SAPS, IPID, CSP audits: Auditor-General input; SAPU, POPCRU, ISS, APCOF, SJC comments on SAPS Annual Report

Meeting report

Opening Comments
The Chairperson remarked that the Committee would have a long week filled with meetings. Today, the Committee would first receive a briefing by the Auditor-General (AG) of SA on the audit outcomes of the Department and its entities before hearing from the unions and civil society to get a sense of what civil society, the research community and citizens were saying about the Annual Reports of the institutions and how it was contributing to the mandate that all South Africans were and felt safe. It was important for the Committee to get this sense and contribution from outside voices before engaging with the Department and entities.

After these engagements the Committee would receive the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) Annual Report. This engagement would continue into tomorrow. Parties were also welcomed to give some very brief inputs on the current issues faced by the universities and the role of SAPS prior to the Annual Report engagement.

On Thursday, the Committee would receive the Annual Reports of the Civilian Secretariat for Police (CSP) and the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) while the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA) would present its Annual Report on Friday.

The Committee would then adopt the Budgetary Review and Recommendations Report (BRRR) next week Friday. Members would be able to contribute and provide input for the critical Report. 

In terms of accountability and compliance, the Chairperson felt it pertinent to highlight that the Committee would not compromise on accountability and compliance with the national controls in financial legislation which scrutinises the Annual Reports of the Department of Police, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), the CSP, IPID and PSIRA. The Committee would focus on the performance of the institutions with special emphasis on financial compliance and findings of the AG. The AG is a Chapter Nine institution and departments should ensure the necessary management interventions were made to avoid negative findings. The Committee would specifically focus on repeat findings and systemic steps taken by Accounting Officers to address matters raised by the AG. It was critical that departments achieve their set targets and comply with legislative requirements. The Committee would evaluate compliance to legislative and management prescripts – in cases of non-compliance, the Committee would recommend appropriate steps. The targets set out in the Annual Performance Plans should talk to service delivery.

The Chairperson pointed out that the Committee was provided with excellent documents compiled by its researcher evaluating the extent of compliance by the departments with the Committee\s previous BRRR and an analysis of the Annual Reports of the departments. This would inform the Committee’s engagement with SAPS and entities.

AGSA Briefing to the Portfolio Committee: Police Audit Outcomes of the Portfolio for the 2015-16 financial year

Mr Tshepho Shabangu, Senior Audit Manager, AGSA, began by highlighting the reputation promise of the AGSA and its role in the BRRR process before outlining the three areas the annual audit examined namely:

1. Fair presentation and reliability of financial statements
2. Reliable and credible performance information for predetermined objectives
3. Compliance with key legislation on financial and performance management

In terms of the police portfolio, the audit outcome for 2015/16 stood as:

• Department of Police: financially unqualified opinion with findings
• IPID: financially unqualified opinion with findings
• PSIRA: financially unqualified opinion with findings
• CSP: qualified opinion

Looking at the audit outcomes over three years in the police portfolio, there was an overall stagnation in the portfolio in terms of the overall audit outcomes i.e. there was no overall improvement or regression in the audit outcome of the portfolio so overall the audit assessment of the portfolio was largely the same as in the previous financial year. Key issues hindering the portfolio from progressing to a clean audit included:

• Instability in leadership due to vacancies e.g. the suspended National Commissioner of Police, IPID Executive Director and Secretary for Police (CSP)
• Inadequate implementation of actions plans in terms of issues raised in the audit
• Inability to submit reliable financial statements and Annual Performance Plan by 31 May as prescribed in the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA)
• Weakness in controls that ensure compliance with legislation

Mr Shabangu then looked at the qualified audit opinion of the CSP in more detail outlining that it was largely in the areas of receivables (internal receivable between IPID and the CSP with the CSP saying IPID owed it money but IPID did not recognise this debt) and accruals (due to internal control challenges in the financial department of the CSP and the vacant CFO post). In the current financial year the Secretariat had however managed to resolve two challenges from last year’s audit namely employee benefits and commitments.

Moving to performance management linked to programmes/objectives based on the APP, with the usefulness of annual performance information, the AG found that the CSP struggled with developing useful targets and indicators while PSIRA improved in this area along with the police and IPID – the strategic management unit in the CSP would need to be beefed to develop measurable targets and indicators. An example was in the legislative programme of the Secretariat where one of the indicators included “number of specialised projects reported on” but the technical indicator description did not refine specialised projects compared to normal projects which meant that anything could be reported on and this made performance difficult to assess. In terms of reliable performance information, the police, PSIRA and the CSP struggled in this area due to inaccurate capturing such as with stolen and lost firearms reported as stolen with issues of circulation on the capturing system in relation to the police.

The Chairperson asked if these findings were at station and cluster level.

Mr Shabangu confirmed this and noted that the finding on firearms was not there last year.

The Chairperson said that this indicated a problem with station and cluster command and control.

Mr Shabangu recapped that with the CSP, findings on the usefulness of information included:

• Programmes two, three and four: the indicators were not well-defined to ensure it had clear, unambiguous definitions so that data will be collected consistently
• Programmes two, three and four: performance targets were not specific and measurable

On reliability, the most common findings on reliability of information included the following:

• Reported information was not complete
• Reported information was not valid
• Reported information was not accurate

Mr Shabangu then moved onto compliance with legislation noting that throughout the police portfolio there was a challenge with compliance with legislation and this led to material findings and non-compliance. Findings on compliance with legislation included:

• Material misstatements in submitted annual financial statements
• Prevention of authorised, irregular and/or fruitless and wasteful expenditure
• Management of procurement and/or contracts (e.g. police officers doing business with SAPS)
• Consequence management (no discipline or action taken against officials involved in irregular expenditure)
• CSP: uncompetitive or unfair procurement processes 

Looking at irregular expenditure, current irregular expenditure in the portfolio stood at R17 million (with the CSP responsible for R15 million). This was compared to the previous financial year where irregular expenditure stood at R9 million (with the CSP responsible for R8 million). Most of the irregular expenditure was due to non-compliance with supply chain management processes).

In terms of key controls, there was a regression in key controls such as leadership in the portfolio purely based on the audit outcome. This was due to vacancies and lack of implementation of audit action plans, policies, procedures and oversight. Another key control in regression was the financial and performance management with intervention in the CSP with financial reporting challenges. Looking at assurance providers, some assurance was provided by senior management while complete assurance was provided by the executive authorities, audit committees and the Portfolio Committee. Challenges were experienced by the CSP and IPID on assurance provided by its internal audit units and accounting officers/authorities respectively. In terms of commitments by the Minister, the Minister of Police committed to the appointment of key officials at PSIRA and this commitment was implemented.

Mr Shabangu outlined the top three root causes in the portfolio (which if addressed could result in an improvement moving forward included):

1. Instability and/or vacancies in senior positions 
2. Slow response in addressing audit findings, improving key controls and addressing risk areas
3. Insufficient internal controls over financial and performance reporting to ensure that valid, accurate and complete information was included in both the financial statements and annual performance report

Actions required to improved audit outcomes included:

• Finalisation of suspension cases of the DGs in SAPS and IPID and the appointment of the Secretary of Police at the CSP (in this case the Minister indicated the process was underway and the post was advertised)
• Management should act on recommendations made by the AGSA
• Accounting officers/authority must successfully implement basic internal controls
• Senior management, leadership and oversight structures should continue to pay close attention to the occurrence of supply chain management transgressions 

Discussion
The Chairperson thanked the Office of the AGSA for a comprehensive presentation. He questioned the slow action within the departments to deal with the findings of the AG where those responsible for that action not being located at the appropriate level – was this response action left to mid-level or low-level officials? Looking at the presentations of the Department and entities which the Committee would hear this week, their action plans did not speak to timelines to implement the findings or a portfolio holder in the institutions to deal with the AG findings proactively. He was concerned about this and wanted to know the sense of the AG in this regard – was the responsibility to deal with these findings at the appropriate level? The Committee raised concern that the CSP CFO position had been vacant for the past two years and the Committee said that if this position was not filled it would become a problem and the report of the AG supported this contention and that for the first time in many years the financial performance of the police portfolio was not up to scratch.  He asked what the sense of the AGSA was in terms of succession plans – one knew about processes around suspended officials but the question of succession plans was vital especially as vacancies would have an impact on the next financial year.

Mr Shabangu said that the AG did at times experience the challenge of action plans and timelines even though these plans were discussed in audit committee meetings and went through processes with Accounting Officers and senior financial managers. The AG did engage these action plans but the problem was with implementation. With succession plans, this was not something he had a response to.

The Chairperson asked whether the driving of that action plan was at the right level. He was concerned that if the Accounting Officer did not take ownership, the plan would not be implemented. Was the AG satisfied with the level at which the action plan was being addressed?

Mr Shabagu outlined the action plans were discussed at audit committee level where the Accounting Officers were present but the reality was that implementation was the challenge – this gave rise to repeat findings.

Mr Z Mbhele (DA) questioned the list of the issues found around the unreliability of performance information especially in SAPS – in terms of the extent of the causal analysis, he wondered what the actual problem might be in relation to what could be called an onerous administration burden in terms of information management and record keeping because he did sometimes get the sense that this was an objective reality in terms of some environments having to balance administrative and operational obligations or was this more an issue of inadequate skills levels to have the understanding and the capacity to comply on a consistent basis? In terms of broad consequence management, he found a bit of a disjuncture between the findings relating to irregular expenditure and slight improvements in compliance with legislation and the quality of financial statements – his high level analysis was that there was weak accountability both within SAPS command and control and enforcing accountability across agencies where it was needed. Was the real problem not that at a high level there was a lack of accountability minded leadership and management who enforced strong accountability consistently every time to get the message across that there were consequences for underperformance or misconduct while also rewarding people who did excel and did better?

Mr Shabangu responded that from the observations of the AG, the problem was mixture of dynamics raised by the Member depending on which area was being discussed – it could be insufficient capturing skills and/or lack of review by supervisors. In terms of consequence management, the comments of the Member were valid because the AG’s report spoke to consequence management in terms of fruitless and wasteful expenditure as well as unauthorised expenditure. Consequence management was also considered and noted for poor performance but it was not a focus area of the AG’s audit.

Ms A Molebatsi (ANC) noted that during the presentation it was said that if the audit was conducted in a specific month, SAPS would have received a qualified audit – why did it not? In terms of the stolen firearms, did it mean the firearms were not circulated on time or they were not circulated at all?

Mr Shabangu explained that the departments and entities submitted their financial statements on 21 May to the AG for audit and then the departments and entities were provided with an opportunity to correct and there was then regular engagement between the departments/entities, audit committee and the AG until there was a re-audit before the issuing of the final audit report – the fixing of some issues could then change the audit outcome of the department/entity to a more positive one.

Ms Molebatsi asked if this meant the AG did not re-audit.

Mr Shabangu answered that the AG audited, picked up issues and then re-audited so an opportunity was created for the department/entity to address some preliminary findings. The CSP was given this opportunity but it could not fix some of the findings so the qualification outcome was maintained. In terms of the firearms, this was a matter of timing – the issue was picked up in 2002 by SAPS supply chain management but it was only circuited in 2015/16. Another was picked up in 2014 but only circulated this year so the timing was the challenge.

Mr P Groenewald (FF+) noted that the presentation made reference to “supply chain management transgressions” but he wanted more detail on what such transgression entailed so that he had specific questions to pose to SAPS and the entities. He was concerned by the findings around reliable information which in fact informed the audit process – what steps were taken from the side of the AG as far as these aspects were concerned? He specifically wanted to know what information was not reliable or accurate.

Mr Shabangu said details were contained in the Annual Report. The AG reported what was in the public domain and other specific information could be obtained from the Department as contained in the management report. 

Ms M Mmola (ANC) sought clarity on the finding that police officials were doing business with SAPS and that IPID were not investigating cases – which cases were these?

Mr Shabangu provided an example of a police officer owning a company which would provide goods or services to SAPS but it was not disclosed from the side of both HR and supply chain. The IPID specific cases were not included in the audit report but it might be something the Committee could request from IPID’s management report.

The Chairperson said that these specific cases could be asked by Members in engaging with the Department and entities.

Ms L Mabija (ANC) asked what the main causes were for the AG finding that information was not complete, valid and accurate.

Mr Shabangu said that as far as the finding concerned the CSP, the strategic management unit of the entity needed some beefing up because it was not fully capacitated – this was of the core challenges. With some technical indicator descriptions it was also not easy to follow what was expected to be inspected when assessing the output vs. target.

The Chairperson indicated that in terms of strengthening its oversight and accountability in terms of the four portfolios, the Committee would call the four audit committees to account. It would be the first time in the history of this Committee that all four audit committees would be summoned to Parliament. The Committee found that many of the action plans and issues needed the attention of the audit committees so this engagement would be scheduled in November.

ISS Reflections on the SAPS Annual Report 2015/16
Mr Gareth Newham, Head: Governance Crime and Justice Division, ISS, outlined that the SAPS Annual Report was a very useful source of data and information and there were many welcome additions in the Report including compliance with IPID recommendation and the number of police stations inspections undertaken. 

With murder and robberies as key priorities, the presentation noted concern with the noticeable increases in these two serious crime categories since 2011/12 – robberies, gangs and intergroup/interpersonal attacks contributed to murder and this was something the police needed to get on top of.

The Victims of Crime (VOC) survey reporting trends 2011 – 2014/15 in relation to sexual offences raised concern that the perceived decrease in rape statistics for example was in fact not a decrease in the amount of these crimes committed but was more likely a decrease in reporting these crimes- the decrease in reporting of sexual offences was steadily seen from 2011.

Mr Newham then outlined that crime intelligence was critical to getting on top of crime and to be more strategic and smart in the approaches of the police in directing resources and operations. Of concern however was the decrease in network operations which was critical in identifying networks and organised crime syndicates of which robberies was a large part. There was also a decrease in station and cluster crime threat analysis reports which translated to stations and clusters getting less information on what/who to target making their ability to use resources more effectively less likely.

Mr Newham highlighted that with Detective Services, given the range of challenges identified in the Detective Dialogue undertaken by the previous Committee in 2012; it would be useful for the implementation plan for the detective turnaround strategy to be presented as soon as possible. There was a concerning picture created by the decrease in detection rates. In terms of legislation specifically the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Act and Prevention of Organised Crime Act, these specific legislative instruments barely seemed to be used and there was a need to understand why this was the case because the legislation was specifically passed by Parliament to make it easier for the police and other role players to get on top of crimes and prosecute those involved. In terms of the performance of the legislation relating to cases, arrests and convictions, there was a decrease across all three areas – the legislation either needed to be amended or training was needed to understand why the legislation was not being as useful as it could be.

Turning to Visible Policing (VISPOL), and roadblocks and cordons over five years specifically, there was an overall reduction in both operations – there was a concern that sector policing was being implemented at 53 fewer police stations than in the previous year (2015/15). This was because sector policing was the SAPS’s workhorse for operational policing and a building block or pillar of the Rural Safety Strategy.

With the complex area of Public Order Policing (POP), the establishment of the Panel of Experts established as per the recommendations of the Farlam Commission was welcomed. It was important to note that “unrest” cases were not always violent. With trends of SAPS arrests and cases finalised by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the worrying trend was the decrease in NPA case finalisations. The reduction in SAPS arrests were welcomed because a number of the arrests were illegal and this increased civil cases against the Service and too many arrests were not a good sign of police-community relations.

Mr Newham then discussed police conduct and disciplinary system noting that the SAPS disciplinary system was crucial for promoting and maintaining professional conduct. A review of the system was necessary to rectify shortcoming and improve effectiveness. In terms of the disciplinary hearing outcomes there was a need to understand why 47% of outcomes resulted in no sanction. With the public satisfaction with police conduct, the percentage of households satisfied with police had decreased over time and this was matched by decreased rates of reporting crimes to the police and the increase in civil claims against the police – of concern was the 175% increase in civil claims against SAPS in five years.

With police officer wellbeing and terminations, there was a pleasing change in trend of fewer police officers resigning which could be as a result of recent positive changes in the Service. In terms of police officer deaths, it was also pleasing to see the reduction in deaths of on-duty police members but there were still too many police officers being killed off-duty and measures were needed to improve the safety of off duty officers.

Discussion
Mr Groenewald presumed further detailed information would be provided on the ISS website.

Mr Newham replied that all the information was on the ISS website but all the statistics and figures in the presentation came either from the SAPS Annual Reports or from the Victims of Crime Survey released by Statistics SA.

The Chairperson questioned the issue of structure – it was raised in the two previous Annual Report engagements with the now suspended National Commissioner where the National Commissioner would keep certain portfolios to him/herself. Currently this was the case with detective services with the Acting National Commissioner and so the head of the detectives programme in SAPS was currently not filled. What was the view of the ISS on this? Was this healthy or not?

Mr Newham said that he too was surprised when he read that the Acting National Commissioner was keeping the detectives programme to himself but the Acting National Commissioner had many years of experience in SAPS and with heading the forensics programme, he had quite a bit of in-depth knowledge on the detectives programme in which forensics was located however as a managerial system overseeing such a large organisation, there was concern of overloading when there was a post for someone to actually manage that programme fulltime. He cautioned against the position of National Commissioner being loaded with too many line management functions.

Ms Molebatsi asked if the reference to network operations included cyber crime.

Mr Newham indicated that the network operations was quite a broad category consisting of many different kind of activities – some of it was related to cyber activities in committing crime but it was really about identifying criminal gangs operating and organised crime syndicates. There used to be information on covert operations in the Annual Report which was a crucial element of crime intelligence but that data had ceased to be presented – this might be something for the Committee to question.

APCOF Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Police on SAPS 2015/2016 Annual Report
Ms Melanie Lue-Dugmore, APCOF, noted that this review of the Annual Report comes at an important time given the pending implementation of new policy directives in terms of the White Paper on Policing and White Paper on Safety and Security. The approach of this submission was to assess whether SAPS delivered on its mandate and obligations, with particular focus arising from the National Development Plan, Farlam Commission and international obligations.

Looking specifically at administration, there was significant underachievement of the following performance areas and indicators:

•  ‘percentage of service terminations finalised within 60 working days’: - 41,82% deviation from 95% target
• ‘average time taken to fill vacant funded post: -97,11% deviation from target of 100% of post filled within 3 months.
• ‘new incidents leading to civil claims lodged against the SAPS’ – claims increased by 67,03% (planned target was reduction by 3,45%). These constituted unlawful arrests and detentions, collisions, assaults and shooting incidents

Areas requiring further scrutiny in this programme included:  

• Civil Claims
• Disciplinary Matters
• Public Order Policing
• Investigator training
• Resource Allocation Process
• Outcome of inspections by National Inspectorate
• New Polices drafted/reviewed
• Standing Order G 251: use of arms reviewed
• National Instruction 1 of 2016: The use of force in affecting arrest

With the VISPOL programme, areas of concern/underperforming included:

• Increase in reported crimes against women
• Recovery of stolen or lost state owned firearms
• Escapes from police custody
• Crime awareness campaigns
• Number of police stations linked to school safety problems

Areas requiring further attention included:

• Police stations rendering victim friendly service: when will every police station have a Victim Friendly Room?
• Monitoring compliance visits to police stations in respect of crimes against women and children
• Community Police Forums (CPFs)
• Public Order Indicators
• ‘Stops and search and arrests’

Ms Lue-Dugmore then briefly talked to Detective Services before moving to future plans noting that the Committee should monitor and request further information on:

• Revamp of basic training programme
• Addressing corruption and criminality in SAPS
• Establishment of research division with management interventions capability to determine and drive a structured medium-term research agenda to address advances of policing practice, techniques and technologies
• Review of assurance governance methodology and framework in SAPS
• Monitoring service delivery
• Extension of Detective Service performance strategy and revamp of the Criminal Justice System (CJS) and establishment of specialised units
• Review of governance structures  including National Management Forum and Performance Management Systems

Areas requiring further attention included:

-crimes against women and children (Gender Based Violence)

-public order policing ad excessive use of force

-firearms and policing

-arbitrary arrests

-prevention and combating of human rights violations

SAPU Presentation

Mr Tumi Mogodiseng, SAPU Deputy President, presented the comprehensive inputs of the union on the SAPS 2015/16 Annual Report looking at each programme in detail.

On Programme One: Administration points were made around:

• Filling of key vacancies such as CFO but there were a number of other posts still worryingly vacant such as Deputy National Commissioner: Crime Intelligence, National Head: Management Advisory Services and Divisional Commissioner: Counter-Intelligence
• Questions around rank and seniority especially around the rank of Lieutenant General
• Top-heavy structure
• Urgent implementation of the National Development Plan (NDP)
• Closing dockets while detectives were still carrying them
• Discipline
• Police members with criminal records

On Programme Two: VISPOL points were made around:

• CPFs
• Concern of police officials being murdered

On Programme Three: Detective Services points were made around:

• Performance of entire programme was a concern with all four sub-programmes (Crime Investigations, Specialised Investigations, Criminal Record Centre and Forensic Science Laboratory) had failed
• Ineffective tracing of wanted suspects and decline in arrest
• Reduction in number of charges
• Recovery of stolen/robbed vehicles declined
• DPCI not having its own programme
• Poor performance of organised crime operations

On Programme Four: Crime Intelligence points were made around:

• Need for measurable targets
• Maladministration

Discussion
Mr Mbhele appreciated the detailed and interesting presentation. In relation to the counter-intelligence unit and the concern around that, he understood that the Divisional Commissioner post in this environment was still vacant but he submitted a parliamentary question to the Minister when the Acting National Commissioner announced the creation of this unit around its rationale and mandate earlier this year and the reply did not concretely respond to the questions – in terms of this unit, what was the understanding of SAPU on what it was meant to be and accomplish? On the need to align the ranks of national head and deputy national head of the DPCI and ranks not existing in the regulations, he sought more explanation on what statutes and regulations were specifically referenced to further understand the issue of misalignment of ranks. More and more questions were being raised around compliance with legislation and processes for the current DPCI head.

Mr Mogodiseng responded that intelligence was left unattended when police relied on intelligence to be effective. Intelligence was there to inform police work ahead of time but this was not happening because the environment was left unattended. The regulations were also not applied consistently so senior managers were dragging their feet. There was also uncertainty with the suspension of Gen. Mdluli and why the process could not be finalised. The counter-intelligence could then not run because junior officials did not know who to account to. Ranking in the police played a major role in terms of determining seniority and the references could be made available to the Member – an example was Gen. Mkhwanazi acted in a senior post but when he returned to his junior post it raised questions of command and control – if left unattended this could cause a problem to the culture of the entire service.

Ms Molebatsi noted that SAPU did not seem happy about the performance of forensic labs and asked what could be done to remedy the situation according to SAPU.

Mr Mogodiseng said this was as a result of the Acting National Commissioner keeping a lot of work to himself and the need to fill unattended posts. Since Gen. Phahlane took on the Acting National Commissioner role, there was a gap created in the forensics environment.

Social Justice Coalition presentation
Mr Dalli Weyers, SJC Senior Researcher, noted that the presentation would cover three thematic areas namely, rational allocation of human resources (and infrastructure), total sexual offences and Waymark and the Enhanced Firearm System. In terms of the rational allocation of human resources (and infrastructure), in March this year the SJC, represented by the Legal Resource Centre (LRC), along with partner organisation Equal Education (EE) launched a court application in terms of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act 4 of 2000 against the Minister of Police and acting National Commissioner on the issue of the allocation of police resources. Our court application aimed to compel SAPS to review and change the inequitable and irrational allocation of police resources in poor and working class areas. The Nyanga Community Police Forum (Nyanga CPF) had since been given leave to intervene and was now the third applicant in the case. The SJC was not challenging the fixed establishment and was aware that resources were an issue but there was a need to challenge the allocation of these resources. The report of the Committee itself on an oversight visit to the Nyanga and Philippi stations in the Western Cape noted that “The [Nyanga] station has 63 detectives and 7 are deployed elsewhere in units outside the station. The detectives are stationed at the Group 40 building in Eiseleben Road which is about three kilometres from the station, due to space constraints. Detectives carry a docket load of 9000 with each detective investigating about 200 dockets. The detective carrying the least number of dockets is 45 (which is gang task team member) and the detective carrying the most dockets is 600. Recommendations: of concern to the Committee was the staff shortage at the station, especially the detectives. The Committee recommended that the matter be addressed by the provincial management and make available additional staff to the station”. It was noted that the Nyanga and Sea Point police stations were roughly the same size but while the Sear Point station served 24 772 people, the Nyanga station served 205 142 people which was nearly eight times as many people. SAPS indicated its priority was to establish a second station in Nyanga (in Weltevreden) but since 2013/14 up to the financial year under review, the site for this station had not yet been cleared and this was concerning.

Moving to total sexual offences, in the comments by the Deputy Minister in the Annual Report, the decrease in the incidence of sexual offences was welcomed but research showed that this decrease was rather as a result of decreased reporting of sexual offences – the decrease in sexual offences then was less likely crime committed but actually a decrease in the confidence of SAPS which amounted to a decreased rate of reporting.

Mr Weyers then discussed the Waymark and enhanced firearm system speaking to the long history in the Technology Management Services Division around the enhanced firearm register system and he firearm register system where 13 years and R343 million later the Waymark debacle was still not finalised and the enhanced firearm registration system was still not optimal.

In conclusion, Weltevreden (Nyanga) three years later, the Site Clearance failure needed to be interrogated, especially in light of discriminatory allocation of human resources. The truth about the incidence of sexual offences needed to be articulated. A lack of trust or confidence in the criminal justice system cannot be labeled a “gratifying achievement”. The Waymark debacle must now be dealt with decisively and the Enhanced Firearm Registration System challenges needed to be addressed.           

Discussion
Mr J Maake (ANC) questioned the assertion that sexual offences were not actually decreasing but it was the rate of reporting these offences that had decreased – what research had been done to arrive at this conclusion? He would have liked to be happy that the offences themselves were decreasing but he had since heard it was due to decreased reporting – if this was true, what caused this decrease in reporting and what research was done on the matter?

Mr Weyers responded that research had been done around this issue but the figures were informed by the Stats SA Victims of Crime Survey where it was clear that many of the individuals that had undergone some kind of sexual offence/assault indicated their unlikeliness of reporting it and in engaging with survivors there was a sense that they were not willing to report those crimes and over time, the willingness to report had actually decreased.

Mr Maake found it unhelpful to say sexual offence reporting was decreasing without saying why, what caused it and how it could be resolved by the Committee.

Mr Weyers outlined the intention was to have the Committee engage with the police on this matter. There was a clear disjuncture between sexual offence victims speaking to distrust in the police and not wanting to report their cases while SAPS was celebrating the perceived decrease in the incidence of the crime itself. A government department responsible for the safety of communities, women and children in this instance but only women and children, to not understand the different dynamics at play and not acknowledge those dynamics was a problem. The challenge of massive underreporting needed to be acknowledged to jointly move towards improving the picture. To be fair, SAPS was making progress but there was an increased need to have well trained individuals and more Family Violence, victim-friendly spaces at stations and Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) units at stations to deal with this in a sensitive manner to create a safe environment for victims of sexual offences to come forward but to come up with solutions, the problem first needed to be acknowledged.

Ms Molebatsi questioned the status of court challenges referred to in the presentation. The second police station meant to be built in Nyanga – what was the situation with it?

Mr Weyers outlined that on 23 September, the court ruled that the Nyanga Community Police Forum (CPF) could intervene in the case so they were now the third applicant in the case. Moving forward legally, the CPF would now file an affidavit and SAPS and the Minister would have an opportunity to respond to the affidavits by Equal Education, the SJC and the Nyanga CPF. The sense was that there would be oral arguments in this case in which case it would only be heard in June 2017. If there were no oral arguments, the case could move forward in February 2017.  With the second Nyanga police station, the sit clearance had not yet taken place so there was no station under construction or land identified for the construction of that station. To be fair to SAPS, this also involved the City of Cape Town or provincial government or other national departments not making potential land available. This construction had been delayed for three years.

Ms Molebatsi asked if this had been since 2013.

Mr Weyers confirmed this but noted that the 2011/12 Annual report did not have a breakdown of which new police stations might be built and where – this made it unclear when the second police station in Nyanga became a priority for SAPS.

Mr Groenewald did not understand the purpose of having the Nyanga and Sea Point police stations juxtaposed against each other in images in the presentation – the police stations were established many years ago so should one station be made smaller because it served fewer people? What was the message behind these images?

Mr Weyers was not saying that the one police station should be made smaller – the aim was to highlight that the Nyanga police station served 205 142 people and this was linked to the need for an additional station in the area. The pictures might not have been unnecessary but buildings roughly the same size could not be serving eight times as many people as the other one. Building another police station to bring down the number of people served by just one would be more reasonable.

Mr Groenewald found this a bit contradictory.

The Chairperson conveyed his appreciation to civil society for providing their inputs on the 2015/16 Annual Reports ahead of the Committee’s engagement with SAPS.

SAPS 2015/16 Annual Report Hearing
After introducing his delegation, Lt. Gen. Khomotso Phahlane, Acting National Police Commissioner, highlighted that Lt. Gen. Gary Kruser would not be present all week because he was overseeing operations in Gauteng in relation to the challenge of Fees Must Fall. This included the Provincial Commissioners to focus on policing operations.

Comments on the Fees Must Fall Protests
The Chairperson noted that the Committee issued a statement last week but the general sense was that SAPS was handling the situation very well – maximum restraint was used in dealing with issues that were not really in the SAPS domain. This approach was welcomed. The Committee noted with grave concern the increase in incidents of violence and damage to property at some university campuses. The Committee was also disturbed by these incidents and calls on all relevant parties to act in accordance with the law and ensure conduct that was in line with democratic principles and non-violence. It was disconcerting to note that a small group of individuals, in some instances, want to escalate the conflict to levels that will require more drastic measures from law-enforcement agencies. This approach should be avoided at all costs and tertiary institutions should prioritise dialogue and conflict-resolution processes to address this trend. The Committee also noted with concern the number of police officers who had been injured in the process – Members wished them a speedy recovery. The Committee encouraged members of the public, including students, to lodge any complaints regarding the conduct of police officers with IPID. The Committee welcomed the assurance by the Acting National Police Commissioner that members of SAPS will act with maximum restraint and minimum force to de-escalate conflict situations. Where there were breaches of the law and incidents of damage to property and where the lives of citizens were at risk, SAPS must act in line with its constitutional obligation to prevent and combat crime, to maintain public order, and protect and secure the inhabitants of the Republic and their property. There was a duty on all relevant role players to show restraint and act with responsibility to ensure that the SAPS can fulfil its constitutional obligation. The fact that SAPS resources had been redirected to deal with the campus incidents and away from visible policing and crime-prevention in communities, though not ideal, was an indication that violent incidents should not be tolerated. All sectors of the community had a contribution to make in ensuring that SA was a safe and peaceful environment for all its citizens. The NDP was very clear, in that it says SAPS should serve the community, safeguard lives and property without discrimination, and protect the peaceful against violence and the weak against intimidation, and respect the constitutional rights of all to equality and justice. The Committee therefore expected SAPS management to ensure that this approach was implemented. Safer communities were only a reality if all citizens act in accordance with the law and act within the framework of the Constitution.

Lt. Gen. Phahlane appreciated the observations of the Committee in relation to the police operations relating to Fees Must Fall. It was so that SAPS was stretched as an organisation but he used the opportunity to express appreciation to the SAPS members broadly who were involved in the operations daily and are continuing to respond to the call of ensuring the SAPS mandate was exercised within the confines of the law and that maximum restrain prevailed in all situations. Where criminality manifested itself, SAPS would act and work had been done in identifying certain individuals and dockets were compiled to approach the Director of Public Prosecutions to take certain decisions and arrests would soon be effected to contribute to the de-escalation of the situation. SAPS was receiving good feedback and support from the nation broadly but there were those elements of unhelpful comments. There was a call for everyone to help SAPS in addressing this situation because it was not a policing matter – somewhere dialogue must take course. He was encouraged to hear this morning that the President had appointed a Task Team including the Minister of Police, State Security Defence and Higher Education and Training to assist in finding a solution. SAPS was committed to doing its best. Injuries of protesters/students and SAPS members were regrettable – yesterday was the incident of Catholic priest being injured in the process and such incidents were regrettable.

Performance Overview

Maj. Gen. Leon Rabie, SAPS Head: Strategic Management, began by outlining the financial programme structure of SAPS which consisted of:

• Programme One: Administration – to regulate the overall management of the Department and pride centralised support services
• Programme Two: VISPOL – to discourage all crimes by providing a proactive and responsive policing service that will reduce the levels of priority crimes
• Programme Three: Detective Services – contribute to the successful prosecution of crime by investigating, gathering and analysing evidence thereby increasing the detection rate of priority crime
• Programme Four: Crime Intelligence – to gather, correlate, coordinate and analyse intelligence, to institute counter-intelligence measures, to facilitate international capability to reduce transational crime and to supply crime intelligence reporting relating to national strategic intelligence to the National Intelligence Coordinating Committee (NICOC)
• Programme Five: Protection and Security Services (PSS) -  minimise security violations by protecting foreign and local prominent people and securing strategic interests

The presentation then covered the overall performance per financial year since 2013/14 and for 2015/16 specifically where overall, the Department achieved 73% of its targets while 27% were not achieved. Per programme the performance stood at:

-Administration: 31 targets achieved

-VISPOL: 11 targets achieved

-Detective Services: 17 targets achieved

-Crime Intelligence: 10 targets achieved

-PSS: 3 targets achieved

Annual financial statements

Maj. Gen. Rabie then took the Committee through the income statement of the Department for 2015/16 noting that 100% of the voted funds were spent while the surplus for the year, including voted funds and revenue surrendered, amounted to R478 239 million. In terms of the overview of spending performance:

• Compensation of employees actual spending for the period comprised 98.6% of the allocated budget
• Spending on goods and services comprised of 104.2% of allocated budget
• Transfers and subsidies comprised 104.0% of allocated budget mainly as a result of increased payments towards retirements benefits (leave gratuity) and the civil claim environment
• Payment of capital assets comprised 104.8% of the allocated budget

With the spending performance against budget:

• There was full utilisation of funds i.e. 100% expended
• Virement for all programmes were within the 8% PFMA estimate. On average across the programmes it was 1.04%
• There was an expenditure ratio of not more than 76%/24% for compensation/operational expenditure (the threshold amount set aside for compensation was also not exceeded)
• Capacity building (critical items) were procured such as vehicles, clothing, ammunition, information technology, training etc.

In summary of spending performance, the variances per programme were essentially as a result of the following:

• Compensation of employees spending due to the later implementation of grade progression, entry level constables, re-grading of salaries, housing and rental allowances amongst others
• Increased spending in the buildings and other capital infrastructure allocation
• Levies payable to SASSETA as a result of higher salary adjustments awarded in the PSCBC and terms of new contract
• Increased spending on retirement benefits and civil claims
• Increased spending on municipal services and leasehold contracts
• Capital equipment for specialised interventions
• Transport equipment and X-ray equipment in the Protection and Security Services
• Overall an increased tendency of personnel losses was being experienced

Maj. Gen. Rabie then outlined the departmental receipts for revenue highlighting that:

• Revenue collected for the National Revenue Fund during the year was R478, 192 million
  • Sale of goods and services produced by the Department (mainly firearm licenses, accident reports, commission on insurance fees collected, etc.) was R205, 250 million
  • Sale of scrap and other used goods was R32, 370 million
  • Fines, penalties and forfeits were R11, 184 million
  • Interest received via corporate banks was R1, 128 million
  • Sale of capital assets was R62, 650 million
  • Transactions in assets and liabilities were R165, 610 million (mainly recovery of debt)
  • Opening balance: R9, 9 mil plus R478,1 mil – Paid R487,6 mil
•  Local and foreign aid assistance received for the year was R471 000 (in addition to an opening balance of R752 000). Net surplus R0,00

The Committee was then taken through the voted funds and departmental payments per programme and sub-programme.

Discussion
The Chairperson noted that this morning, the Committee received presentations from various institutions and the AG specifically and he wanted to get a sense from the Acting National Commissioner on where SAPS was with the financial statements and the Annual Report per se. At a previous engagement, the Chairperson asked the Minister what the state of policing in SA was and he remarked that it was a difficult question but the AG made mention to management and audit outcomes – what was the view of the Acting National Commissioner and senior management of this? Looking at the financial statements, the AG said the submitted statements were not supported by full and proper records. The AG also noted that there was stagnation and deterioration in some key areas. Assurance was needed from the Accounting Officer on what would be done to deal with these findings effectively because for the first time in a long time the financial statements of SAPS needed to be corrected when in previous years there was no problem – this needed serious attention. SAPU also raised the matter of restructuring and top management – in principle, the Committee supported the reorganisation in terms of Back to Basics but if the main aspects of compliance with financial legislation deteriorated, intervention was required. Looking at programme two and three, there were some repeat findings and new findings – while management intervention was relatively new and the Acting National Commissioner only took the post on six months into the financial year under review, what could management intervention bring to improve control and compliance in the financial management environment? In terms of the audit outcome, remarks on stagnation and deterioration was a risk and the Committee would need assurance on what would be done to ensure the situation was turned around.

Lt. Gen. Stefan Schutte, SAPS Deputy National Commissioner: Asset and Legal Management, responded by looking first at immovable and intangible assets where the biggest issue was the purchase of Telkom Towers as an expense in the income statement where the AG had a different opinion on how the building should be categorised or listed technically – this was merely a question of technical interpretation. Looking at the operating leases, it was important to remember that the police only held the funds while all leases were held by the Department of Public Works (DPW) on behalf of SAPS although the information was also recorded by SAPS. What happened in this instance, the values were questioned by the AG because SAPS used the DPW data on dates – the police then obtained all the lease contracts and worked through 1000 files to check if the dates were correct. It was found that there were a number of dates not absolutely correct with the operational leases. There was then discussion between SAPS and the AG on the length of time in which the leases were viewed until it was decided to view the lease over 12 months – this was the main issue on the area of leases. With the civil claims scenario, there were some errors in this regard which SAPS had to address. These were the prominent aspects which led to the AG’s material findings. With the leases for buildings, SAPS was somewhat between a rock and hard place because the new financial statements were looming – leases expired, new ones came into being and a new dataset would have to be sourced from DPW again to work through all contracts again to keep the schedule and time categories consistent with reporting.

Lt. Gen. P Ramikosi, SAPS Deputy National Commissioner: Financial and Administration Services, added that for accruals and contingent liabilities and the issues with completeness of the information at the time of the audit, given the vastness of the environment and looking at the outlying stations, some of them struggled with the interpretation of what was required in the capturing of the figures. Post-audit, SAPS was now requesting the information be sent monthly from the regions to also have the opportunity to sanitise the information before the audit.

The Chairperson asked if this meant that some of the audit outcomes could have been averted if the information was received timeously from the regions and stations. The AG itself raised questions around the management environment in this regard and this was of huge concern to the Committee as it was not a problem in previous years. It pointed to challenges with internal management and to say the information was not received timeously was not good enough.

Maj. Gen. S Nelson, SAPS Head: Financial Management and Accounting Services, emphasised that in terms of control in place from the side of financial management, a structured process was followed which started with proper planning meetings where all role players and stakeholders were involved to ensure specific procedures were completed on time and for necessary follow up and monitoring. Following the AG findings, a proper review process would be embarked upon. With regard to the property leases environment, there was an overstatement based on the DPW information but after discussions with the AG, SAPS itself obtained the information on the leases all over the regions from the contracts themselves – this methodology would be completed in the current and future financial years.

The Chairperson highlighted that senior management was the first assurance but the AG found that it only provided some assurance – action plans by SAPS would need to have defined timelines for intervention plans with specifically designated portfolio holders to be held responsible for implementing the action plans. The AG was implicit that part of the problem was the slow implementation of rectification action – the Committee would need to assurance that measures would be implemented.  

Lt. Gen. Phahlane agreed that progress was needed because there was no reason for a decline in the Department. When the Annual Report was presented last year, one of the issues was the vacancy of the CFO position which had since been filled but further drastic action was required on the side of SAPS and this would be done to ensure progress was made with the audit outcome. With the repeat findings, he was confident that with the capacity created and the approach adopted in the strategic management environment, there would be through on repeat findings to prevent their recurrence. This did not apply only finances but general performance audit findings in SAPS such as with compliance to ensure progress was made.

The Chairperson questioned if management intervention was making the gains that it was predicted to have made at this stage. The AG indicated that problems with experienced at station level in terms of implementation and this was a dilemma especially in relation to repeat findings. The question then was who was responsible for dealing with this?

Lt. Gen. Phahlane indicated that the introduction of the management intervention was not intended to replace the accounting structure of SAPS so line functions, provincial commissioners and divisional commissioners were still responsible for challenges manifesting themselves in their environments. He was pleased with the progress made by management intervention and although days were still early, the fruits of what had been planted were being seen. Previously, programme three was not performing well but since the intervention was initiated in that environment a turnaround was evident in service delivery. While the structure was implemented it was not fully capacitated as far as people were concerned but this process was underway to ensure there was capacity. Management intervention targeted specific priority areas – first, 63 non-performing stations were targeted and this had since rolled out beyond these stations. While instant results were not seen, he was pleased with the progress made by the management intervention programme. It was key to hold those responsible accountable and for the intervention to develop capacity in order to sustain the performance. As progress was made, the effectiveness and efficiency of the interventions were assessed but the matter was on the right track.

The Chairperson outlined that the AG also had findings in terms of leadership as was also raised in the SAPU presentation – with the Acting National Commissioner holding portfolios to himself, was this sustainable in terms of the environment where the first role of the Accounting Officer was to ensure PFMA compliance and providing leadership to the organisation. The Committee needed assurance that the issues raised by the AG would be addressed to effect change in the next financial year.

Lt. Gen. Phahlane thought that the organisation had done well in re-establishing itself as a team and complimenting each other. Some aspects were beyond control such as the filling of vacancies which was essentially dependent on external processes and decisions such as post of National Commissioner. Despite this, SAPS would continue to manage environments as best it could and performance would continually be reviewed.

The Chairperson asked if practically the Acting National Commissioner also had enough time to oversee the audit committee and CFO environment to ensure there was compliance while also juggling other roles – realistically, was this not a risk going forward because the duties of an accounting officer was primary.

Lt. Gen. Phahlane responded that there was already a Deputy National Commissioner (Asset and Legal Management) overseeing the CFO environment and the environment had been streamlined in terms of the responsibility of that portfolio. There was also a CFO in place and in the main, posts in the finance environment had been filled. The priority as Acting National Commissioner was to ensure the environment was addressing findings by the AG. He was comfortable that the issues would receive the necessary attention going forward. He was not limited to one area because the organisation needed to be managed broadly. 

Programme One: Administration

Maj. Gen. Rabie then took the Committee through programme one noting that overall he programme achieved 84% of targets while 16% were not achieved. Targets and indicators not achieved included

-Percentage of service terminations finalised within 60 days

-Average time taken to fill vacant, funded posts

-Percentage of bursaries disbursed for policing and scare skills-related qualifications

-Percentage of employees reached during proactive Employee Health and Wellness programme 

-Percentage of allocated budget sent on approved IS/ICT projects

Discussion

Ms Molebatsi noted that a total of 41 SAPS members were appointed and she asked if this included those reenlisted. With the national anti-corruption hotline she questioned how effective it was and how its effectiveness were monitored. How did SAPS guarantee the safekeeping of the dot-pinned firearms involved in criminal activities and booked into SAPS stores? She recently saw on national TV that 6 officers were dismissed for misconduct in Gauteng alone for the past six months – what was the state of the other provinces?

Lt. Gen. Phahlane responded that the 41 SAPS members were Section 45 appointments and not reenlistments – these were members already in the service being appointed in terms of the Act without the post being advertised. An example was the post of cluster commanders following the revision of the structure. The national anti-corruption hotline was working – 59 cases were referred to SAPS through this hotline and 29 cases were closed while the response rate was 51% from the SAPS side. 28 cases reported to SAPS through the hotline were still under investigation. This function would continue to be managed in the management intervention environment where the capacity to do so was established. With the firearms in the SAPS 13 stores, just like any other exhibit, measures were in place to ensure they were locked in safes. Lessons were learnt from the Prinsloo case where many of the firearms which were supposed to be locked up in the 13 stores and meant for destroying, ended up being recycled – measures were in place to avoid the recurrence of such. With the dismissals, in total in Gauteng, there were 66 dismissals in the previous financial year including this financial year so only 46 of the 66 were in the 2015/16 financial year. Country-wide the total dismissals were 112 and the breakdown per province was:

• North West: 6
• Northern Cape: 1
• Mpumalanga: 1
• Limpopo: 1
• KZN: 14
• Western Cape: 27
• Gauteng: 46
• Free State: 4
• Eastern Cape: 12

Dismissals in the divisions included:

• Crime Intelligence: 3
• DPCI: 1
• HRD: 1
• PSS: 1
• SCM: 2
• VISPOL: 2
• Forensic Services: 1

Ms Mmola asked for the total number of current civil claims pending in SAPS and the nature of these claims. With the Employee Health and Wellness (EHW), reference was made to unrealistic targets which could not be achieved – what were the reasons for this programme not working effectively? She also asked for more details as to the turnaround strategy of this programme. What were the reasons for not paying bursaries and were these bursaries currently paid or not? On the target for officers trained, she asked about the officers not trained – what steps were taken in terms of the members who did not pass the modules?

Lt. Gen. Phahlane explained that with that specific EHW target, it was found that the way in which the indicator was being measured was not realistic but it was currently being reviewed to ensure there was emphasis on impact instead of simply reporting for reporting’s sake. With bursaries not paid, the bursaries would since have been awarded to the members but for the payment to be effected, proof of registration was required – this was another indicator to be reviewed to ensure performance was not dependent on this registration. If the indicator was the number of bursary application approved, performance would be 100% but on the other hand, this would bring into question if the performance had any real effect or contribution. With members who did not pass the modules/test, they would have been trained but not declared competent – in those instances there was provision for remedial training to ensure the individual was still developed to be able to become competent. The individual could not move on and be deployed if they did not obtain the competency certificate.

Mr Groenewald spoke to the performance indicators not achieved. In his view, the reason for this was because an unrealistic target was set– how did an organisation set itself an unrealistic target? At some stage the Committee was concerned that targets were too low but now they appeared unrealistic if not met – one would assume all factors would be considered when the target was compiled. On the dot marking of the firearms and ballistics tests, this was the first time he heard of all firearms in SAPS being dot pinned and ballistic tested. How many firearms were referred to as being in the SAPS 13 stores? He was disturbed by the increase in civil claims attributed to unlawful arrests and detention, assaults and shooting – the earlier presentation by the ISS showed that there was an increase in civil claims paid by SAPS by 175% over the past five years to an amount of almost R201 million. This showed a lack of discipline – how was it possible that a well trained police officer could make an unlawful arrest? If they were well trained and well disciplined there should not be unlawful arrests, detention or shooting incidents. One read in the newspapers of women being raped in cells by police – he wanted to hear from the Acting National Commissioner how this specific issue of discipline was being addressed because it was quite disturbing. It showed that civilians on the street who were supposed to be protected by the police were actually endangered by these “criminal elements” in SAPS.

Lt. Gen. Phahlane noted that a presentation was made to the Committee on gaps identified in the performance of the Service for example with the filling of posts in three months after it became vacant– when posts were advertised it was done so for a period of 21 days before the processing of applications began for interviews. By the time this process was completed, three months had already passed and so the target could be identified as unrealistic. On this basis, some targets were being reviewed in the current financial year. 

Mr Groenewald understood this but questioned why the target was then set out for three months in the first place. Targets were a reflection of the performance of the organisation and if targets were set, there was a specific reason for doing so. Was the person who set the targets under review very unprofessional or did the system change? Performance targets needed to be professional and an indication of performance instead of a thumb sucked figure to simply having a target in place to meet Treasury requirements.

The Chairperson added that it concerned the SMART principle and it was vital that targets were realistic. It made one question whether the targets set were properly considered.

Mr Groenewald felt that all targets needed to be reviewed then to ensure that they were realistic and professional.

 Lt. Gen. Phahlane could not dispute this – targets were meant to adhere to the SMART principles of being strategic, measurable etc. In November, SAPS would be engaging in a strategic session where further review would take place because Treasury did not permit complete overhaul all at once. The comments of the Committee would then be taken on board as it was precisely in line with what the organisation wanted to do to ensure targets were not there simply for compliance – targets were intended to connect actins/operations with service delivery improvement and to realistically measure performance. Responding to the firearm markings, when firearms were procured they were dot-pinned and test fired before they were issued – this excluded the firearms in the 13 stores. This was a practice to be rolled out to other government departments but SAPS was satisfied with the progress made internally.

Mr Groenewald asked if there was an indication of how many firearms there were in the SAPS 13 stores.

Lt. Gen. Phahlane responded that there were 10 388 state firearms including from the police– he did not have a disaggregated figure for SAPS firearms specifically. With the civil claims case and rape in cells by police members, this was an act of criminality and incidents were being dealt with criminally and departmentally – such deeds painted a negative picture of the entire organisation and it could not be taken lightly. With unlawful arrests it was not enough to say that such incidents be reduced – there was a need to understand what led to civil claims including unlawful arrests, unlawful detention, accidents etc. SAPS were working on measures to address this including a project team under management intervention to specifically focus on this.

Mr Maake thought an increase in civil claims might not be as a result of police action because a lot of restraint was seen on the part of the police but of the claims themselves being finalised in the financial year under review – the increase in claims was however too high and he sought an explanation for this. With the indicator on invoices he asked why “legitimate” invoices were emphasised – was there other kinds of invoices dealt with? He was interested in the donor funds and asked it what format such funding came from, where specifically and for what specific purpose.

Lt. Gen. Phahlane said that there were many factors leading to increased civil claims and it was indeed an area which attracted too many lawyers with collusion observed between lawyers and SAPS members for example with purposeful unlawful arrests to ensure there was payout – this was being prioritised.

Lt. Gen. Schutte explained that the term legitimate invoices was in line with Treasury terminology – there were a number of invoices not according to the standards presented. To a large extent an invoice was what one owed someone else and it needed to conform to a number of aspects such as SAPS already having received the value except if there was an agreement for advanced payment but value must have been received. A supplier number was also needed along with assurance that the right company was being paid linked to the supplier number. The invoice also needed to come through a procurement process along with a number of other aspects. There were system tests and checks in place for assurance and to ensure there were no duplicate payments. The emphasis with legitimate invoices were that they must be correct in terms of the dynamics outlined above – if the invoice was not legitimate, SAPS could not be held for payment. With donor funds, this was outlined in the Annual Report – the funding came from Norway to train SAPS members in Sudan.

Lt. Gen. Phahlane clarified that SAPS trained the Sudanese in terms of building capacity and the donor funds were utilised for this.

Mr Maake was not clear on how the donor funding was used for such training.

Lt. Gen. Phahlane explained that SA had a commitment/obligation to assist the Sudanese. In ensuring that SA was able to do so, Norwegians committed funding for SAPS to train the Sudanese police in terms of the capacity building programme.  

Mr Mbhele saw that it was reported that 92% of disciplinary cases were completed in the 90 day timeframe but the ISS had earlier presented that about 47% of outcomes of the disciplinary hearings were “no sanction” either that it was found that no infraction was committed or the case was withdrawn – why was this the case? This spoke to the issue of accountability and consequence management and that until a strong message was sent through the ranks that there would be serious consequences for infractions or misconduct; civil claims would not be reduced. He recommended that in cases where a member was identified as being a problem and led to civil claims, SAPS should dock some of their pay to contribute towards the civil pay that management had to fork out from the general pot – maybe this would ensure officers got the message and adjusted their behaviour.

Lt. Gen. Phahlane noted that disciplinary steps taken were included in the Annual Report along with the infraction committed. SAPS had a disciplinary code which provided for progressive discipline looking at the merits of the case, if it was a first transgression etc. and one did not simply leap to dismissal because of a transgression. He could not comment on the findings of the ISS because he did not have the details of their submission. If members were found not guilty it was not an indication that the disciplinary system was not working – the principle of innocent until proven guilty was also applicable in these cases. If there was an allegation against a member, that individual would be put in front of a tribunal with presiding officers, representations, prosecutors and witnesses before there was an outcome. It could be that the outcome was guilty or not guilty.

The Chairperson wanted to know from the Acting National Commissioner what disciplinary steps were taken against officials who made or permitted unauthorised, irregular or fruitless and wasteful expenditure in terms of the PFMA. Fruitless and wasteful expenditure was a repeat audit finding and he asked what was being done to deal with it. The AG also raised challenges with legislative compliance – with SAPS and the DPCI, the SAPS Act stated that with reporting to Parliament, the National Commissioner shall include in reporting to Parliament, a report of the performance of the Directorate compiled by the National Head of the Directorate as a separate programme. The budget report to Parliament should also include a full breakdown of the specific and exclusive budget of the Directorate and the National Head of the Directorate should make a presentation to Parliament on its budget. Where was this requirement in terms of the reporting obligations of the National Commissioner?

Lt. Gen. Schutte outlined that unauthorised expenditure was when there was overspending in the Vote by over 8% and SAPS did not have unauthorised expenditure in years. In most cases of irregular expenditure, SAPS had received the value and the items were purchased but processes were not correctly followed. With fruitless expenditure there was always an investigation to determine liability and after liability was determined, appropriate action would follow. Normally, if there was liability, a debt account would be opened and the debt would be raised from the individual responsible.

Lt. Gen. Phahlane added that such cases were part and parcel of the normal SAPS disciplinary regime. With the question on the DPCI, he indicated that this was tricky because the performance and budget of the Directorate was included in the Annual Report under Programme Three – format could perhaps be considered going forward.

The Chairperson thought that the increase of section 45 appointments was a huge increase and going forward there should be caution against using this prerogative too liberally because there was a risk. In terms of the Annual Report and the building environment, no new police stations were completed or built in the 2015/16 financial year – this morning the SJC spoke to the second Nyanga police station which had still not been built after being declared a priority for three years – this environment needed to be addressed with much more energy otherwise progress would not be made going forward.

Lt. Gen. Phahlane took note of the observations but he highlighted that with buildings, this was an area where SAPS had serious dependencies on DPW but the buildings continued to be a priority. An example was the station in Diepsloot which had been under construction for many years involving six contractors. 

Mr Groenewald wanted to know with the SAPS personnel to vehicle ratio, how many of the vehicles were really operational.

Lt. Gen. Phahlane responded that this was a challenging area which SAPS was grappling with – ordinarily one would want the total fleet to be fully operational and functional but the Supply Chain Management Divisional Commissioner was being engaged to ensure the fast tracking of servicing and fixing of vehicles including panel beating. It was important to ensure there was a mechanism for a network to which vehicles could go to. He could not say that all vehicles were on the road but the challenges were being attended to.

Mr Groenewald highlighted that about two years ago he was told there was a system where one could know exactly how many vehicles were operational and how many were in service or damaged/written off.

Lt. Gen. Phahale clarified that he did not readily have the figures currently. One also needed to consider the efficiency of those vehicles on the road instead of merely reporting that they were on the road.

Programme Two: Visible Policing

Maj. Gen. Rabie took the Committee through the programme outlining that it achieved 55% of targets. Indicators not achieved included:

-Number of reported crimes for unlawful possession of and dealing in drugs

-Percentage of stolen/lost state-owned firearms recovered in relation to the number of firearms reported stolen/lost

-Percentage of stolen/robbed vehicles recovered in relation to the number of vehicles reported lost/stolen

-Volume of liquor confiscated as a result of police actions

-Percentage of escapees from police custody versus arrested and charged

-Percentage of applications for firearm licences, permits, authorisations, competency certificates and renewals finalised

-Number of crime awareness campaigns conducted

-Number of schools linked to police stations to advance the school safety programme

Discussion

Mr Maake wanted to know why the repatriation of vehicles from other countries was complicated. He found that the target relating to drugs confiscated was problematic because one could not predict how much drugs would be confiscated. He asked what was meant by “victim friendly services” and not necessarily facilities. He was concerned by the Department being way off in meeting its target on number of schools linked to police stations to advance the school safety programme. With the 66 requests cancelled by the requester where the Special Task Force (STF) had already mobilised resources (human and physical), was this not a crime?

Lt. Gen. Phahlane said that with vehicles in other countries, national legislation and regulations were not applied and one depended on what applied in that country. This explained why the process was at times long to get the vehicles returned. For example in Mozambique, there were internal processes to follow but joint operations between the countries helped at times in fast tracking the situation. He agreed that the measurement of performance for drugs confiscated was not ideal. With the victim empowerment centres, some stations did not have this facility on site – it would then be at the nearest clinic or hospital for example to render that service. This was especially in the case of small stations were accommodation on site was a challenge. He agreed that the target relating to the schools safety programme needed to be reviewed – this target could not be set without consulting the Department of Basic Education. Better collaboration would allow for a more effective target.

Lt. Gen. S Masemola, SAPS Deputy National Commissioner: Policing, explained the STF target referred to other units sending a request to the STF for a specific mission but in the process intelligence was received to postpone action but the STF would already be at the base or on the way there and the STF request would then be cancelled.

Mr Mbhele sought clarity on which other state departments/entities had firearms except for the Department of Defence. He asked if the Acting National Commissioner agreed with the assessment that the main challenge at this stage was the shortage of DLOs and DFOs and if this was the case what were the short term measures to address that? With the stabilisation of public incidents, did this refer to all incidents or only high risk ones? What was the definition of and parameters for talking about stabilising an incident?

Lt. Gen. Phahlane did not have the complete list of departments who owned firearms but on the list would be Correctional Services or Environmental Affairs for example. He agreed that with the DFOs and DLOs, SAPS did not necessarily have the numbers required and more could be done to ensure the further capacitation of these offices especially considering the number of stations they serviced. Natural attrition also played a role in this environment but positions continued to be filled as they became vacant. On the stabilisation of public incidents, looking at the current situation of Fees Must Fall, stabilisation would refer to things going back to normal while the core issue of fees falling did not involve SAPS. SAPS’ role was to ensure order and stability. Vuwani was another example where the situation was brought under control after some time passed while the core issue of demarcation was not necessarily resolved – the point was SAPS carried out its mandate.

Ms Molebatsi asked about the status of the deputy station commander position. She also wanted detail on role of the service coordinators assisting cluster commanders in VISPOL. Were the DFOs still carrying out their three tasks or had the situation changed?

Lt. Gen. Phahlane indicated that while he wished the position of deputy station commander could be in place, budgetary constraints did not make it possible to have this position at each station in terms of the fixed establishment. SAPS opted instead for the appointment of deputy cluster commanders to assist the cluster commanders. The service coordinators were there to oversee detective work and VISPOL at the cluster level.

Ms Molebatsi did not understand why the deputy station commanders were not appointed due to financial constraints while deputy cluster commanders were appointed which would cost SAPS more financially because that individual would earn more than a deputy station commander.

Lt. Gen. Phahlane outlined that there were over 1000 stations while there were currently 118 clusters so it was a situation of numbers. In many instances also the deputy cluster commander was not a new person but was an existing post. The only posts advertised were that of cluster and station commander to ensure no station was without a station commander.

Lt. Gen. N Masiye, SAPS Divisional Commissioner: VIPOL, responded to the question of the DFOs by commenting that they were still performing the three tasks they were given at the station – these tasks concerned firearms, liquor and second hand goods.

Ms Molebatsi was concerned that the DFOs were overloaded.

Lt. Gen. Phahlane answered that it was an issue of capacity where as the numbers grew the situation would improve and functions would be segregated. Another challenge was that some designated stations were busier than others so in some cases the DFOs could be overloaded in terms of responsibilities.

Ms Mmola asked why there was no uniform method to mark all state-owned firearms and why there was a lack of strategy to combat theft and or loss of state-owned firearms. What was meant by a re-established task team to focus on the integration of the Provisioning Administration System and the Enhanced Firearm Register System –did this mean the task team was established but had to be established again?

Lt. Gen. Phahlane confirmed that the task team was there, it worked at some point but then it was discontinued after gaps were identified – this led to reestablishment.

Mr Groenewald asked what the situation was at present when it came to the renewal of firearms specifically in terms of late applications. There was quite a lot of confusion with the firearm owners because some DFOs did not allow late applications and then people had to hand in their firearms. Other DFOs would still allow late application so there was no consistency in the approach – clarity was needed so that people knew exactly what the situation was with late firearm applications. He was late himself with the application although he had a good reason for it which he stated and he then suddenly received two licences for the same firearm. On the 318 670 applications finalised for firearm licences, permits, authorisations, competency certificates and renewals, he wanted a breakdown of applications per category - this would give a better picture. On the crime statistics, he was concerned about the specific statistics on domestic violence – at some stage the Committee would have to look into this aspect because he heard also of instances where the police were referring complainants and victims to the magistrates for restraining orders. He wanted to hear from the Acting National Commissioner how this issue could be dealt with to highlight domestic violence. For some indicators, he did not understand how the target was set when it was dependent on the crime committed – he understood the aim to have less crime committed but when the target was set it in fact created a problem where some stations did not record a specific charge correctly such as the break-in he experienced in Acacia Park which was recorded as damage to state property. Such targets created opportunities for police members and station commanders to not report cases correctly.

Lt. Gen. Phahlane highlighted that the breakdown for firearm applications was contained in the Annual Report. With the domestic violence, when the crime stats were presented, SAPS did say that one of the contributing factors to murders and contact crime was domestic violence.

Maj. Gen. T Sekhukhune, SAPS Head: Crime Registrar, added that docket analysis was conducted for domestic violence where the commission behind some of these crimes were perused especially those in the broad category of crimes against a person because the belief was that this was where most domestic violence charges resided. Domestic violence statistics was highlighted in the Annual Report including the motives behind these crimes. The presentation of the crime stats highlighted numbers but thorough research was done on the area of domestic violence.

Lt. Gen. Phahlane clarified that this information was also found in the crime report.

Mr Groenewald emphasised the need to have specific cases of offences recorded as domestic violence. He noted that his question on firearms was not responded to.

Lt. Gen. Phahlane indicated that there was a challenge of inconsistency – the Act provided for a licence owner to apply at least 90 days before the expiry of the licence. In some instances, late applications were processed while others were not. SAPS was in the process of doing an assessment of this problem to approach the Minister with a proposal on how to have these late applications processed. The current process was also being reviewed to ensure there were no inconsistencies with how applications were dealt with.

Mr Groenewald understood this but he was concerned with what was currently happening with individuals applying for renewals – he was often asked these questions by members of the community.

Lt. Gen. Phahlane said that at this stage SAPS was receiving and processing applications as long as the licence did not expire.

The Chairperson highlighted the critical importance of leadership to ensure an impact was made at station and cluster level but unless there was correct rotation of people at station level, issues in VISPOL would continue. The Committee was pleased that the finding last year which related to pocketbook was rectified but there was still concern around how to ensure cluster and station level command was effective in terms of consequence management. Those in leadership positions must be acted effectively to lead and direct – if this was not the case these people needed to be shifted or rotated to strengthen the situation as it had a direct impact.    

Lt. Gen. Phahlane indicated that this was not only looked at as a matter of rotation but also as a way of addressing performance related issues and challenges found –this explained why from time to time the redeployment of members was referred to. In Pretoria there were a number of challenging stations relating to personnel and leadership performance such as Pretoria Central and Attridgeville where there were commanders who needed to be called to order. Such situations were dealt with in the context of performance management and enhancing service delivery. When capacitating the cluster commanders, leaders in the station performing well were take while those cluster commanders not making a contribution were made deputy cluster commanders or redeployed in a post to pin the individual down in terms of performance management.

The Chairperson noted the members who had underwent the refresher POP training but highlighted that fewer completed the POP crowd management training – why was this the case? The number of awareness campaigns and schools linked to safety programmes was concerning in terms of some stations and clusters not addressing  these priorities effectively – closer management was needed to ensure even more schools were added. Would these targets be lowered or would stations and clusters with the new complement of managers in the cluster commander’s office, drive this process to correct the underperformance? These were elements of community policing which would make a huge difference in changing the crime situation.

Lt. Gen. Phahlane responded that a crime awareness directorate was created where Brig. Vish Naidoo (from the communications environment) was appointed. It was important that there was continuous action with the communities for awareness, providing tips on crime etc. The fact that the target in the Annual Report was not achieved did not mean work was not conducted – the problem with meeting the target was the failure to record all awareness campaigns conducted. The AG would need a source document to be able to verify that the campaign was conducted so in practice, more than the target of 65 campaigns was done but there was failure to prove this. The target would be retained in the current financial year. The situation was similar with the schools targeted but the emphasis was on being realistic in terms of time, resources etc. The target would not be lowered moving forward but efforts would be intensified. In terms of POP additional training, this was an ongoing process for capacitation. This was also linked to paying special attention to EHW for those members in the POP environment.  

Mr Groenewald wanted to know if the reservist environment was open to new applications or if there still a moratorium. With the Waymark issue, he wanted an update as to the present situation of this contract. On sector policing and the rural safety strategy specifically, he complimented the Acting National Commissioner on providing the number of farm murders but he noted that stations had not implemented the basics and minimum requirements of the rural safety strategy – he requested the list of these stations and he wanted to know when all stations would have full implemented this strategy because it was a very important one even referenced in the NDP. It was reported in the media that the head of the CFR had bad relations and even threatened some organisations when they enquired about the firearm licences – this was totally unacceptable. Were steps taken against the head because it was clear such a person was not suitable to head the CFR?

Lt. Gen. Phahlane responded that the Brigadier in question in the CFR was removed from the position and the matter was being dealt with. Details on the rural safety plan were in the Annual Report in terms of where it was fully implemented, where it was not implemented and where it was partially implemented in the stations – the resolve was for all stations to implement the strategy so the situation would look different in the 2016/17 performance. In respect of the reservists, SAPS was reviewing the elements of the reservist policy making it difficult for people to be enlisted as reservists – this was at an advanced stage and by the end of October, advertisements for reservist enlistment would be up.

Mr Groenewald asked if the current moratorium was still in place.

Lt. Gen. Phahlane clarified it was not a moratorium but some elements in the policy excluding people who were interested – one could still apply but if those elements of the policy remained in place people would continue to be excluded so it was being reviewed.

Mr Groenewald questioned when people could apply.

Lt. Gen. Phahlane said the process was being finalised so hopefully by the end of October advertisements could be put out and applications could be processed.

Mr Groenewald asked if those interested applied at the police station.

Lt. Gen. Phahlane explained there would be national advertisements and those interested could approach the police station to tender the application. The interview process would be community based and selection would take place at the station.

Lt. Gen. Schutte responded to the Waymark issue noting that SAPS was still waiting for the gap analysis from the CSIR on what was delivered at that time and money paid vis-a-vis the specs. This gap analysis had not been done and completed it – it was still in the process. SAPS would also like to proceed with the new firearm control system. SAPS received a settlement request from Waymark because technically the contract had come to an end quite some time ago. Any disputes would be dealt with in terms of the arrangement of the contract. Waymark had put in a claim against the police but this was a litigation process. A number of other aspects also played a role such as source codes, intellectual property etc. so the mediation underway was quite technical. While this had not yet been confirmed by the Acting National Commissioner, SAPS would probably go out on tender again for the system to be completed. Most of the work done could be utilised going forward although the system was never completed per se. This was not only about physical processing but designs provided for the new firearm control system. In summary, the Waymark matter was currently in mediation and the outcome was awaited – he could not speculate on that.

Mr Groenewald heard that a proposed date for arbitration was set for 20 June – did this take place? Had another date been set?

Lt. Gen. Schutte was not aware of the latest date – the matter was not standing still as the mediation/arbitration was currently underway. SAPS were currently waiting for the settlement amount Waymark was requesting because SAPS declined the initial settlement amount for being too high. While he could not disclose the details of the mediation/arbitration he assured the Committee that it was underway.

Mr Groenewald asked that the Committee be updated with the final dates o know exactly what was going on.

Lt. Gen. Schutte said it would be provided but he recommended that content of the process not be provided.

Mr Groenewald accepted this. He congratulated SAPS and the Acting National Commissioner for the handling of the Fees Must Fall situation – he thought a good job was doing done.

Ms Molebatsi asked if SAPS considered demographic information when appointing station commanders. This was specifically in terms of appointing someone with a rural background in an urban environment and then how that individual acclimatised.

In closing the Chairperson highlighted that management should act on recommendations made by the Auditor-General in a timely manner and ensure action plans for internal controls were sustainable, Accounting Officers must successful implement basic internal controls for accounting disciplines by submitting accurate financial statements and reports, senior management should pay attention to current supply chain management transgressions and take action when there was incidents of non-compliance to implement consequence management.

The meeting was adjourned.