Minister of Police on SAPS 2018/19 Annual Performance Plan & stakeholder hearings

Meeting report

South African Policing Union (SAPU) submission
Mr Tumelo Mogodiseng, Deputy President: SAPU, said that it hoped that in filling vacant posts SAPS shall stick to policies and offer all members an equal opportunity. The structure of SAPS as reflected in the Annual Performance (APP) suggests that there is vacancy for the KZN Provincial Commissioner and for Divisional Commissioner Forensic Services posts which is incorrect as neither are vacant. If SAPS reflects the acting positions in the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (DPCI), why not reflect those acting in other posts? Attention should be paid to counselling of SAPS members and the building of capacity to do so. It was concerning that the current Crime Prevention strategy under Programme 2 does not seem to deter criminality. There is a need to guard against a situation where everyone will loot goods from derailed vehicles instead of assisting. Police killings do not seem to receive the attention that they deserve. While police continue to lose their lives, there is not a single word on police killings in the indicators in the APP. The previous plans ended at the planning stage with ineffective implementation. The injection of such intention by the Minister is appreciated. The Criminal Record Centre is not measured on the performance around the crime scene and identification of perpetrators.

Mr Mogodiseng highlighted that Programme 4 should have clear targets for the finalisation of security clearance certificates. It must be known how many who are required to have security clearance, are still outstanding. The division should also be in a position to know when existing certificates are expiring. He noted there is no performance indicator to measure the number of organised criminal groups identified. This explains the minimal organised crime investigations in DPCI. The drop in the number of criminal groups from 500 in 1999/2000 to 62 in 2016/17, does not suggest eradication of criminality but a handicap in gathering of intelligence. SAPU was comfortable with plans outlined in Programme 5.

In conclusion, SAPU recommended that sections 17H(4)(d) and 17K(2) of the Police Act on a distinct performance programme be amended. If not, a distinct programme, as opposed to subprogramme within Detective Services must be designed. The Crime Intelligence division and DPCI must refocus and deal with organised criminal groups as a joint venture. Crime Intelligence must be capacitated to conduct security clearances to ensure that SAPS members are assessed.  
           
Discussion
The Chairperson said that most of Members did not have specific questions on the submission by SAPU but the Committee would like to know about the ministerial committee within DPCI as this was raised in the joint committee meeting with DPCI and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). Also raised was the independence of DPCI in order to be effective in dealing with corruption and thus it would need a separate budget.

Social Justice Coalition (SJC) submission
Mr Axolile Notywala, SJC General Secretary, stated that on 24 January 2018, the Western Cape High Court ruled that section 12(1)(a) of the Gatherings Act is unconstitutional because it limits and criminalises peaceful protest. This ruling was particularly important for SJC as most of its members were being arrested for exercising their constitutional rights. SJC recommends that SAPS litigation should be reduced and this could be done through police acting within the prescripts of law. Principled and rational court judgments should not be appealed as this was incurring legal costs. SAPS faces countless liabilities, and accrues legal costs too readily and this is where SAPS needs to adhere to the rule of law.

Mr Notywala indicated that there is general lack of awareness about IPID by communities which is made manifest to the SJC constantly. This does a disservice to police, to community relations and attempts to inculcate trust. On the Civilian Secretariat for Police (CSP) and the promulgation of the Community Policing Forum (CPF) regulations, there is a need to draw on legal precedent and ensure CPFs have a clear recourse to expand pockets of peace and stability in areas where the relationship between communities and law enforcement agencies has failed.


Discussion
The Chairperson said that this was a good submission as it covered a number of important factors including legal costs incurred by SAPS because of misconduct and failure to adhere to the rules.

Mr P Mhlongo (EFF) also expressed concern about the reluctance of SAPS to obey the rules of the Gatherings Act. He referred to KwaZulu-Natal where about 20 000 people had illegally gathered, some heavily armed, protesting without applying to court to hold a legal gathering. It would be important to know if SJC had raised police misconduct especially its failure to implement the Gatherings Act in many cases of crowd gatherings. The Civilian Secretariat of Police (CSP) is an organ of state that was currently ailing and the problem was even worse at provincial level where there is a federal outlook that seemed to undermine the effectiveness of CSP. The Constitution created Members of the Executive Committees (MECs) and these are very powerful people in giving policy direction but it was also unclear exactly what the roles and responsibilities of MECs are. It was concerning that provincial CSP are appointed provincially instead of nationally and this was problematic.

Mr Z Mbhele (DA) said it was clear by now that SAPS limited resources was a form of obstructionism that needed to be avoided as a country. SAPS senior management are taking decisions on budget allocation that was not based on the reality on the ground and this was made worse by the fact that there are people who are not fit for purpose within SAPS management. He pointed out that there is no illegal or legal gathering in law but only protected and unprotected gathering. It should be clarified that the walk by the current President in Khayelitsha was technically legal based on the January ruling where the Gatherings Act was declared as unconstitutional.

Ms M Molebatsi (ANC) said that the submission was clear that a lot of people in SJC’s community are unaware of IPID. Are there any awareness campaigns by SJC to educate communities about where to report police misconduct?

Ms L Mabija (ANC) spoke about awareness campaigns at local level to educate communities about the role of IPID. What is important is the strategy used to educate communities considering the limited resources.

Ms D Kohler-Barnard (DA) stated that it was not the role of SJC to run awareness campaigns on behalf of IPID. The police would continue getting away with murder for as long as South Africans are not aware of where to report police misconduct.

Ms Mabija clarified that the focus of her question was on the role that SJC could play in making people aware of the role IPID within its jurisdiction and this did not entail running awareness campaigns but rather having meetings and through the word of mouth.

Mr Notywala responded that SJC does not only react to incidents but rather is proactive. SJC was willing to provide assistance to ensure that these communities SJC engages with are aware of the role of IPID and know where to report police misconduct. SJC might not have the necessary jurisdiction as rightfully pointed out by Members but SJC has a constituency to look after.

Institute for Security Studies (ISS) submission
Mr Gareth Newham, ISS Head of Crime and Justice Programme, pointed out that the environment in which police are working is constantly changing and this requires change in the approach taken by police. Police officers need to be highly skilled, competent and continually trained to meet the new challenges they face every day. There is a lot of research that had been undertaken on the effective ways to measure police performance in a way that would help them. Most police agencies around the world do not implement lessons learnt. He warned that some of the targets in the APP would undermine the ability of SAPS to achieve the high level outcomes. Police officers are faced with a double demand and people expect police officers to act fairly when they come into contact with them and they also expect them to reduce crime. The role of the police agencies is to build public trust and confidence and this is critically important in order to be effective. The police agencies should believe that everyone is equal before the law so as build public trust.

One notable factor is that the number of SAPS personnel has been going down while budget allocation has been increasing. This means that the police need to be effective and innovative in policing strategies. The 2014-19 MTSF says that contact crime should be at 2% and contact crime has been going down but now it has plateaued. People still do not feel safe walking alone at night and the reason is robberies and murders have actually gone up. Armed robberies have also actually gone up and this indicates that there is a problem in basic policing. Reference was also made to the increase in civil claims due to police misconduct.

Mr Newham said there is remarkable amount of information out there that bringing crime “down to targets” does not work but it is also harmful to policing outcomes. There is a lot of information about how crime targets have resulted in manipulation of crime statistics in countries like the United Kingdom, France and Scotland. The reality is that police are likely to manipulate statistics if they are given crime targets especially if they are not given better training, capacity and enough resources to fight against crime. The manipulation of crime statistics is not unique to South Africa. Station commanders are under pressure to get crime statistics down, and this results in people being turned away at some police stations. SAPS should focus on improving capacity and resources such as police vehicles and bullet resistant vests (BRVs) to fight against crime. SAPS should find other ways to reduce crime than stipulating the crime targets in the APP as these are likely to be manipulated by station commanders.

There is also a problem where fewer people could be reporting crime making crime statistics go done while the reality is not the case. Therefore, we need to avoid rewarding police officers for bringing down crime statistics. The decline in reporting rates internationally is generally seen as problem of public trust and not the other way around. SAPS should use crime statistics as the measure of the workload of police officers and the challenges they are facing and respond to those challenges. One police officer in the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry stated that the focus of SAPS seems to be on fighting the figures instead of the actual crime on the ground. It must be clarified that this did not mean police cannot use crime statistics as a way to measure police performance but there should be criteria in place before we can even begin to use crime statistics as measure of performance.   

Discussion
Ms Kohler-Barnard commented that it was becoming obvious that there is a pressure to reduce crime as this meant that some people reporting crime are being turned away in the name of preserving a low rate of reported crime in those police stations. It was concerning to note that there seemed to be a focus on smaller crimes like a boy caught with a small bag of marijuana while failing to arrest big players with drug laboratories. Was there a way to perhaps focus on big players so as to put a dent on the scourge of drugs in the country instead of focus on small cases? The farm attacks are happening on a daily basis and often accompanied by violence. There had been two attacks already this week. What was being done to address this problem?
           
Mr Mbhele asked if ISS was able to analyse the civil claim cases as this would be an important route in trying to understand the patterns in these cases. ISS should dvise SAPS against the use of statistics in a negative way particularly rewarding station commanders for reducing crime. What was being done about this? There seemed to be a contradiction in the remuneration package of SAPS as in order for one to earn a higher salary, one needed to climb through the rank and this was creating confusion.

Mr Mhlongo asked if the increase in civil claims was related to the decline in the living standard of our people where people are seeing the payment of these claims as a survival mechanism. Was this increase in civil claims perhaps linked to the general public being more aware of their rights? Criminals are constantly changing their modus operandi. Are you able to monitor lower level crime? It would be important to hear if it would be correct to put more resources provincially where they are required the most. Some police stations are under resourced as was the case at Hlabisa police station in KZN. What was the update on the billions that had been stolen by the Guptas? The role of the media should be applauded as it would have been impossible to know about the monumental corruption by the Guptas if it was not for the media. There was certainly no trust in the internal disciplinary committee of SAPS as police officers reporting corruption within SAPS are subjected to harassment. Why was this happening within SAPS without any intervention?

Ms Molebatsi asked for the reason for the increase in civil lawsuits against SAPS. Without crime statistics, how would SAPS know the patterns of crime?

Mr Newham responded that there should be integrity of the system and this is to encourage the police to collect as much information or statistics as possible on crime. There is a need to encourage the culture where police are dedicated to capturing credible and correct information on the reported crime so as to analyse these statistics. There is no clear model that should be followed but at least there should be principles to be followed. There are a whole range of factors that needed to be taken into consideration when setting up targets for reducing crime. There is a rural safety strategy in place to deal with increased crime in rural areas especially farm attacks. The farm attacks are happening in rural areas because these areas are isolated and it takes time for police officers to reach these isolated areas. There is a need to encourage innovation and find ways to report and prevent crime including the use of technology. Civil lawsuits are happening when people are not happy with the conduct and behaviour of police officers. There are a range of factors that have contributed to the increase in civil lawsuits but it was difficult at the moment to pinpoint exactly what was causing this spike in civil lawsuits but there are alleged cases of corruption.

Corruption Watch submission
Mr David Lewis, Executive Director: Corruption Watch, indicated that according to the experience of Corruption Watch there is petty corruption and grand corruption committed by SAPS officials. It spoke about the police inaction in the face of major corruption in the awarding of public procurement contracts or evidence of the capture of key state-owned institutions. Corruption Watch had received 1 165 reports of police corruption since 2012 and 39% of those cases included bribery, 23% abuse of power and 18% dereliction of duty.

It advocated for the establishment of an independent mechanism for reporting corruption in SAPS, including reports from civil society organisations. There is a need for SAPS to implement the National Development Plan (NDP) recommendations on the transparent appointment of top management. The current process for the appointment of senior police officers had loopholes that could be exploited. There should be clear merit-based criteria. Public processes should be employed in appointments such as the DPCI Head. A review of the budget allocations for the IPID and CSP is required, as well as established timeframes for the National Policing Board.

Discussion
Ms Kohler-Barnard asked about the experience of whistleblowers within SAPS. There are indications that whistleblowers within SAPS are often targeted and treated viciously with some suspended without pay and others driven out. It would be important to hear if the whistleblowers within SAPS had come to Corruption Watch to report corruption.

Mr Mbhele said that there is a need for better leadership within SAPS to deal with rampant corruption. There should also be political will to fight corruption within SAPS. There are immediate gains that could be made in addressing petty corruption within SAPS. The introduction of body-worn cameras and vehicle cameras for frontline on duty operational police officers could be a huge deterrence against corruption. Police officers should know that they are being recorded and watched when interacting with communities. Corruption Watch should mobilize the public to push for the introduction of these cameras to monitor police officers.

Mr Mhlongo commented that the structural forms of corruption are worsening the situation in South Africa and this needed to be addressed. What should become the priority of the country to deal with corruption within the police service? Where do we even start to deal with corruption within SAPS? The disbandment of the Scorpions was really the beginning of corruption within the police service. The Committee should hear if SAPS was happy with the current structure of CSP.

Ms Molebatsi asked about why Corruption Watch referred the case against McKinsey to the US Justice Department.

Mr Lewis responded that Corruption Watch has received reports from whistleblowers within SAPS on corruption within the organisation. The whistleblowers are often very nervous, feel threatened despite having statutory protections given to whistleblowers. We need to inculcate a culture where people who see corruption are able to report cases of corruption. The names of whistleblowers are not revealed without their permission and police officers are not supposed to know the names of the whistleblowers. We need to inculcate a culture where whistleblowers are seen as heroes rather than impimpis. There is still that public opinion that views whistleblowers as “impimpis”, “rats” or “traitors” and this was a very strong description especially within an organisation like SAPS. There is a need to encourage a whistleblower environment even if it was coming from highly compromised individuals in the past. There are no easy answers on how to protect whistleblowers and protecting them through positive public opinion looked like a way to go at the moment. It is sensible that body-worn cameras and vehicle cameras act as deterrence against corruption by police officers especially deterring petty corruption. Corruption Watch created a campaign where the public would know their rights and who to engage with when they see corruption.

Mr Lewis added that government has already initiated public discussion around the new National Anti-Corruption Strategy and this was a lengthy document dealing with corruption within the law enforcement. It would be important for SAPS to start with the appointment of a head for Hawks who has public trust, is competent and is a person of integrity, appointed in the transparent manner. The first step is to appoint heads who are competent. The appointments that had been made by the former head of Hawks, Lt Gen Ntlemeza, needed to be examined and this would be a hard route that needed to be taken. Systemic corruption is not only reflected in the grand corruption. Petty corruption needs to be addressed as there is also problem of bribery of traffic police officers. Corruption Watch heard that there is a lot of money that Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) police officers are paying to the people who recruited them. This is a typical example of a systemic web of corruption. Corruption Watch referred the McKinsey case to the US Justice Department because there was a belief that DPCI would not act on this case. McKinsey is a USA firm and therefore it is subject to USA regulations.     

The Chairperson expressed concern about lack of stability in SAPS top management and this needed to be addressed. What was being done by the top management to enforce accountability? The increase in serious and organised crime was a major concern and had to be dealt with. When are we to get the permanent DPCI structure? The Committee should get assurance from the National Commissioner that the current senior management team is able to deliver. There has to be proactive action to prevent serious and organised crime in the country. The contract mismanagement of Forensic Data Analysis (FDA) needed to be addressed as this pointed to the procurement problems within SAPS.

Ms Molebatsi wondered about the process in place to recruit people from all racial groups within SAPS. There is a lot of talk about SAPS now focused on “doing things right” and this should include the protection of stolen goods at station levels. What was the progress on compensation for victims of the Marikana massacre?

Ms Mabija was concerned that criminals continue killing our people including police officials and this had to be addressed. There is a lot of “pep talk” without any action to deal with crime in the country.

Mr Maake wanted to know if there is an overall strategy in place to deal with Community Policing Forums (CPFs). The Committee should be provided with an update on uniforms for CPFs.

Ms Kohler-Barnard appreciated that the new Minister of Police was able to improve the morale of police officers as there seemed to be a lot of enthusiasm at the moment. However, the problem of police killings continued despite this improvement in morale. There is corruption where police members are being bribed or asking for bribes. How far must we look ahead for a turnaround in SAPS members so they can be considered trustworthy by the general public?

Mr Mbhele said that SAPS stated that there would be a priority on code unification and ensure optimal unification of police service to be able to nail down criminals. What novelty or departure was this from the status quo? The three key areas to ensure that SAPS was effective are localisation, specialisation and professionalisation but it looked like none of these key areas are highlighted.

Mr Mhlongo agreed that there was indeed a lot of confidence in the current Minister of Police but the reality is that “the house had been burning for a while” so that it was difficult for SAPS to remain stable. Corruption in the country had increased with greater levels of impunity. The Hawks should ensure that there is level of accountability and that people are being brought to book for misconduct. Are we still working with Interpol to extradite the Guptas so that they could be arrested? Was this really a difficult thing for the Hawks to do? We need to deal with corruption in the country before it explodes and is uncontrollable. It was perhaps the time for SAPS to push for an amendment of this federalist outlook where MECs have more power and authority because of this separation of powers.

Minister of Police briefing
General Bheki Cele, Minister of Police, indicated that there is a situation within SAPS where people are doing things they are not supposed to and this was totally unacceptable and it needed to be addressed. SAPS has arrested a number of corrupt police officers and there are even some police officers who are involved in cash-in-transit-heists and this was not good for the image of SAPS. Short listing had been done for the position of DPCI Head but then a decision was taken to start afresh with the recruitment because of the unhappiness on some of the issues. There will be a briefing tomorrow on the compensation of victims of Marikana massacre. The announcement on the new DPCI Head was initially scheduled for 1 May 2018 but this process has been pushed to 1 June this year. The police killings were really sad and it made one utter bad and cruel words towards criminals because of the pain of seeing police officers being killed in this manner. The Minister stated that he just returned from a visit to the family of the police officer who was killed by criminals in Site C and there was a lot of anguish in the family as the police officer had left behind a one-year-old child.

General Cele added that the spatial design of most black townships contributed to the high levels of crime because it was extremely difficult to conduct policing in these areas due to the design of these informal settlements. We need to equip police officers to be able to deal better with criminals. SAPS would need to start afresh on the Community Policing Forums (CPFs) as it looked like the CPFs have lost their initial understanding. The role of the CPFs is to assist police officers in the fight against crime instead of being in conflict with police officers. There are instances where these CPFs are dominated by criminals who are merely involved in monitoring police officers. There is a challenge of shortage of resources for CPFs to be able to operate efficiently and this is something that we will need to deal with. CPF members should undergo the vetting process so as to remove criminals in the CPF environment. SAPS needed about R2 billion to promote 66 000 police officials who have been stagnant in their careers, without any promotion. The career stagnation of SAPS members was problematic as this contributed to the problem of corruption. There are even captains who live in informal settlements and these people cannot be expected to wake up in the middle of the night to fight against criminals when there is a lack of incentives.

General Cele mentioned that SAPS would need to do better at training and retention of skilled SAPS members. The single policing service is a constitutional matter and the problem at present is that municipalities are refusing to be part of this multi-player system. There is a problem of crime in the Western Cape especially in Black and Coloured areas and we need to de-socialise our communities away from crime. There is a new trend where rifles like AK47 are coming through the borders of our country and these AK47s are being used in most cash-in-transit heists. Nyanga in Cape Town is leading in terms of murders and there are people within Nyanga who are proud that the place maintains its status as the leading capital for murder in the country. This means people need to be socialised differently to strongly condemn acts of criminality. There will be an Imbizo in Mitchell’s Plain within two days and this is aimed at understanding the problem of gangsterism in the area. People have gotten used to these senseless killings because of gangsterism and this this needed to be addressed. SAPS believed that resources should be allocated to where most needed and not to well-off areas where crime is low. SAPS would be starting in June to build a police station in Samora Machel next to Phillipi in Western Cape and then 2019 in Makhaza, Khayelitsa although someone was saying 2020.

Ms Mabija expressed concern about police officers who are on the payroll of criminals because they are not being paid enough including the 60 000 that are not being promoted through the ranks.

SAPS briefing on Medium Term Expenditure Framework
Lt Gen Phalaphala Ramikosi, SAPS Divisional Commissioner: Finance, stated the Estimates of National Expenditure (ENE), contains, inter alia, a strategic overview, expenditure estimates and expenditure trends. There is an average annual increase of 6.6% from 2017/18 to 2020/21. A total of R91,834,161 billion has been allocated in this financial year and there is an expected increase in the budget allocation in the next financial year. There is an increase of 6.3% for Visible Policing, 4.8% for Security and Protection Services and 4.1% increase for Administration. The construction and upgrading of police stations is expected to cost R824 million. DPCI has been given R1.617 billion. Compensation of employees is expected to be R70.7 billion. Visible Policing has 51% of the total budget in 2018/19 and Detective Services nearly 21%. Compensation of employees is the largest driver of spending at 77% of the total budget. He referred to the outcome of the announcement by the Ministers of Finance and Public Service and Administration to departments to reduce personnel numbers over the medium term. The operational expenditures, including goods and services, transfer payments and payments for capital assets total 23% of the total budget in 2018/2019. The growth rate for the Vote from 2017/18 to 2018/2019 is 5.8%.
           
Discussion
The Chairperson said that the Department of Basic Education (DBE) dedicates the bulk of its budget to those provinces with high migration and perhaps SAPS should move towards this strategy. The Committee should be briefed on the use of body-worn cameras and CCTV as it looked like there is no progress in this regard. The securitisation of police stations was critically important. Where are you likely to get the money for the upgrading of police stations?

Ms Molebatsi asked if the R824 million for the construction and upgrading of police stations would include the installation of CCTV and body-worn cameras. The Committee visited China and it was clear the body-worn cameras were working wonders.

Ms Mmola asked if the R92 billion budget would fight crime in the country and build community trust in police officers. It was unclear why there was an increase in budget for the compensation of employees. It was notable that North West, Mpumalanga and Northern Cape received less budget allocation than other provinces. Why was this case?

Mr Maake asked if the SAPS budget had increased or not. It was concerning to note that National Treasury was so powerful to the point of changing SAPS programmes. Who was going to do the reductions in the budget allocation? It was unclear why there was a decrease in budget for the Civilian Secretariat for Police (CSP). What can the Committee do address thisunderfunding of CPS? It looked like the Department was being set up for failure and this was a major concern to the Committee.

Ms Kohler-Barnard requested a breakdown of the SAPS budget. It looked impossible to justify the purchase of Bullet Resistant Vests (BRVs) costing R32 000 each. Where did you purchase these? It was previously indicated that this was an Indian company. Was it not related to the Guptas? Why did SAPS decide on the upgrade of police stations? What was the rationale used for the upgrade of these police stations? What was the timeframe for the commencement of lifestyle audits as this was an important mechanism to root out corruption within SAPS?

Mr Mbhele welcomed the fact there was an acceptable level increase for Programme 4 as there had been a spike in budget allocation for this particular programme in previous financial years. The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) raised a number of issues as to why there had been these increases in budget allocation for Programme 5. What was the cause of the escalation in the budget allocation for Programme 5 in previous financial years? The Department was under a huge pressure because of the limit in resources linked to the baseline reductions that had been made. SAPS would need to get innovative and smart because of the limited resources. The Committee should be briefed on the multi stakeholder interdisciplinary partnership approach as a way to compensate for the limited available resources. Common robbery is what feeds the fear that people have about their personal safety. Common robbery generally tends to have a predictable profile, it will happen early morning and early evenings and usually takes place in transport hubs and corridors. Common robbery is also an opportunistic crime as someone is looking for an opportunity to rob a person’s belongings. SAPs could address the problem of common robbery by striking a partnership with Department of Public Works to have community patrollers who are trained to reduce the incidence of common robbery. Are we looking at this kind of innovation?

Mr Mhlongo asked if the benchmarking was done was for the current DPCI or the envisioned DPCI. It was clear that if the benchmarking was done on the current DPCI then there would be no movement as we do not have DPCI at the moment as it was just a name. There should be a relook at current SAPS contracts to see if the public funds are being used as intended.

Minister Cele responded that there is a need to bring the Compensation of Employees to an acceptable level as it seemed to be too high at the moment. It was contradictory to have so much allocated for the Compensation of Employees while personnel figures are going down. However, we also need to be aware that the promotion of employees also speaks to the compensation of employees. SAPS should not become a welfare department where everyone is given money. Visibility was one big area in policing. All police vehicles should put their lights on all the time as this was a fear factor for criminals. There should be collaboration with municipalities to deal with criminals. One big factor of crime is house robbery and this could be addressed through police visibility. The benchmarking was done on the current structure of DPCI. There is nothing wrong with the structure of DPCI. The structure of DPCI is not problematic.

Lt Gen Ramikosi responded that SAPS was looking at the annual plans of the various police entities to get a sense of the different activities to be undertaken in terms of the required personnel and training. There is also a look into the procurement plans of the various entities, information technology (IT) plans and BRVs to be procured. SAPS would need to be innovative because of limited resources and this included the migration of resources to areas where crime had been addressed. SAPS needed to undertake a budget analysis to quantify needs that are closer to reality. SAPS will send a request for funding of CCTV cameras and body-worn cameras as this is a once-off need that could be dealt with and put aside. The emerging factors talk to what should be in the business case and included in the special request to Treasury for additional funding. The commitment made by SAPS is to ring fence resources at the local level so that the lower levels are capacitated. SAPS was losing about 5 000 to 6 000 members on an annual basis and the negotiation with Treasury was that SAPS need to replace these annual losses so as not to weaken SAPS.

General Khehla Sitole, National Commissioner of Police, replied that there is migration of resources and this talks to budget direction according to the direction that SAPS would be following from May 2018. The whole budget distribution process should follow the migration of resources. The migration of resources is informed by where crime is and where we need to fight crime. There is a shifting of resources to frontline service because of the need to resource police stations. SAPS took a decision that a police station would not be finished unless the security installations are part of the police station and this is a change that was being followed. SAPS need to combat and stabilise crime and more resources would be directed to combat all crimes of fear and their modus operandi. There will be far more intensified focus on modus operandi. There is a need for more accountability and divisional commissioners need to be held accountable for budget spending. There will be a full-blown Programme Managers Committee to ensure that everyone is able to account for budget spending. SAPS was currently addressing the input and output indicators. There is a review of the Performance Management System to match strategy to outcomes. Treasury only provides a guideline on how SAPS should use the money and they do not make a determination on where the money should be used.

General Sitole added that once policing is compromised then everything else falls apart. SAPS will need to speak to Cabinet and express concern about the way in which its budget is currently being handled. SAPS needed to consider community input on ways to deal with crime. This included getting more community patrollers to enhance the neighbourhood watch. SAPS is planning to develop an activation database and there is already commitment from private security companies, banks and all other stakeholders to work together in the fight against crime. There is also CCTV camera fusion which is to be implemented with the Safer City Model. For example, SAPS noticed that there are more than 150 CCTV cameras in Bloemfontein but all of them are shaped according to the needs of the owner. SAPS appealed to them that CCTV cameras should be shaped in a manner so that they are able to cover the whole radius in order to fight crime. SAPS is looking at a similar approach in other areas. There are engagements with businesses to augment the resources that SAPS has at the present moment. The spike in the budget for Protection and Security Service is because of the identified threat. What brings the budget down on the Protection and Security Service is the mitigation of the threat. The mitigation factor runs concurrently with the execution of the threat.  

The Chairperson indicated that the Committee would start with Programme 1 of the SAPS APP the next day.

The meeting was adjourned.