and asked if IPID had a routine check of its investigators in order to curb this cancer of corruption.

Mr McBride stated the systemic problem of corruption left a huge dent in the morale of the police. Very often, this corruption involved high level, senior members of SAPS. Usually preliminary investigations were conducted in allegations of corruption and very often additional documentation was then required. When senior members of SAPS were involved, IPID could not shoot and miss, so to speak, or could not accuse or allege without evidence to back those claims up. It was appropriate to say SAPS did not always give the required cooperation and arguably some of the non-cooperation boarded on non-compliance of the IPID Act. In certain instances, IPID could not take the immediate approach of direct investigation because matters of national security were at stake. Presently, the Act said “reasonable time” to provide additional documentation but perhaps this needed to be tighter to define an exact timeframe – the directorate was looking at this.
 
Mr Sesoko added an integrity unit had already begun, even though there was limited capacity, to deal with the integrity of IPID’s own investigators. He could not argue on the side of SAPS but he knew DPCI had its own integrity unit.

Mr Maake asked if the national investigative team was just an initiative on the side of IPID or if it was established through some legislation or regulation. How was this team funded? This could influence the virement for IPID.

Mr McBride explained the team came out of the reorganisation of posts. Treasury had ring fenced money for the next two financial years for this team to do its work. Its work was chiefly to deal with systemic corruption. The work IPID did was very dangerous and it would appreciate some level of concern for its well-being. The national investigative task team would look at security concerns in addition to corruption for a minimal capacity to protect IPID investigators.

Mr D Twala (EFF) asked what needed to be done, from a legislative point of view, to strengthen IPID. How well known was IPID by the public as a resource through which to deal with police misconduct? Were there awareness campaigns or collaboration with community policing forums (CPFs)?

Mr Dlamini indicated public awareness was an ongoing process. With limited resources, IPID did what it could. There was a target of 34 engagements per province to be supplemented with radio campaigns to inform the public. Engagements were held with SAPS to inform members of their obligations through workshops in terms of the IPID Act. There was a multitude of activities to reach as many people as possible. It was not possible to reach everyone but IPID continued engagement to ensure more people were aware of IPID and its investigations.

Mr Mbhele clarified that he had no intention of suggesting the Executive Director and team were deceiving the Committee but there were differences to be aware of. He asked for examples of the sorts of criminal matters referred to in the presentation. He asked for enlightenment on the key findings and recommendations of IPID Report into the allegations of the National Police Commissioner tipping off the Western Cape Provincial Commissioner around his dubious relations and the NPA declining to prosecute. He wanted a sense that all bases were covered in this case. If this information could not be provided, he asked IPID to avail the Report to the Committee. There was a report late last month that the Minister asked IPID to “investigate crime in Grabouw” following an imbizo with some community leaders. He found this strange because it was not the job of IPID – was this the request from the Minister and if not, from where did this directive come as it distracted from IPID from its core mandate, which was not in great shape given staff shortages. Were the nodal points or provincial coordinates established comprehensively across all provinces and was the system working and proving effective to liaise between IPID and the provinces?

Mr McBride said the IPID recommendation, which the NPA agreed with, was that a prosecutable case could not be successfully made on the matter of the national and provincial commissioner with all the evidence taken into account. With internal matters, IPID had made recommendations which the Minister would consider and at this stage, it was the practice of the Directorate not to divulge the nature of the recommendations so as not to prejudice or disadvantage the deliberations on the matter.

On the Grabouw matter, he told Mr Mbhele not to panic. He thought the Member should speak to him first to establish matters before making a media statement. According to the Act, IPID could not investigate cases that did not involve the police. The instruction from the Minister was for IPID to look at complaints of misconduct and possible criminal activity at the imbizo by the police at Grabouw. It was on this basis that IPID was asked to pay special attention because it was a serious case. The matter was treated with the seriousness it deserved and an investigation team was dispatched within 48 hours of the instruction to deal with those complaints. These investigators had meetings and reports were being prepared. Rest assured, IPID was not doing the work it was not supposed to do.

Ms M Geerdts, IPID Acting Chief Director: Compliance Monitoring and Stakeholder Management, said the nodal points had been established for quite some time now. Unfortunately, it did not really go as far as IPID would have liked it to go in terms of assistance and cooperation. The members involved were not of a high ranking but were working on at ground level dealing with the day to day administration of the recommendations and ensuring IPID got feedback on those specific monthly meetings. The system was more administrative to ensure systems were in place and there was not a high level of accountability of these members in terms of decision-taking. The nodal system did assist and addressed some of the problems experienced at the beginning.

The Chairperson asked if there was any province not cooperating with IPID. He pleaded this be made known to the Committee for it to be addressed.

Ms Geerdts indicated IPID was having regular meetings at provincial and national level. Currently, 55 meetings took place for this year on a monthly basis.

IPID Second Quarter 2014/15 Progress Report
Ms Lindokuhle Ngcongo, IPID CFO, presented the Directorate’s overall second quarter expenditure noting the reasons for variance included non filling of the additional newly created vacant and funded posts due to delays in organizational structure concurrence by the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA). However the process of filling posts had commenced in anticipation of concurrence from DPSA. There were delays in the implementation of funded District offices and slow expenditure in Machinery and Equipment due to late procurement and late delivery of items by service providers.

A summary of the budget and expenditure per programme and economic classification for IPID in the second quarter was provided before turning to the financial information per programme, Administration, Investigation and Information Management, Legal Services and Compliance Monitoring; and Stakeholder Management. The budget expenditure for provinces and districts for the second quarter was also provided.

Ms Ngcongo explained the main reasons for overall under spending were due to: delays in filling the funded vacant positions as non approval of the organisational structure had resulted in delays in filling the newly created positions; delays in shifting of funds to accommodate the outstanding invoices; delays in implementation of funded District Offices due to the long procurement process by the Department of Public Works (DPW) had contributed significantly to the previous and current spending trends. Funded key activities such as the case management system (FlowCentric) and investigative equipment have not registered expenditure as expected. Further, the late submission and payment of Travel and Accommodation invoices resulted in slow spending as did the late implementation of procurement plans by Responsibility Managers.

Spending trends did improve with the budget reviewed during the 2014 Annual Estimates of National Expenditure (AENE) to reallocate funds to core and spending items, weekly monitoring of Expenditure Control Commitments (ECC), revisiting of the Programme procurement plans for implementation of all funded activities, regular monitoring and processing of all validated invoices, monthly expenditure presentation reports with remedial actions at Management Committee (MANCO) by Programme Managers, filling of funded vacancies, quarterly budget meetings to evaluate the spending trends and follow-ups on orders placed (commitments) in order to ensure delivery and payment in 30 days.

Ms Nomkhosi Netsianda, IPID Chief Director: Corporate Services, presented the second quarter performance of Programme 1: Administration for 2014/15, particularly focusing on where the Directorate did not meet its quarterly target.

Mr Sesoko presented the second quarter performance of Programme 2: Investigation And Information Management, particularly focusing on where the Directorate did not meet its quarterly target. This was seen in the number of cases registered and allocated within 72 hours of receipt where the quarterly target was 98% but IPID only achieved 76%, receiving a total of 1 428 cases where 1 079 was allocated in 72 hours. There were capacity constraints in this programme. This was similarly seen in the targets for investigation of deaths in police custody completed within 90 days, investigation of deaths as a result of police action completed within 90 days and investigation of discharge of an official firearm by a police officer completed within 90 days. In all of these cases there were capacity constraints due to the unavailability or tracing of witnesses. For the strategic objective of competed investigations, targets were not met in the number of cases of systematic corruption identified for possible investigations approved per year, in the approved systematic corruption investigations completed within 12 months, and in the annual reduction of backlog investigations (excluding cases of systematic corruption) due to capacity constraints and the unavailability or tracing of witnesses. For the strategic objective of recommendation reports, IPID did not meet targets for percentage of criminal recommendation reports referred to the NPA within 30 days of completion of relevant investigations due to capacity constraints and weakness in internal control.

On second quarter performance report for Programme 3: Legal Services, Mr Sesoko noted the Directorate did not meet its quarterly target for contracts and service level agreements finalised within 30 working days of the request, legal opinions provided to the Director within 21 days of request and policies reviewed for legal compliance within 21 working days of request due to a lack of capacity and security screening. For the investigation advisory services strategic objective, the programme did not meet its target on the number of practice notes and directives (bulletin) produced and issued per year due to a lack of capacity. This was the case for the target on applications for policing powers processed within five working days of the request.

For Programme 4: Compliance Monitoring And Stakeholder Management, Ms Geerdts noting the programme did not meet the target for the number of community outreach events conducted due to the evidence being insufficient to support 76 events. The target was not met for the number of community policing forum meetings attended per year because the national office establishing the National Community Policing Forum (CPF) was in the process of and restructuring and meetings were not continuing at this stage.

In conclusion, there was a need to improve processes and systems, improve employee wellness, quality of investigations improved, improve quality control measures, training and reskilling of investigators and a review of recruitment policy.

Discussion
The Chairperson, turning to the first presentation, questioned the provincial comparison of complaints of the discharge of an official firearm noting the numbers appeared somewhat disproportionate. He asked if this was because of better reporting to IPID in some provinces or underreporting in other provinces. How many SAPS members were actually prosecuted for not complying with the IPID Act? The current state and picture of the various provinces was important before amendment of the legislation was considered.

Mr Sesoko said one of the issues picked up in the reporting was that cases of attempted murder involving a firearm, would only be reported as attempted murder and did not include the discharge of a firearm. The figures could be attributed to improvement of reporting by SAPS members. To date, there were cases of prosecution under the Act. Ignorance of the law was not an excuse for non-compliance.

The Chairperson said no amendments could be looked at if the present Act was not implemented and steps taken against errant members. Stricter controls and approach was needed – prosecutions were needed to set an example. Without this, a message of ‘no consequences’ was sent out.

Ms Molebatsi asked how far IPID was with the appointment of provincial heads. She asked how long the position of chief director: compliance monitoring and stakeholder management would remain “acting”. She wanted details on the implementation for the asset management plan.

Mr McBride informed Members the national postal strike caused problems in the receiving of applications. The post of Chief Director: Compliance, Monitoring And Stakeholder Management had been advertised. This was a new post in the new structure and was one of the posts awaiting concurrence but it had been advertised in anticipation of concurrence. All provincial heads had been approved but there had been some delays, for example, with the posts being re-advertised because suitable candidates were not found in the first round of the first quarter. The last provincial head would start on 4 December after a delay caused by the initial appointee withdrawing at the last minute. The provincial heads which had already begun work were inducted, performed their functions and attended meetings.

Ms Mmola asked if performance agreements were signed with provincial heads. What were the reasons for late implementation of the procurement plans? What were the delays in filling the funded vacant posts? She queried what “lack of capacity” meant when it was stated no practice notes and directives were produced and issued for the year.

Mr McBride said performance agreements were in place but since the Directorate was undergoing a strategic session, it was thought foolhardy that deliberations from this session not be considered for the performance agreements along with the review of targets to make them smart. Lack of capacity was due to an employee from legal services passing away because of high blood pressure. The post was advertised during March but appropriately qualified and competent individuals could not be found for the post so it was re-advertised. Because of the nature of the work of IPID, integrity was a key component in the selection process. For senior posts, outside panelists were part of the candidate selection team and their availability informed how quickly the process of selection moved. This explained the causes of some delays.

Ms Netsianda added performance agreements were signed within three months of provincial heads filling their positions.

Mr Maake questioned who was responsible for approval when it was stated “non approval of organizational structure had resulted in delays in filling the newly created positions”. He asked who was responsible for the delays in shifting funds to accommodate the outstanding invoices – was this an internal or external delay? He questioned the delay in the implementation of the funded district officers noting it was always brought up and asked what IPID was doing about it. Was the late implementation of procurement plans by the responsibility managers an internal matter? If it was an internal matter this needed to be stated. Treasury had taken a decision to freeze funds not utilised – how did this affect IPID’s budget?

Mr McBride said it was more non-concurrence than non-approval from DPSA. IPID had gone out and filled the approved and funded vacant posts anyway. Responsibility managers were not fulfilling their duty – the CFO was holding engagements with them and the next stage was one-on-ones and if that did not work there would be corrective action for guidance and pulling employees up.

Mr Twala was keen on discussing the devolution of powers from national to provincial and district level – had this programme begun and were the provinces/districts carrying out their mandates? He asked if IPID investigators were at the same level of remuneration as SAPS detectives as the Public Service Act prescribed. Reference was made to the National Intelligence Act which was redundant because there was a new 2013 Act. He suggested IPID look at the new Act and how it impacted the IPID-intelligence relationship.

Mr McBride said there was a dispute currently with SAPS and contradictions in the Act. IPID’s expectation was that the Directorate moved to its own conditions of service as with other Chapter Nines

Mr Mbhele highlighted standing commitments made by IPID at its last engagement with the Committee, for example, 10% of vacancies achieved by the end of the year– he was keen to see the progress on this as it was the basis for the effectiveness of IPID. He questioned the rationale behind the shifting of funds and wondered if that would not hinder capacity in programmes moving forward.

Mr McBride explained the movement of funds was in support of the Directorate’s core function. With targets, many of them were not SMART at this stage and the whole process was under review.

Ms Ngcongo said there was a virement from programme two to programme one because of the savings experienced from hthe igh number of vacancies in the core programme. This was done to mitigate leaving the funds there when under-expenditure was anticipated due to vacant posts. The funds were reprioritized to fast track, particularly, the implementation for the three-year ICT roll-out plan.

Ms Mabija wanted to know why there was non-implementation of procurement plans for machinery and equipment.

Ms Ngcongo mentioned, as stated in the last engagement with the Committee, there was very late initiation of procurement plans. It was ensured those who were struggling with the initiation processes would be fast tracked. Expenditure was not recognized in the second quarter because procurement processes were only initiated then. Due to the cash-based system of accounting used by the Directorate, the expenditure would only be reflected when the invoices were paid. The expenditure was expected to be seen in this current third quarter.

Ms Molebatsi was concerned that many things were starting 1 December – she found this worrying.

The Chairperson said there was one presentation outstanding on the IPID Act but the Secretary of the Committee would liaise to find an appropriate time for the presentation. The BRRR had been tabled in Parliament and accordingly there were certain deadlines for submission by the end of November. It was vital going forward that energy was put into errant police members being prosecuted to ensure the police could be trusted confidently.

Robberies Targeting SA Retail Industry and Shopping Centres
The Chairperson noted cellphone, electronic and jewelry stores were being targeted in shopping malls in the Western Cape and Gauteng over the last few months. Security guards were killed in the process and the public was injured so this was of great concern to the Committee. It was important all role players be on board to find solutions.

Mr Graham Wright, Head of Consumer Goods Crime Risk Initiative (CGCRI), said the retail industry represented close to 15% of SA’s GDP and employed close to R3 million people making an enormous contribution to tax. It was an extremely important industry economically so crime related threats to the industry was a national threat as well. The consumer goods industry represented the whole supply chain and this whole chain was at threat if crime was a problem. The Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA) represented the consumer goods fraternity.

Crime was seen throughout the value chain but recently there had been a spike in shopping mall robberies. Another problem was that SA Social Service Agency (SASSA) payments were being made available from stores at the end of the month. Over the last three years, there was a peak in robberies last year which corresponded with SAPS stats. There were 18 000+ robberies across the country last year and this was a huge number affecting both small and big business. There were a significant number of robberies from March-October 2014 across the country not focused on one particular province.

Some of the key challenges were that these robberies were systematic and planned by organised criminal groupings. This was important to understand because it affected how these robberies were responded to. The robberies have moved from cash, over time, to the consignment of goods with cellphone and jewelry shops being targeted. It had an impact on intelligence, detective work and the criminal justice system as a whole. The retail industry provided as much information to the police as possible. The response to these crimes needed to be systematically improved from the crime scene through to the courts. Crime prevention was done by retail industry as far as possible whether it be negating internal collusion, preventive measures and security measures to prevent crime as far as possible. The market for stolen goods was important and understanding how to reduce this market was crucial.

Dr Wright said the business community continued to improve its partnership with the police through a structured partnership to work together and improve response to these crimes. In light of this crime being organized, police were encouraged to re-look at specialization and dedicated units/task team, improving intelligence and the court/prosecution element. The retail industry was committed to helping the police improve the entire process.

National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS) Rationale
Lt Gen Khela John Sithole, SAPS Deputy National Commissioner: Policing, said the partnership between the police and business was informed by the National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS). It was essential that a multidisciplinary project conception approach was followed with all stakeholders including business.

The basic policing model was based on strategic policing and innovative policing. Strategic policing spoke to mobilisation, an integrated approach and sustainability planning and resources. This was where the partnership with the consumer goods council was pertinent. The other arm of the model was innovative policing which spoke to policing through ideas, powerhouses and best sharing practices within business and even across countries. The modus operandi seen was career criminals which woke up every day to sit in powerhouses to keep analysing police interventions and how to infiltrate the police and communities. SAPS needed to mobilise all stakeholders to develop counter-modus operandi. SAPS had tracking teams categorising the wanted criminals. Not too many criminals were responsible for robberies but instead there was group of highly experienced repeat offenders. An operational pilot was currently being run in the Western Cape and Gauteng, who were the worst affected stakeholders. 20 documents were registered with 90 suspects in custody and two days ago, another five were arrested. This particular project would be expanded to extend on the hotspots.

SAPS recognised the NCPS and the NDP along with internal legislation. Combined, a four pillar approach was followed looking at the criminal justice process, environmental design, community values and education and trans-national crime. This was linked to the various outcomes of the NDP.

Strategic Framework to Combat Crime in Consumer Goods and Retail Business Sector
Maj Gen Susan Pienaar, SAPS Visible Policing, stated that SAPS current strategic framework provided for a focus on serious and violence crime including aggravated robbery. This strategy provided a framework from which action plans must be developed for implementation at the various levels in SAPS in consultation with the relevant stakeholders such as the CGCSA. Industry specific organisations had been established to address risks associated with crime in these industries, including, the CGCSA Crime Risk Initiative and its associated partners such as the SA Council of Shopping Centres and the Jewellery Association of SA, the SA Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC), Business Against Crime (BAC), Private Security Industry, stakeholders in rail industry such as Spoornet, Metrorail and the Passenger Rail Association of SA, stakeholders in the second hand goods and recycling industries, the SA Petroleum Industry (PSI), the SA Insurance Association (SAIA) and the SA Crime Insurance Bureau (SAICB). SAPS was currently working with these organisations in individualised partnerships to address specific national crimes – such as banking-related crimes, mining-related crimes, and non-ferrous metal theft. This was in addition to local efforts to address more localised crime concerns. Notwithstanding these efforts, a need for an inclusive framework to structure engagement with the formal business sector in general, as well as with industry specific organisations had been identified.

Turning to the situational analysis, the incidence of business robbery had increased over the past two years, for example, robbery at shopping malls, robbery at specific businesses in and outside shopping complexes including cellphone and technology stores, jewellery stores, retailers, bank and cash-in-transit robberies, robberies at filling stations (petrol stations) and hijacking of trucks/vehicles transporting freight. This was a priority for SAPS due to the threat to safety of shoppers/consumers that frequently visit malls and businesses, negative economic impact on the retail industry, negative impact on perceptions of consumer safety, potential for negative impact on tourism and undermining investor confidence.

Maj Gen Pienaar explained with the community policing partnerships and consumer goods and retail sector crime combating framework, there were three pillars: prevention, information and intelligence, and investigation and prosecution. With the prevention pillar, the aim was to ensure informed deployment of police resources and crime combating operations based on crime combating operations based on crime threat analysis and to implement targeted prevention programmes with business and consumers/communities. Pillar two was concerned with the enhancing of intelligence capabilities between the industry, community and SAPS and to develop a joint research agenda with industry stakeholders for understanding resultant trends and new markets for crime. Finally pillar three, aimed to identify and trace most wanted suspects relating to crime in the sector, ensure integrated crime scene management and increase trail-ready cases resulting in increased convictions.

The approach of the partnership needed a more structured nature for the partnership to deliver the expected outcomes for all parties involved. SAPS must continue to work with the industry specific organisations to share information, plan responses and ensure that resources were deployed in an effective and complementary manner. Industry organisations had proven very effective in respect of generating information and intelligence that complemented SAPS information, using expert knowledge of the industry to identify risks and appropriate responses, ensuring the support of business for internal prevention measures, use of technology to assist in deterring and apprehending criminals, private investigations and generating resources to develop industry specific information systems, technologies and responses. There would be annual engagement between the National Commissioner and “captains of industry”, establishment of a multi-stakeholder forum for crimes that affected business, involvement of sectors that were directly and indirectly affected by business crime at the level of industry associations. There would be establishment of national technical committee(s) to work together to address the pillars of the strategy, implementation of committees to ensure ongoing operational cooperation as part of the national and provincial joint operational and intelligence structures (ad hoc committees on other levels) and SAPS and industry associations would each function within their respective funding mandates.

Maj Gen Pienaar outlined the strategic framework was linked to other strategies and plans including the community outreach strategy (final draft), national crime detection framework (final draft), organised crime threat analysis (OOCTA) strategy (final draft) and the enterprise risk management strategy (final draft).

In terms of communication, the emphasis was on sustaining communication between SAPS and communities with stakeholders through targeted campaigns in respect of specific threats, for example, bank and internet fraud campaigns with SABRIC, making the public aware of measures taken to prevent robberies and measures that may inconvenience them in the interest of safety, communicating successes and increasing awareness of risks and response mechanisms (who to call, what to do in an emergency). There was an emphasis on improving communication between SAPS and external partners (in and outside government), multi stakeholder forums at national level, and the establishment of forums at provincial level, operational communication and coordination between the private sector and law enforcement stakeholders to adopt communication protocols for specific purposes, targeted community outreach and education programmes, the introduction of a medium to long term community and moral education programme with partners (for example, using school safety programmes and youth crime prevention) and to use existing structures to engage communities to ensure coordinated action.

The way forward was to establish a technical team to develop the terms of reference, agreements and action plans, fortnightly meetings to provide feedback and assess progress starting on 19 November 2014 and cooperation in the implementation of the high-intensity festive season operation ‘Operation Duty Calls’ through national joint operational centre structures.

Discussion
The Chairperson noted the presentation said a “well structured approach was needed” which implied there was not such an approach in place before. He highlighted the importance of intelligence and visible policing and what was the plan moving into the festive season. He was concerned about the knee-jerk approach.

Lt Gen Sithole said the more structured approach was expanded and coordinated involving the community policing framework with stakeholders to cover all levels so there were no gaps. The strategy demonstrated how the operational plan would be executed and the operational plans were driven by intelligence and analysis. When strategies were reviewed it did not start from scratch but were adapted to when the modus operandi of criminals changed. The criminals were being taken on head on during the festive season in terms of the festive season plan.

Mr Groenewald said it was not the first time shopping malls were being robbed. There was a lot of theory, frameworks, objectives and strategies and there was now only a final draft of the threat analysis – he found this totally unacceptable. The briefing said the police was doing nothing and it could not be tolerated. What was the practical approach? Did SAPS, for example, still have the top 100 most wanted people and if so, what was the process of getting those people? He wanted to be assured that crime intelligence was effective at this moment. SAPS had made a statement that Nigerians were behind the robberies but was there good proof of that?

Maj Gen Pienaar said there was a long-term association between SAPS and most of the organizations so this was nothing new. Some successes were seen, for example, with the cash in transit robberies. SAPS approach needed to change as the criminals did. Things did need to be lifted a notch which explained the need for a more structured approach of cooperation. Planning had already begun for the festive season but there was a need to pull all the stakeholders together through a strategic framework to then be used by provinces to ensure everyone acted in the same fashion. This was not a crisis management approach.

Lt Gen Sithole said there was no longer a 100 most wanted list but instead there was a 30 most wanted suspect list in each province along with a national top 30. Some provinces had exhausted its top-30 most wanted lists. Some of these criminals were multi-dimensional where if they were stopped carrying out robberies they moved to, for example, rhino poaching. These were the type of criminals classified as most wanted. SAPS had tracking teams working 24-hours a day solely looking for such criminals. This team was working as he was speaking.

Mr Groenewald asked how many of the 100 most wanted were already arrested.

Lt Gen Sithole could provide a report on the top 30 to the Committee as there was no longer a top 100. It was changed because 100 were too many people which might not be the very high profile criminals.

Ms Molebatsi asked the retailers to what extent was there an element of an inside job playing a part in what was happening. To what extent did the illegal and not effectively monitored second-hand goods stores contribute to this problem? The SAPS partnership approach did not mention informants and she thought this was key. She was concerned SAPS’s strategic plan at a local level would not take-off because the local police would inform the criminals of a raid would take place. Such a raid would only work if it was organised at a provincial or national level. To what extent were illegal firearms used in these crimes?

Maj Gen Pienaar said SAPS was working with the second hand goods industry very closely for a structured approach to compliance. Second hand goods forums were established at stations. It might be necessary for the legislation to look at stronger sanctions but this was a developing area at work because the Act had only begun to be implemented. Informants were included in the intelligence capacity but it needed to be focused at a national and provincial level. To a large extent illegal firearms were used because it was unlikely someone would use a licensed firearm so this formed part of the on-going drive of recovering illegal firearms.

Dr Wright said internal collusion could not be discounted as part of the problem but it was something the retail sector was very sensitive. There were mechanisms to remove such factors from the workplace through, for example, polygraph testing. Beyond this, there was a lot to be done. The biggest way to deter criminals in this regard was to increase the risk to the criminals by arrest and conviction.

Lt Gen Sithole said some of the criminals did use legal firearms but the Firearm Control Act applied immediately. Most of the firearms used were stolen, like a car would be, to carry out their modus operandi.

Ms Mmola asked about the involvement of SAPS members in some instances.

Maj Gen Pienaar said this was being addressed in the anti-corruption framework and strategy but it was a concern. It formed part of intelligence and the vetting process.

Lt Gen Sithole added once a SAPS member was involved in crime, he was no longer a member but a criminal and the member was arrested. Some of these members had been arrested and SAPS was on top of those members still wanting to commit crime. A report on this could be provided if necessary.

Mr Maake commented that criminals did not only need to respect the police but be afraid of the police. There were cases of police ‘being arrested’ by criminals and burglaries at police stations – if this was not dealt with, SAPS was working in circles.

Lt Gen Sithole said SAPS continued to stamp its authority. A session was held with human rights organisations after accusations of the way SAPS dealt with criminals. It was important to protect SAPS members and support was needed from the community and everyone to support the work of the police moving forward.

Mr Twala said the matter at hand was an extremely complex one with many variables contributing. It would be simplistic to solely place it on police ineptitude. A lot needed to be done by government from a policy point of view. These criminals obviously had some level of comfort in just walking into a shopping centre in broad daylight with guns blazing and this pointed to criminals not being on the database. It spoke to the porousness of borders – all these factors indicated a multifaceted challenge. The way in which operations which carried out proved SAPS was dealing with a well trained group of people who knew exactly what they were doing. He encouraged everyone to look at where SA was constitutionally – was it an environment created where the rights of criminals thrived. He thought it useful to interface with other departments in the security cluster to jointly find a mechanism through which to close the loopholes. The police were always the fall guys but societal input was needed too.

Lt Gen Sithole appreciated the highlighting of societal factors because these criminals were members of families and someone’s child. What was of concern was when these people started becoming criminals. Looking at the number of homeless people, stopping such children from becoming criminals could happen through support and interventions.

Mr Mbhele said he was going to take a less kind approach because he found the SAPS presentation very vague and waffley. Tangible, concrete interventions were noted from the side of the private sector while SAPS was nowhere near adequate enough where the crux of the matter was it needed to have intelligence-led specialised units. Did SAPS see the recent spate of mall robberies coming and, if not, was this because of a failing of intelligence capacity? If it was seen coming, how did SAPS pre-empt it?

Maj Gen Pienaar said the recent spate was pre-empted and this was what informed planning for the festive season. Things did not always happen as it was planned for, so quick adjustment was important which was seen in Gauteng and the Western Cape. This needed to be built on for the festive season to go smoothly.

Lt Gen Sithole said SAPS patrols at the malls were intensified. The Committee could support SAPS through station profiles – such profiles and its relation to the location of malls were important for capacity building through such strategic alignment. When malls were being planned for development it was important for SAPS to know for the nearest station to be ready for policing when the mall was opened because the police was not allowed to come from nowhere. If this happened, police resources were drawn from somewhere else and crimes flared up from where those resources were taken - a fire-extinguisher approach then ensued. He appreciated the questions and directions from the Committee as well as the inputs provided by the Consumer Goods Council.

The Chairperson asked what was being done by partners to ensure the security of shoppers around the country. The training of security guards was factored in here.

Mr Maake thought criminals should be afraid of the police. He spoke from experience having witnessed the shooting of a metro police officer, put in the boot of his car and locked in the toilet of his own home – he spoke on the issue from experience. The problem might be the Constitution or corruption in the police force itself, people thinking prison was better than being outside, drugs but with all these factors combined, how would “upping the risk” be achieved? The Constitution gave the “bloody things” rights and taking from experience, criminals did not deserve to be called human beings.

Lt Gen Sithole said SAPS would be coming up with a proposal to ensure criminals took the authority of the Service seriously. This would impact on certain laws in SA. With the service charter, the level of crime and fear of communities was looked at – certain crimes were of such a nature that even if it was dropped to near zero, the fear of communities remained high.

Mr Groenewald, looking at the example of the Canal Walk shopping centre, where at one stage the mall security wanted to lock all the doors while management said it could not be done – was there a proper plan with police and security companies in such a case?

Dr Wright said closing the doors would not be an ideal situation and this was precisely why the Council wanted to sit down with SAPS for careful plotting of the strategy and action required in such cases to not put consumers and staff at risk.

The Chairperson asked if there was coordination with the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA) in this area.

Chairpersons Closing Comments
The Chairperson highlighted that the Committee wanted assurances that SAPS was doing all it could with the matters on the table especially moving into the festive season. Another session would be arranged in February/March to monitor what was done over this season. The close cooperation between SAPS and the industry was welcomed. He called on all communities to play its specific role and report any criminal behaviour to the relevant authorities to ensure a South Africa free of crime and that was safe. He valued the contribution made by the business sector, it would be monitored and evaluated going forward.
 

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