SAPS on its 2017/18 Quarter 3 & 4 performance

Meeting report

Chairperson’s opening remarks
The Chairperson said that the Committee had lost a great amount of time due to plenary debates. The Committee would be compelled to work extremely hard during June and Members should also be prepared to work during the recess period in order to process the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) Amendment Bill. The quarterly reports for the Civilian Secretariat for Police (CSP), Private Security Industry Regulation Authority (PSIRA) and IPID would be moved to the first and second week of June. He noted the good efforts of the Northern Cape provincial commissioner and his team in assisting some of the citizens affected by the unrest flowing from North West. The Committee would like to say well done and this effort was appreciated. The Committee also received a good report from civil society on the performance of the KwaZulu-Natal organised crime unit for arrests of suspects and convictions in the Glebelands cases. The KZN organised crime unit was an example to other units in the country to continue with this work.  

South African Police Service (SAPS) Quarter 3 & 4 financial report
Maj Gen Johann Nelson, SAPS Head: Financial Management and Accounting Services, said that actual expenditure of each quarter in a financial year, will not precisely equal planned expenditure due to factors such as delivery of vehicles and other equipment, dependency on conclusion of negotiations in bargaining councils and invoicing frequency by the Department of Public Works. There was full utilisation of funds in 2017/18 with 99.8%. The virement for all programmes were all within the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) limitation of 8%. The Compensation of Employees actual spending for the period comprises of 101.4% of allocated budget. A total of R1.465 billion was removed from SAPS 2017/18 compensation budget during the previous Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF). There was also higher than anticipated salary increases as signed in the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) and the budget increased nominally by 6.7% whilst 7.3% cost of living salary adjustments were paid for levels 1-12 in all departments.

The Goods and Services spending was 94.8% of its budget. Transfers and subsidies comprised 113.2% of allocated budget mainly due to increased payments towards retirement benefits and civil claims.

Programme 1: Administration had increased spending on the Panel of Experts within the Ministry. Spending on Management was lower as acting National Commissioner and support staff remuneration vested against division of origin. Under Programme 2: Visible Policing, there was a marginal net underspending. There was underspending on Programme 3: Detective Services. The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (DPCI) exclusive amount was utilised to the fullest extent.

There was a notable net variance in Programme 4: Crime Intelligence due to increased spending on Compensation of Employees for higher than planned living increases negotiated and paid. Additional investments were for capital purchases to support intelligence functions. There was notable underspending under Programme 5: Protection and Security Services. There was increased spending on Compensation of Employees. The restructuring arrangements impacted on Government Security Regulator.

Discussion
The Chairperson asked if the Department was moving towards unqualified audit opinion. The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) informed SAPS that they were not complying with Resolution 7 of 2015 about payment of subsidies to SAPS members occupying department housing. What was being done to address this? Why did this happen in the first place. What is the status report on the total number of SAPS members currently renting department housing? The Committee should be provided with policy clarity on whether SAPS members can stay in such accommodation forever. He said it was unclear if the target date for the implementation of the Firearm Amnesty was still 1 June 2018. This request needed to go to the House for adoption and there are only two sittings left. Was the date likely to be postponed?

Ms M Mmola (ANC) asked about progress on the installation of CCTV cameras at police stations and body cameras for frontline police officers. The Committee should be provided with more information on the deferred payment of R272 million paid for medical aid. Was this done legally?
           
Ms L Mabija (ANC) asked about the progress report on the status of housing for SAPS members. How much had been spent for renovation of such accommodation?

Mr J Mahlangu (ANC) asked how long it normally takes to pay newly employed SAPS members and to terminate payment of SAPS members after termination of their contract. It was commendable to note a balanced expenditure report but what was the reason for spending in the first quarter being slightly below the threshold. In expenditure on Crime Intelligence, it looked as if there is more focus on problematic areas like the KZN political killings, Eastern Cape police killings and Western Cape gang violence. However, there is small area between Gauteng and Mpumalanga in Nkangala where there had been an increase in crime. It used to be one of the quietest places but a lot of strange things had happened in the past two years. Two Members of Parliament had been hijacked in the area and these vehicles are taken to Tembisa. SAPS should stabilize the area before people take the law into their own hands. The spending on Goods and Services seemed very high while there is a police station in Central Pretoria that is filthy and clearly not conducive for those working there.

Mr Z Mbhele (DA) added that Mr Mahlungu would be appalled if he were to undertake more police station oversight visits as the situation was extremely bad. The financial report did not include the data by economic classification so as to compare figures. On the over-expenditure on transfers and subsidies stemming from increased payment towards retirement benefits and civil claims, it was unclear if this also had to do with the rental subsidy back-pay. The reality is that financing resources is a zero sum game and you always have to make trade-offs. Which areas were being compromised to pay off this over expenditure on transfer and subsidies? Was the deferred medical aid payment of R272 million legal? It was concerning to see some police stations in Mamelodi, Pretoria operating unmarked vehicles and this was totally unacceptable. Why are these vehicles being distributed despite being unmarked? The risk of unmarked SAPS vehicles is that people will be reluctant to stop when approached by unmarked vehicles. He would certainly not stop if he were ordered to stop by an unmarked SAPS vehicle.

Ms D Kohler-Barnard (DA) asked about the SAPS accommodation around the country as there were lots of challenges. There is a SAPS block in Durban that is infested with rats and garbage and the surrounding housing is complaining about this SAPS block. There was a Gumtree advertisement where SAPS accommodation is being advertised as holiday accommodation. The lease agreement that SAPS had with this block in Durban had expired and the Department of Public Works (DPW) would not take on this accommodation until it was emptied.

She said it was worrisome to note that SAPS had under-expenditure in key competency areas. There was an indication as far back as 2015 that there would be a system to inform people who open a case about the progress of the case whether by SMS or website. The CJS revamp seemed to be pie in the sky at the moment and it was high time that this revamp was reviewed. There are some areas where strange things were happening within the K9 unit. There were reports of horses being starved to death and also being abused and some dogs are treated as filing cabinets. What was the progress on these reports?

General Khehla Sitole, National Commissioner of Police, replied that the internal controls framework of SAPS had not been properly controlled. An action plan was developed and fully implemented to address this problem. There is now a focus on holding people accountable for failure to achieve an unqualified audit. The situation has improved a lot and there is anticipation that SAPS would achieve an unqualified audit opinion. There would be a report on the status of housing including policy. SAPS members do not qualify for RDP houses and they cannot afford to buy houses. SAPS was trying to bring this to the policy review to address this problem. SAPS was trying to come up with a police estate because the barrack system does not contribute to the safety of SAPS members as they still need to be somewhere with their families. The police estate would keep SAPS members together with their families and SAPS can even provide transport. There was a briefing to the Minister on the Firearm Amnesty and the Minister had already made pronouncement on the Amnesty in the recent Budget Vote. SAPS would be requesting that the Amnesty should be shifted to 1 September 2018.

Lt Gen Fani Masemola, Deputy National Commissioner for Policing, responded that SAPS was taking note of the need for policing in Nkangala. There was crime originating from the prison in the area and SAPS did get in touch with the provincial commissioner to look at crime in the prison. A magistrate was killed in the area including an attack on family police officers. SAPS was aware that this was a problematic area. There are operations in the area and SAPS would further focus specifically on this area. The response of SAPS was reactionary in terms of investigation of these incidents.

Ms Kohler-Barnard asked about the specific SAPS apartment block in Durban where management of this block needed to be addressed. The response by the National Commissioner dealt with the problem of SAPS blocks in the country without specifically addressing the case in Durban.       

The Chairperson noted that the National Commissioner had left the meeting as he had to attend another meeting. SAPS should provide the Committee with holistic picture on SAPS accommodation numbers, those under leases and those that are debilitated and still needed to be renovated.

Lt Gen Masemola promised to provide this information including an audit of all the SAPS properties.

Lt Gen Joe Mokwena, Divisional Commissioner: Supply Chain Management, responded that there were steps taken to remove those individuals whose accommodation period had expired but they refused to move out. There was interference from human rights lawyers that the SAPS memebers should be provided with alternative accommodation before they can be relocated. SAPS Legal Services was currently addressing this as SAPS cannot forcefully remove them without providing alternative accommodation. The provincial commissioner is the one responsible for handling such accommodation. SAPS should get a court order to forcefully remove those who are not supposed to be staying there. There are reports that people there are selling drugs and there are even foreign nationals who are not supposed to be there. SAPS is aware of the situation and is following a legal process.

The Chairperson said that SAPS should be the ones to know about such accommodation and put controls in place to prevent this problem. It seemed this problem had been going on for some time now without any consequence management for provincial commissioners. There should be a full report on accommodation as promised so as to call in the provincial commissioners responsible for this.

Lt Gen Mokwena promised to invite SAPS Legal Services to be present at the Committee meeting to address SAPS accommodation. It is also true that some SAPS members do not want to pay for services being rendered. There was a proposal that SAPS deduct what was due to the Department from their salaries but there was now the issue that you cannot deduct money without consent. This was a very complicated case for SAPS. There is a tendency in the country as a whole that people want benefits without making payment and this was not acceptable. The problem has been going on for a while now and was a concern.

Ms Kohler-Barnard commented that if those SAPS members are reluctant to pay for services then they were breaking the law. We cannot allow a situation where SAPS members are breaking the law. Why are SAPS members allowed to break the law? SAPS should cut off services to those SAPS members as it was done to everyone who failed to pay.

Lt Gen Masemola responded that there is custodianship for everything that is within the province including accommodation. SAPS would work on this environment and report back to the Committee.

Maj Gen Nelson clarified that the audit concern was related to the network assets that were not disclosed. SAPS received the first draft of the asset register and sat with National Treasury on the outcome to be achieved on this. SAPS also sat with the Auditor-General. They were satisfied with progress achieved on network assets. SAPS would be able to share the draft asset register by next week. SAPS would disclose network related assets in the financial statements to ensure compliance.

The Chairperson asked if there are any items of concern. Are you on track for an unqualified audit opinion?

Maj Gen Nelson replied that there are no serious aspects to the findings of the interim audit but SAPS would prefer to wait for the final audit opinion. There are currently 165 000 employees who receive either home owner allowance or rental allowance. SAPS needed to address the problem in the payment facility as this was not in place.

The Chairperson asked if those SAPS members in the rental stock were receiving any subsidies.

Maj Gen Nelson confirmed that indeed that was the case. In terms of the deferred payment, the payment needs to be received on the first day of the new month and in this particular instance payment was only made on the first day of the month and therefore there was no noncompliance but it was just a technical issue. SAPS noted the request to include financial classification and this would be done from now onwards. Of the 5 450 SAPS vehicles ordered, 5 347 were delivered and delivery usually takes place towards the end of the financial year. SAPS did not experience any backlog in delivery of vehicles. SAPS looks through the programmes to identify under-expenditure and then looks at ways to accommodate the under and over-expenditure. SAPS needed to obtain Treasury approval to move funding to any over-expenditure in Compensation of Employees. SAPS also moved money from the Goods and Services to the Compensation of Employees. The process of payment of a newly recruited SAPS member starts from appointment and the documentation is processed by Human Resources (HR) while the salary offer is being made. It usually takes about 6-8 weeks before the payment can be effected. Alternative arrangements are being made when there are people who are being transferred from other departments to allow for the activation of payment.

Lt Gen Bonang Mgwenya, Deputy National Commissioner: Human Resource Management, replied that there is a period of 60 days before the termination of salary after the termination of employment. The 60 days would be from the time of termination until the finalisation of the termination to be submitted to Government Pensions Administration Agency (GPAA). There were challenges in the processing of termination of employment but this has since been corrected. The performance of HR in processing termination was currently sitting at 75%. There would be cases where SAPS would encounter challenges due to disputes and documents forwarded that were of unacceptable quality but measures had been put in place to address this. There can be follow-up on the specific case that Members are referring to.

Lt Gen Masemola replied that police stations are the responsibility of station commanders in ensuring they are clean. SAPS would report on the filthy police station in Central Pretoria and provide feedback.  
           
Lt Gen Nobesuthu Masiye, Divisional Commissioner: Visible Policing, explained there are two options for old-age dogs in the K9 unit. Option 1 is to send those old-age dogs to SPCA as there is an agreement with SPCA. Option 2 is to give operational members a right to buy a dog with the assurance all medical requirements for the dog are taken into consideration so that the dog can be in good welfare. There is no information on horses but this information can be provided. The assumption is that the same method might also be applied to horses.

Lt Gen Mokwena replied that a two-year contract has been put in place for the marking of vehicles. It is expected that all provinces should mark their vehicles in terms of the prescripts. SAPS would engage with Gauteng to ascertain why those vehicles have not been marked. There is indeed a challenge in the marking of vehicles and the concern was raised with the National Commissioner about adhering to the prescripts on the marking vehicles.

The Chairperson said that there should be a report on the marking of vehicles as soon as possible as Parliament rises in June and it would be totally unacceptable for SAPS to operate with unmarked vehicles.

Lt Gen Mokwena added that some of these matters have been raised at the National Management Forum and it was pleasing to see these being raised by Members. People who do not comply with these prescripts should face consequences.

Lt Gen Masemola replied that SAPS would need to review its target on the employment of people with disabilities. The 2% requirement is in conflict with the requirements to join SAPS as it required proper fitness and well being to be able to run after criminals. The target is that all government departments should meet this 2% requirement. SAPS believed that the 2% should be concentrated only on the 50 000 support service members than the actual SAPS members on the ground. There are SAPS members with disabilities and those are members that got injured on duty and are being retained as members of the service. The CSIR and Technology Management Services (TMS) went on to research CCTV cameras and body cameras and they are busy with the finalisation of the report. Legal Services is still busy on clarifying body cameras for frontline police officers. One opinion says body cameras would have to be classified the same as in the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-related information Act, No 70 of 2002, which means they are intrusive. SAPS Legal Services and Department of Justice and Constitutional Development are currently looking at whether SAPS should use the body cameras or amend that Act.

Maj Gen S Gabela, Chief Technology Officer: Technology Management Services, SAPS, replied that the Legal Services still needed to clarify the body camera matter. The technology used should be able to support the business unit. SAPS needs to be in compliance with all the legislations in order to implement the body cameras to circumvent civil lawsuits instituted as a result of the deployment of technology. SAPS has finalised the bid specification on CCTV cameras and supplied this to the supply chain management for publication. There will be a panel of suppliers and the bidders will be invited to visit the police stations and offer a solution that is suitable for particular sites.

Lt Gen Mokwena replied that all SAPS members on the system have BRVs. There is still some buffer stock and we maintain buffer stock at our stations for cases where something happens and we would be required to call our reservists. SAPS has achieved the target on the delivery of BRVs. SAPS did not achieve the target in the first quarter as there were problems with our suppliers but this did not impact our operational members as the demand at provincial level has been catered for in the buffer stock. The target for BRVs would be based on provincial demand. There is always a buffer stock. We sometimes need to dispose of some of the BRVs and this is always catered for in the buffer stock. Supply chain management (SCM) decided to procure 3 000 firearms and this was not what the provinces required. The provinces required 2 638 firearms based on demand on the ground. SCM made a mistake as it based the target on 3 000 firearms inclusive of buffer stock. It should have calculated 100% of 2 638 firearms based on the demand.

Lt Gen Mokwena replied that all the detention facilities are non-devolved facilities and still under the Department of Public Works (DPW). The National Commissioner has issued a directive to DPW to devolve essential facilities under the police function, especially police stations, detention facilities and garages.

Mr Mbhele asked if all detention facilities even at devolved police stations fell under DPW.

Lt Gen Mokwena clarified that there are only three police stations that are going to be opened and those police stations are devolved including the detention facilities. SCM did not achieve the target on the maintenance of detention facilities because the service providers abandoned the project and did not submit the necessary documents on time.

Lt Gen Sello Kwena, Divisional Commissioner: Human Resource Unit, SAPS, replied that SAPS has achieved the target of 92% on competency certificate for handling handguns. The focus is always on the legal principle where there is a clear articulation of section 49 of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 when and how a police official should use firearm. There are psychologists that are being appointed in helping on the issue of firearm competency. There are indeed those people who do not pass the competency certificate to carry firearm but one of promotional condition of SAPS is that a member must obtain firearm competency certificate in order to ensure that there are many members determined to obtain the firearm competency certificate. There is a continuous assessment and training that is being provided to those who still need to obtain this certificate.

Ms Kohler-Barnard asked if there is a core number of police members that still needed to obtain the firearm competency certificate. It was unclear if there are long term members who had not been able to obtain this competency certificate. What was being done to those members?

Lt Gen Kwena replied that there is a continuous reassessment of those members that are unable to obtain the competency certificate. There are members who have been declared by courts that they are not competent to carry the firearm for a period of time or permanently. There are members who have been declared as not competent to carry firearm because of post traumatic disorder.

Ms Kohler-Barnard asked about the number of police officers without a driver's licence.

Lt Gen Kwena replied that it was required initially that all SAPS members who enlisted must have a driver’s licence but management tried to accommodate those disadvantaged individuals with no driver’s licence or access to vehicles. It is not compulsory to have a driver’s licence for roughly about 10% of those recruited. There are two driving training academies - Benoni and Bishop Lavis. The only issue is that perhaps SAPS did not take into consideration the question of how long to give them to obtain the driver’s licence. Management is listening and this issue would be taken on board.
           
SAPS Programme 1 and 2 Performance Report for Quarter 3 & 4
Brigadier P Naicker, said that SAPS achieved a total of 73.91 targets, 25.22% targets were not achieved while only 1% where performance indicators were not measured in the third quarter. There was a target of 98% in terms of percentage of filled posts in terms of the approved establishment and SAPS achieved 98.51% in the third quarter. The establishment was 190555 in terms of the approved establishment of 193431. This was 99.93% in the fourth quarter and the establishment was 193 297 in terms of the approved establishment of 193431. There was an annual target of 65% for the finalisation of service terminations submitted to GPAA within 60 working days from date after the employee’s exit from the service. SAPS achieved 78.15% in the third quarter and a total of 361 applications were still pending within the 60 working days from the date after the employee's exit from the service. The same achievement was recorded in the fourth quarter. Firearms and bullet-resistant vests (BRVs) were distributed according to the demand. Orders were placed only in June 2017 for BRVs and distribution was slow in Quarter 1 and 2 but the annual target of 15 132 was over-achieved by year-end. There was a target of 100% of 3 000 firearms procured and distributed and 87,93% or 2 638 firearms distributed.

Brigadier Naicker stated that the Visible Policing target was to reduce the number of reported serious crime per annum which was amended from 2% to 3.4% to 1651 435. There were 437 996 reports of serious crime in Q3 of 2017/18 – down by 3.6% from 454 348 reports in Q3 of 2016/17 to 437 996. The reduction of reported serious crime was under-achieved in Q4 but the annual overall target was achieved. The target for reported crimes against women was initially a reduction by 2% and this was amended to 8.16%. There was an increase of 2.6% of reported crimes against women from 49 358 in Q3 (2016/2017) to 50 638 during Q3 (2017/2018). There was increase of 0.8% in Q4. Other indicators included reported crimes against children and victim-friendly services.

For all performance indicators for Programme 1 & 2, see Quarterly Performance document

Discussion
The Chairperson asked the main problem for the slow distribution of Bullet Resistant Vests (BRVs). Was this a supply chain matter? What were the implications for operations? There had been a report of some units not having enough BRV stock. What was being done to address this? What is the Service Level Agreement (SLA) for BRVs? There seemed to be no correlation in figures provided on page 20 for the target for proactive and responsive policing to reduce the levels of priority crime. The Committee did not get a status report on CCTV cameras at police stations.

Ms Mmola asked why some information was not available as marked in grey on the document. Why did SAPS fail to achieve the 2% target to appoint people with disabilities?

Mr Mahlangu said that firearms at police stations end up in the hands of criminals. SAPS should perhaps consider using firearms with biometrics to recognise fingerprints as there are these sorts of technologies in the world. Was there any thinking of using cameras in vehicles to disrupt the trend of corruption within the police force? How was SAPS dealing with challenges in ICT procurement including from the State Information Technology Agency (SITA)?

Mr P Mhlongo (EFF) referred to a police station within Shoprite Mall in Newlands East, KZN which mall is owned by Mr Schabir Shaik and the son of the former President. The detention cells in this police station are debilitated and leaking water from the roof. He tried to secure a meeting with the station commander to find out how much money was spent by SAPS on this police station. He wanted to make it clear that he “smelled a rat” in that someone was milking state money without any benefits to this police station. The station was in a rotten condition despite being located within a mall.

Mr Mbhele asked about the challenges that resulted in the inability to meet the Q1 and 2 targets for repair and renovation of detention facilities at devolved police stations. The fact that those stations are devolved means that SAPS had direct control of procurement without having to rely on the Department of Public Works. It would be important for SAPS to ensure that more and more police stations become devolved so as to divorce more SAPS infrastructure from the problems that had engulfed Public Works. It was clear that there were many unachieved targets in the ICT environment. Was this related to delay in the SLA with SITA?

Ms Kohler-Barnard noted that more than 5 000 SAPS operational members were without a competency certificate for handguns. She asked if there is a stipulated cut-off period for SAPS members without handgun competency certificate to obtain this certificate. This was a concern.

She said previously it was a requirement for any police recruit to have a driver’s licence but this was lifted. SAPS is now had taken on the expense of training people to acquire the licence. However, the main problem is there is no cut-off date for those members recruited without a competency certificate for handguns or driver’s licence to obtain these skills. Did the Capital Works projects refer to stations built or extensions? It was still unclear if the building of police stations was being done by Public Works or if SAPS was doing some of the building. She asked about the shortage of BRVs in Q1 and 2 and said there should be consequence management for this. It was concerning to see all the targets not achieved in Crime Intelligence.
 
The Chairperson asked if the cluster commander and station commander in Mamelodi West police station had been suspended or were still in service. It was reported that the Joja family went to Mamelodi West police station to report Katlego missing but they were turned away and there was no recourse. What was happening in that environment? There should be consequence management for incompetency. The Minister indicated last night that the key focus would be on women and children. The station and cluster commanders should be held responsible for what is happening at police stations. What is the status quo on the land invasion that took place in Kraaifontein? Who is the Firearm Registrar in charge of the Firearm Register and what is the turnaround in this environment?

The Chairperson expressed concern that many targets had not been achieved on serious crimes. There are many cases of cash-in-transit heists where explosives are used. It is quite clear that there should be an extraordinary collaborative effort with South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) to curb these heists. This is state authority that is being severely compromised and it was completely unacceptable to have these daily occurrences of cash-in-transit robberies. The Committee would need to call SABRIC and relevant private security role players to deal with this. What are the short and medium-term plans to address this? The involvement of police officers in these heists is evident and this needed to be prioritised.

Ms Mmola asked for the reasons SAPS did not achieve certain targets in Programme 2 and 3. What steps are being taken to achieve these targets?

Ms A Molebatsi (ANC) referred to a case at the Mamelodi West police station five years back where a police officer beating someone in the police holding cells. It seemed as if there was a leadership problem at this police station. What was the progress on the shortage of DNA kits at local police stations?

Mr Mbhele said that the actual conviction rate for murders of children is only 35% and this was a serious concern that needed to be addressed. There should be a focus on improving the conviction rate for child murder given the trauma that those families go through.
           
Ms Kohler-Barnard mentioned the reports of farm attacks around the country especially in rural areas. There are many police stations that are unable to respond to these farm attacks because of lack of resources. What was the progress about reservists? Was there any shortage of pilots within SAPS?

Lt Gen Masemola acknowledged that some targets had not been achieved and one would expect that SAPS would need to achieve more targets. The management embarked on a number of operations in October last year and one of them was Operation Fiela. This operation was added-on on top of the Back to Basics Approach. SAPS has implemented the Cash-in-Transit (CIT) operational plan which started last Sunday and it focused on four provinces: North West, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Gauteng. The operation has started and he was hopeful that SAPS would get on top of this spike of cash-in-transit robberies. Management has also tasked the CI to deal with these cases. In the past most cash-in-transit robberies used to be in remote areas but they are now in urban areas and the response time is sometimes impacted by traffic especially in Gauteng. He met with SABRIC about including the use of helicopters. SAPS had already started making use of helicopters but Legal Services still needed to fix a few things in this area. SAPS would have more wings to fly around Gauteng within two weeks. It takes about 10 minutes to commit these heists and the response by SAPS is always hampered by traffic. That is why there is a need to use additional support.

The Chairperson stated that the crime environment is constantly changing and the criminals seemed to be way ahead of SAPS at the moment. There is a need for an action plan to be implemented urgently to deal with the changing environment in crime. SAPS should fight fire with fire.

Mr Mhlongo said that South Africa was becoming a lawless state and people are doing just as they please.

Maj Gen Anthony Jacobs, Head: Crime Intelligence (CI), replied that indeed the phenomenon of the current cash-in-transit heists is different from the previous heists particularly in the use of explosives. One needed to understand the patterns of these heists. Most of these attacks are both in cities and their outskirts. SAPS was able to arrest 10 individuals after the cash-in-transit heist in Western Cape and this was after forcing a particular maneuver. There is a plan to address the particular attack methodology of the use of explosives. The impact would not be felt immediately but we are beginning to address this. The attacks have been on the new vans transporting cash as the old vans are almost like nyalas and criminals needed to overturn them to get to the cash. The industry has probably gone cheaper and created the problem being targeted by criminals. There is also the problem of leaked information by people working within the industry and the industry not having its own security system in place especially on information transmission. We need to get into the banking sector to begin to talk to those who are involved. There are identified routes being targeted and these routes are sometimes unavoidable because they are between two towns. An approach is being developed collectively to deal with these heists.

Lt Gen Masemola replied that SAPS was in the process of buying two new air fleets and there is consideration that there must be a war on these cash-in-transit heists. The Gauteng provincial commissioner had specifically been sent to deal with the Mamelodi West police station case. It was still unclear at the moment the progress in this case involving Katlego’s family. A directive had been issued on what should be done when there is a land invasion as this was becoming common throughout the country at the moment.

Lt Gen Masiye replied that SAPS had issued a national instruction as from last year including guidelines on what is to be done when there is land invasion. SAPS will sometimes involve the land owners on land invasion and there is immediate action taken even if poles had been erected. There are a lot of land invasions at the moment and SAPS was dealing with them.

Lt Gen Masiye replied that the section head of Central Firearm Register (CFR) is Brigadier Mabule. The Rural Safety Strategy is not implemented in its totality. SAPS visited a number of police stations in rural areas in the Quarter 3 especially in Limpopo. It was clear that a number of rural police stations were not in compliance with the Rural Safety Strategy. Coordinators were not appointed in writing although they were there and there was no integrated operations as per the criteria that needed to be implemented to deal with crime. SAPS will reach the target on the implementation of Rural Safety Strategy because we are only left with 46 police stations in Limpopo that did not implement the rural safety strategy.

Lt Gen Masiye replied that not all police stations have victim friendly support rooms. There are 1 049 police stations with victim friendly support rooms. Referrals are made in cases where there is no victim friendly support room in a police station. There are 11 098 reservists in the country with Eastern Cape having the largest number of reservists. SAPS has embarked on the recruitment of reservists and there are reservists that are trained. The reservists are called up by the National Commissioner when there are specific duties to be undertaken so as to add numbers to an operation.

Lt Gen Mokwena replied that there was a request from the forensic laboratories for DNA kits but the National Commissioner was unable to approve the submission to purchase from the same supplier as there is a pending case on this matter.

The Chairperson asked if this meant that there is stock of DNA kits.

Lt Gen Mokwena agreed this was the case and there is also a letter from IPID saying Supply Chain Management cannot proceed with the purchase of DNA kits.

Ms Molebatsi said that it was worrisome that people in the DNA laboratory were now working without DNA kits. What was being done to address this?

Mr Mhlongo suggested that the Chairperson should invite the Minister of Public Enterprises to be present when discussing these procurement matters. Armscor had the entire technical know-how required by SAPS but Denel had not been rising to the occasion because it had been captured by the Guptas. Forensic Data Analysis (FDA) is just primarily there for the looting of State resources.
           
SAPS Programme 3, 4 and 5 Performance Report for Quarter 3 & 4
Brigadier Naicker said that there was an annual target of 37% for the detection of serious crime. SAPS did not achieve this in Q3 (35.7%; 754 270 from a total of 2 112 801) or Q4 (35.97%; 747890 from a total of 2 079 300. The target for conviction rate for serious crime was 85%. The Q3 conviction rate was 89.21%; 132 763 convictions out of a possible 148 825) and 89.4% in Q4.

The annual target for the conviction rate for crimes committed against women 18 years and above was 83%. SAPS achieved 83.70% in Q3 and 84% in Q4. The conviction rate for crimes committed against children was 78%. SAPS achieved 80.79% in Q3 and 81.07% in Q4.

In Programme 4, the annual target for conducting network operations was 876 and 887 were achieved by year-end. The annual target for finalising vetting investigations was 1154. This target was achieved with 1 356 investigations finalised. Crime Intelligence did not achieve the target of 100% for operationalising either proactive or reactive crime intelligence reports for any of the four quarters.
           
In Programme 5 there was an annual target of 100% for the provision of protection to VIPs without any security breaches. SAPS achieved 100% for both 3rd and fourth quarter. There was also a target of 100% for the protection provided at identified government installations and identified VIP residences. SAPS achieved this target for both third and fourth quarter. There was a target of 100% for the evaluation of National Key Points and this target was also achieved for both third and fourth quarter. There was an annual target of 49% for the strategic installations audited. SAPS achieved this target in the third quarter but failed to achieve this target in the fourth quarter with only 24 strategic installations audited.

For all performance indicators for Programme 3, 4 & 5, see Quarterly Performance document

Discussion
Ms Kohler-Barnard asked why so many targets were not achieved by Crime Intelligence as this a major concern. The Committee should be provided with some hope that this is being addressed so as to have an efficient Crime Intelligence in the country that is able to offset criminal activities.

The Chairperson asked about informants to ensure that Crime Intelligence was able to deal with acts of criminality in the country. Criminal Intelligence should be able to know what is going on in the country. What are the plans in place to improve this? It was quite clear that in terms of proactive intelligence, SAPS was not really on top of it. The Committee undertook an oversight visit to a police station in an Eastern Cape township where only one informant was registered for a massive area. What are the measures to ensure there is coverage? There is also radicalism and threats coming from international role players directed to South Africa. The important question is whether we are capable of dealing with these threats.

Maj Gen Jacobs replied that what has been reintroduced is the SAPS management system and this was critically important. SAPS is also using National Intelligence and this providing guidance on the areas that needed to be prioritised. There is limited capacity at the moment and therefore there is a need to prioritise key problematic areas. Crime Intelligence has prioritised 10 key crime categories to ensure we get coverage. There is enough analysis capacity in place to respond proactively. They needed to do follow-up on how the reports produced are utilised better to enhance policing. There is also cooperation with the Divisional Commissioner for Visible Policing and the Deputy National Commissioner for Policing and collaboration was very important in dealing with crime. Strategic intervention was needed to repair the bad image of Crime Intelligence. Repairing its image would help in improving how it was working. There are 71 identified problems and a team has been established to identify these key challenges and repair them.

Maj Gen Jacobs noted that austerity had been introduced and this included the type of vehicles purchased. He was now being driven in a smaller car and this was part of the austerity measures in place. Rentals are done and this was being done well. An analysis was always made before the renewal of rentals. There are four key problems ravaging the country at the moment and these are cash-in-transit robberies, gangsterism, public violence and political killings. People had been tasked to look into these areas and actively respond to these. The Committee would be provided with a report at the end of June on the status of the problems within the Crime Intelligence. There are problems but there are also a lot of good people within Crime Intelligence. There had been two resignations so far and these were probably good ones. Crime Intelligence was beginning to turn the corner but it was still early to speak more about this. Lt Gen Masemola was very supportive of Crime Intelligence. The Crime Intelligence structure will be finalised within a month or so.

Lt Gen Masemola replied that SAPS managed to achieve the target on crimes against children including serious incidents. For example, there was a kidnapping of a child and ransom demand from the parents and SAPS was able to recover the child within five days. There is a concerted effort to ensure conviction of those arrested for serious crimes against children. He referenced the unsolved murders of two children in Thokoza which was a complicated case. Some police stations would say there are no available DNA kits while they took too long to make the order. SAPS had advised police stations not to wait until the DNA kits are finished before placing an order. They must apply to maintain sufficient stock.

Lt Gen Mokwena replied that there are challenges with pilots as this is a scarce skill. SAPS is supposed to have 60 pilots throughout the country but currently there is only 50. We have already submitted the request for the posts in this financial year. There are currently 9 pilots in training and they would be deployed if they managed to successfully complete the training.

Ms Kohler-Barnard said that the police officer responsible at the Mamelodi West police station should face disciplinary action as that person was the cause of the death of that child.

In reply to the Chairperson asking if SAPS was ready to deal with the volume of people at FNB stadium to watch Barcelona versus Mamelodi Sundowns, Lt Gen Masemola said that indeed SAPS was ready

The meeting was adjourned.