SAPS & Civilian Secretariat for Police on their Quarter 3 & 4 performance; DPW on procurement of SAPS office in Bloemfontein

Meeting report

The Chairperson said the meeting on Illegal financial flows had been postponed because National Treasury will not be available and the oversight visit to KwaZulu-Natal had been postponed due to logistical reasons. In addition, the Committee was still expecting outstanding reports from SAPS. In earlier meetings the Committee had been briefed on the status of the Bloemfontein Protection and Security Service (PSS) office accommodation challenges since 2016.

Briefing by DPW

Mr Paul Serote, Head: Property Management Trading Entity (PMTE), DPW, acknowledged that the lapse concerning the acquisition of office accommodation for the PSS office in Bloemfontein was unacceptable and gave a feedback on the procurement processes of the facility. DPW had been working in line with Treasury to develop new plans to ensure that deviations did not occur in the procurement of leases. The reforms in DPW to address lease agreements included capacitating, centralising and standardising business procurements and registering new buildings for SAPS usage. DPW had looked at buildings in Bloemfontein and had identified the specific building that met the requirements of the Bloemfontein PSS office accommodation. Although the building had a larger area than required the PSS would occupy the section needed and arrangements will be made with the landlord to rent out the remaining section. The time frame for completing the lease agreement was 30 June 2017. The procurement process documents had been submitted to National Treasury and Treasury had asked for other documents on 13 June 2017. DPW was expecting responses from Treasury on 15 June 2017 and hoped to conclude agreements on 20June and finalise the lease by 30 June 2017. The recommended time for the landlord to release the building to DPW was three months, but it might be shorter.

Discussion

The Chairperson commended the progress and remarked that the timelines for the Bloemfontein PSS office accommodation were good.

Mr L Ramatlakane (ANC) appreciated the progress on the Bloemfontein PSS office accommodation but he observed that the challenge on sustainability of the building had been raised two years ago. He asked why it had taken two years to sort the challenges on the building when DPW had signed a contract with the landlord. He also asked why DPW had granted another tender on the same building that the Committee had complained about initially and why the DPW had ignored the specifications of the user department in the procurement process. He wanted to know why DPW was persistently continuing the procurement process on the building and state why it had not moved SAPS out of the building. He asked if DPW knew the identity of the owner of the building and if DPW had the capacity to carry out the procurement processes on lease agreements.

Mr Z Mbhele (DA) agreed with Mr Ramatlakane on the delays on procurement processes for lease agreements and he asked why DPW had not followed SAPS specifications with respect to the Bloemfontein PSS office accommodation. He asked how DPW had appointed officials if the officials were not fit for such positions. He asked DPW to clarify if decentralising and standardising business procurements were the way to enhance DPW lease agreements and how it had taken two years to identify the right building.

Ms M Molebatsi (ANC) asked if it was not a coincidence that the Department suddenly had a timeframe to complete the lease procurement process for the Bloemfontein PSS office accommodation when they were summoned by the Committee. She asked who was benefitting from the building.

Ms M Mmola (ANC) asked why the Department had frustrated SAPS’ efforts on the Bloemfontein PSS office accommodation. She asked what state the requirements of the accommodation were and why it had been difficult to meet. She wanted to know Treasury had only asked for documents on 13 June and if the lease procurement process can be completed by 30 June as claimed. She asked how DPW can complain about a lack of capacity when the officers were appointed after an interview process.

Ms L Mabija (ANC) said she did not understand how lease agreements are handled by DPW, because a lot of government buildings had challenges. She asked why there was a delay in the lease agreement process of Bloemfontein PSS office accommodation.

Mr Serote replied that DPW had started a turnaround program in 2013 to focus on stabilising the Department. The anti-corruption arm had been formed to deal with issues of fraud. In order to address the sustainability of DPW a lot of officials that were appointed needed to be re-skilled to be able to conduct lease and property management. There was no reason why DPW had not moved out of the premises but the Department had made commitments to look for another building. A new building appeared because the tender was started initially but the bidding process was stopped because DPW could not obtain financial confirmation. There were five bidders and the only responsive bidder did not meet the specifications of the user-department.

Mr Mbhele asked why only one bidder was responsive out of five bidders.

Mr Serote replied that the DPW Bidding Committee had stated that only one bidder was responsive out of five bidders, but the procurement process stopped because the only responsive bidder did not have the specifications for Bloemfontein PSS office accommodation. The previous owners were the Michael Family Trust and the present owners are the Alpha Trust.

Ms Molebatsi asked when the ownership changed.

Mr Serote replied that ownership of the building changed in 2015. DPW has put a lot of effort in capacitating the Department with professional staff. DPW can make available reports on disciplinary cases of fraud. The Committee gave clear directives on when the matter should be resolved, but Treasury only responded on 13 June. DPW was still engaging with Treasury to complete the procurement process. The lease of the building had expired and there were occupational safety issues.

The Chairperson asked if the task team on real estate had any status reports on the South African Revenue Service (SARS) building in Bellville.

Mr Mandla Sithole Deputy Director-General, DPW, replied that the task team had a meeting with SAPS and SAPS had stated that it wanted a new building although; the DPW professional team had stated that the building was not at risk. However, the DPW was prepared to start a tender process.

The Chairperson asked DPW to make comments on its relationship with SAPS and how it handled SAPS procurement processes.

Mr Ramatlakane wanted clarity on why DPW had not complied with SAPS specification on lease agreements and had awarded tenders a second time on a building that did not meet SAPS specifications. He also asked why DPW had not engaged with SAPS before tenders were awarded.

Mr Mbhele reminded DPW that it had not answered the questions on decentralising procurements.

Mr J Maake (ANC) asked if there was a possibility that DPW could recommend to National Treasury to decentralise functions of SAPS that involved operational risks to SAPS to avoid deviations.

Ms Mabija suggested that the Committee should establish an investigation into the operations of Public Works.

The Chairperson replied that it was not the mandate of the Committee, but it could be considered.

Mr Serote replied that the Special Investigating Unit of DPW had been established to investigate lease agreements. The relationship between DPW and SAPS was constructive. DPW currently has a mandate to assist SAPS with minor repairs on public works of up to R100 000 at PSS facilities. The Department operated many leases and the procurement process was long. The DPW was only decentralising the procurement process.

Mr Bassie Kgasoane, Director: User Demand Management, DPW, reported that the guidelines for day to day work activities and management of work by clients has been developed and had been given a timeline.

The Chairperson said the Committee welcomed the movement of Bloemfontein PSS to its office accommodation by the 30 June 2017 and he discharged the team from DPW.

Briefing by SAPS on its third and fourth quarter performance

Major-General Leon Rabie, Component Head: Strategic Management, SAPS, highlighted a summary of the expenditure, the spending performance against budget, the monthly and yearly trends in actual spending and the spending performance for each of the programs.

The administration program had an over expenditure of about 1.9% due to increased spending on compensation of employees. This emanated from investment in additional resources to support operational environments, civil claims and higher than anticipated payments on computer services as a result of increased exchange rates.

Similarly, the crime intelligence program had an over expenditure of about 1% as a result of increased spending on compensation of employees due to higher than planned cost-of-living increases negotiated and paid. In contrast, visible policing, detective services and protection and security services programs experienced under expenditure of about 0.62%, 0.29% and 0.44% respectively. This was due to personnel losses mainly because of reclassification to allow for finance leases under payments for capital assets such as certain vehicle deliveries that did not materialise and lower levels of spending on reimbursements to Public Works based on invoices received in the facilities environment.

Discussion

The Chairperson said the previous National Commissioner had requested for firearms amnesty but the requested had not been approved for logistic reasons. He asked if the request should still be processed and if SAPS had appointed a National Crime Director. In addition, he asked the SAPS to state the strategies to ensure that the 2450 vacancies for visible policing and 806 vacancies for detective services would be filled since the SAPS did not have full capacity and National Treasury had planned to reduce fund allocations to government institutions.

Mr Mbhele asked why there was under expenditure on the ministry sub-program in program one (Administration). SAPS had almost 100% on compensation of employees and still had vacancies and he asked if the vacant posts were funded for the 2017/18 financial year. He asked why there was over expenditures on crime intelligence program but the performance of SAPS was a threat to security in the community. More funds should be allocated to informants under transfers because it seemed that crime intelligence had not performed well. He asked if the media reports about meetings with military veterans to set up a covert intelligence unit for anti-presidential campaign protesters was accurate.

Ms Molebatsi asked for an update on the disciplinary cases of suspended officers and what strategies SAPS hoped to use to service the vacancies of the 2016/17 financial year with 100% expenditure while National Treasury had not appropriated new funds to fill the vacant posts.

Mr P Groenewald (FF+) observed that only new reservists received psychometric testing and asked why both old and new members had to undergo psychometric testing presently. He asked if it was civil claims that were pending and SAPS to also state what the amount on civil claims was.

Ms Mabija asked if the budget matched the implementation on ground.

Mr Ramatlakane asked what measures had been put in place to overcome delays experienced on contract RT57. He asked if the SAPS will still fill the vacant posts even though the posts were not budgeted for in the 2017/18 financial year. Although the detective services program was a core function, the performances had not justified the expenditure in recent years. He asked why there was no detective investigation into the Cape Town Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) station looting after the fire incident that gutted the station on the 12 June 2017. He also asked how expenditure could be aligned to performances under the detective services program.

Lieutenant-General Lesetja Mothiba, Acting National Commissioner, SAPS, replied that he will engage with the relevant stakeholders and report back on the firearms amnesty. The Acting Director of Crime Intelligence had been redeployed to another position in the Free State and he had since appointed another officer to assist in the Office of the Director of Crime Intelligence. A written submission would be given on suspension of officers due to disciplinary cases.

Lieutenant-General Phalaphala Ramikosi, Divisional Commissioner: Financial and Administration Services, SAPS, indicated that personal losses had a huge effect on compensation of employees. The budget projection for compensation of employees was 7% however, SAPS had agreed on a 7.6% actual compensation with the union. The pay progress with regards to legacy funds was in a backlog state. SAPS have reduced compensation of employees due to budget cuts. The civil claims over expenditure was R44 million and there are rises in civil claims which has led to increase in budgeted funds.

The Chairperson asked if the vacant posts in the 2016/17 financial year would be filled.

Lieutenant-General Stefanus Schutte, Deputy National Commissioner: Asset and Legal Management, SAPS, replied that vacancies were worked out on an unfunded staff basis due to the Fees Must Fall protests, but the budget could not be adjusted at that time and a subsequent decrease in budget occurred. In addition, overtime claims during election period led to over expenditure.

The Chairperson said SAPS must give an answer to the question on vacancies.

Mr Ramatlakane (ANC) asked SAPS if the rate used contained inaccurate information.

Lieutenant-General Schutte replied that the Rand values are accurate but staff estimates was inaccurate as a result of not adjusting based on the circumstances.

Major-General S Nelson Component Head: Financial Management, SAPS, reported that National Treasury had written a letter to SAPS that stated that SAPS should not adjust the staff compensation. Hence SAPS kept the figures inaccurate but it had to give the correct number of staff later.

Mr Ramatlakane asked for confirmation that there were 2 450 unfunded vacancies for visible policing and unfunded 806 vacancies for detective services.

Lieutenant-General Ramikosi reported that, under natural attrition processes, SAPS could fill the posts but under cost progression, SAPS could not fill all the posts. However a new proposal was to re-prioritise the filling of posts.

Lieutenant-General Mothiba said SAPS would look at the budget allocated and look at how many of the posts could be filled and report to the Committee.

The Chairperson said filling the posts was important because some provinces are unmanned at the moment.

Lieutenant-General Schutte reported that the vacancies were unfunded but detectives might be given preference. SAPS had to cut back on staff because the Treasury introduced budget cuts.

Mr Ramatlakane asked the SAPS to clarify what SAPS was looking at based on the conflicting responses from Lieutenant-General Mothiba and Lieutenant-General Schutte.

Lieutenant-General Mothiba said media reports about setting up a covert intelligence unit for anti-presidential campaign protesters were incorrect. The meeting had been set up to set up security measures for a conference.

Lieutenant-General Schutte replied that crime intelligence expenditure on informants was not transfer expenditure but goods and services expenditure. SAPS might pay overtime to officers and increase compensations on employees but this did not automatically translate to higher performance of crime intelligence. He however acknowledged the misalignment.

Major-General Nelson said the ministry budget had an under expenditure because the program management office did not execute its programs as and at when due and the invoices that related to expenses with travel agents were not finalised on time for payments.

Lieutenant-General Schutte replied that, the R44 million over expenditure on civil claims was not the claims but contingent expenses.

Lieutenant-General R J Mokwena, Divisional Commissioner: Supply Chain Management, SAPS, said National Treasury awarded the RT 57 contract in August 2016 and it was two year contract although in the past it was a one year contract, but procurement had been delayed.

Mr Groenewald asked for clarification on the civil claims amount.

Lieutenant-General Ramikosi replied that additional civil claims of R44 million was made by SAPS that led to a total of R372 million.

Lieutenant-General Mothiba said SAPS had embarked on measures to speed up disciplinary hearings on personnel. The report on disciplinary hearing on personnel and psychometric tests on reservists would be presented in a written report.

Lieutenant-General Schutte reported that the capacity and resources of SAPS matched the budget. During the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) SAPS would make a business case for cyber crime policing. The capital goods and services budget for the financial year was averagely funded. However, because of the elections the goods and services budget for the next financial year might not be fully funded. The

Lieutenant-General Mothiba said SAPS would present written reports on the different programs and the details of the management of the crime scene at Cape Town Station.

Mr Groenewald asked for clarity on legal costs incurred by SAPS.

Lieutenant-General Mothiba replied that SAPS will present written reports on the legal costs.

The Chairperson said the Committee expected all the reports in the next meeting.

Briefing by the CSP on their third and fourth quarter performances

Mr Wilhelm Basson, Director: Strategic Planning, CSP, said CSP had received a qualified opinion from the Auditor-General but CSP had developed an action plan to implement the corrective measures. He also indicated that the majority of the Budgetary Review and Recommendations Report (BRRR) recommendations had been addressed during November 2016. Only a few important matters such as the filling of critical senior posts, the appointment of a permanent Secretary for Police Service and the process to fill the Inter-sectoral Coordination and Strategic Partnership posts were outstanding. The Secretary of Police Service was appointed in December 2016 and the Chief Director for Inter-sectoral Coordination and Strategic Partnership appointment process successfully concluded at the end of the Fourth Quarter. He also highlighted the key achievements of the CSP in all the programs.

Mr Tumelo Nkojoana, CFO, CSP, gave the breakdown of the third and fourth quarter and stated the reasons for under expenditure in both quarters. The projected expenditure for the third quarter was 74.1% of its budget but an under expenditure of 11.1% against the projected spending. The contributing factors were the delay in the payment of the senior management service’s annual notch increment for the 2015/16 financial year and delay in implementing some of its projects, due to inadequate staff. As at the end of the fourth quarter, the Department had spent 94.7% of its budget. The factors that contributed to the under expenditure were the delay in the approval and filling of funded vacant posts. The Department in fact received approval for new posts to be filled, but due to the timing and processes to be followed, some posts still remained vacant.CSP also had to write-off an irrecoverable inter-departmental debt of about R7.9 million against the under-expenditure available within the financial year.

Discussions

The Chairperson said the Public Service Commission (PSC) did a performance assessment and found that CSP was the highest non-performing government agency. He asked what steps had been taken to address the non-performance. He asked for the documents that backed up the achievements and what the impact was of the seven key achievements highlighted during the brief to SAPS.

Ms Mmola asked clarity on the vacancies in the financial management sub-program. She asked if the management of CSP carried out any disciplinary action on the financial management staff and also asked what disciplinary measures had been taken against the officers in the financial management sub-program.

Mr Maake asked for progress reports on the key achievements on each program. He also asked CSP to clarify if the irrecoverable expenses included expenses incurred when the Minister of Police was taken to court.

Mr Ramatlakane asked if 99% of the turnaround plan had been implemented. He also asked CSP to indicate the staff that had disciplinary cases.

Mr Mbhele asked for the details of the anti-crime campaign. He also asked what the reasons are for under expenditure on compensation of employees.

The Chairperson remarked that Section 6 of the Secretariat Act stated that CSP must give research results to Parliament. He asked who was responsible for ensuring that Parliament received research reports. He also asked the CSP to state the challenges it had on non-compliance to its mandates.

Mr Alvin Rapea, Secretary for Police services, CSP, replied that CSP had to source staff from the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) to assist with its business model. In addition, CSP had a workshop and a White Paper policy statement had been prepared to address non-compliance to mandates. The documents on key achievements will be sent to the Committee. The measurement of impacts on key achievements has not been done but was been addressed as the gap was identified during the Head of Departments Forum. The impact of CSP programs on the Department of Military Veterans (DMV) indicated some progress and the CSP has reports from 2012 and these will be made available to the Committee. The mangers that had disciplinary cases had been sent letters to indicate that their work conduct was unsatisfactory. CSP acknowledged that it had not done much on consequence management. CSP was beefing up capacity and at present assessments are carried out every six months. CSP will embark on individual quarterly performance assessments and monthly assessment for some officers that have to submit monthly reports. The irregular expenditures are due to legal fees that accrued based on the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) case.

Mr Maake asked if CSP advised the Minister on cases or if it sought legal opinion before it undertook any matter.

Mr Rapea replied that in this case the CSP was instructed to assist with the procurement of legal personnel.

Mr Maake asked if the Minister could ignore the advice of CSP.

Mr Rapea replied that the Minister made the final call.

Mr Maake asked if the CSP had to pay legal claims if the CSP advised against pursuing a legal matter and the Minster ignored the advice.

Ms Mabija asked CSP to clarify if it gave advice on human resources.

Mr Rapea replied that if the Minister required legal advice on human resources, CSP was mandated to give such advice. Legal costs have to be paid by CSP and CSP will provide written reports on staff turnover and progress on turnaround. The anti-crime campaign was implemented in terms of cars stolen at the border. National Treasury approved some of the posts in October 2016, however CSP fast-tracked the process and only about 8% of posts are yet to be filled. The comment on compliance was noted and CSP made commitments to consider getting capacity in that area.

The Chairperson asked if the delay in presenting the DMV report was due to the method used or the capacity of the staff allocated the responsibility.

Mr Rapea replied that the outgoing Minister had not approved the DMV report hence the delay. He indicated that he would check if the new Minister had approved the report.

The Chairperson asked if all CSP staff had performance evaluations in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Mr Rapea replied that CSP have identified the staff members that had not been assessed. In addition, staff in the finance department needed to be appraised on a monthly basis. This was not done but henceforth monthly appraisals would be carried out on such staff.

Mr Nkojoana reported that out of the staff compliment of 17, six were in the finance department and five of the finance department positions had been filled although one staff member was on maternity leave. In addition, the finance department was under capacitated but the conduct of some of the staff was unsatisfactory and those staff members have been issued letters. The total amount on legal fees was R15 million but about R7.9m million was related to the IPID case. SAPS had paid for the cases that related to SAPS and had not paid for the case that related to IPID. Irregular expenditure was R22 million but in the last financial year it was only R30 000. The qualified audit opinion was due to accruals and account recoverable. The audit queries on accruals had been addressed but the audit queries on account recoverable are yet to be addressed because the Auditor-General found that CSP had directed the accounts to the wrong party. Although the posts were budgeted for at the beginning of the financial year some of the posts were approved in October 2016 hence the huge under expenditure on the allocated budget.

Mr Mbhele asked for the details on transfers and resignation of employees in CSP.

Ms Mabija asked what disciplinary actions have been put in place for non-compliant finance staff.

The Chairperson asked if CSP had capacity to deal with procurement issues in terms of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA).

Mr Rapea replied that the transfer to other departments still had impacts on the budget of CSP but the impact would be presented in a written report. The disciplinary cases were looked at based on merit and the public service rules are being implemented to guide in the decisions on disciplinary cases. CSP has regular stakeholder engagements that ensure that operations were carried out properly with regards to procurement in line with the PFMA. He also informed the Committee that if issues that occurred in the past were dealt with the CSP would no longer receive qualified opinions from the AG.

The Chairperson asked that all outstanding written be submitted to the Committee.

The meeting was adjourned.