IPID, CSPS & PSIRA 2022/23 Annual Performance Plans; POPCRU and IPUSA input

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Police

22 April 2022
Chairperson: Ms T Joemat-Pettersson (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

Video

Civilian secretariat for police

Independent police investigative directorate

Private security industry regulatory authority

IPUSA input Outstanding 

In a virtual meeting, the Committee was briefed by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service (CSPS) and the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA) on their Annual Performance Plans for 2022/23. The Committee had also invited the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) and the Independent Policing Union of South Africa (IPUSA) to do a presentation on the challenges they have identified with the 2022/23 budget and Annual Performance Plans.

The Directorate presentation indicated that the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) budget allocation does not make space for any expansion of services; it would continue with the commitments that it already has. The Directorate will focus on the recruitment of investigation quality assurers to improve the quality of case dockets and increase prosecution of these cases.

The Civilian Secretariat for Police Services budget for the current financial year 2022/23 is about R150.2 million, which is an increase of less than one percent (i.e., R1.2 million) from the previous financial year. The entity embarked on a theory of change, which would allow it to better articulate how the work that it does culminates into the impact on the ground; this will be implemented incrementally over the remainder of the medium-term and adapted where relevant.

The Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority presentation noted that the budget growth over the expenditure framework period is estimated at an average of seven percent, which is mainly collected through annual fees and administration fees. Future estimates and plans indicate a higher growth in expenditure vs revenue (budget) with the existing funding model, hence the need for the Levies funding model.

The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union presented its views on the management structure of the South African Police Service (SAPS), lack of resources, crime prevention and community involvement, gender-based violence, visible policing, police killings and attacks on police stations.

The Policing Union of South Africa presentation addressed its views on the various programmes and expenditure of the Police Services.

The Committee asked about the status of the Community Safety Forums countrywide and how the upcoming local government elections would impact the establishment of the Community Safety Forums.

The Civilian Secretariat was asked about the impact it has on the ground and how this impact was measured.

The Committee asked why there are two employment Acts within this Department, namely the Public Service Act and the South African Police Services Act. They questioned why there were so many murders of police officers, why so many firearms get lost or taken from the police, and why the Police service delivery is so poor.

Meeting report

The Chairperson said that the Committee will receive responses from the South African Police Service (SAPS) emanating from the questions that the Committee had asked in the previous meeting. The Committee will then be briefed on the budget of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), the Civilian Secretariat for Police Services (CSPS) and the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA) on their Annual Performance Plans for 2022/23. The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) and the Independent Policing Union of South Africa (IPUSA) have been invited to do a presentation on the challenges they have identified with the 2022/23 budget and Annual Performance Plans (APPs). The South African Policing Union (SAPU) was also invited but unfortunately declined due to the short notice.

Ms Babalwa Mbengo, Committee Secretary, noted the apologies from Rev K Meshoe (ACDP), Ms B Marekwa (ANC) and Ms S Patrien (ANC). The Minister and National Commissioner will be attending the funeral of Sergeant B Mjwara in KwaZulu-Natal. The Deputy Minister will be attending an IPID event in Mpumalanga.

Adoption of minutes

The Committee’s minutes of 30 March was considered and adopted.

SAPS Presentation: Responses to Questions Emanating from the Meeting of 20 April 2022

Lt. Gen. FN Vuma, Deputy National Commissioner: Support Services, SAPS, said that the only question that the SAPS would not yet respond to is with regards to the issue of the living conditions for police trainees in Kimberley. The SAPS team is still in Kimberley but SAPS will prepare a report on this and submit it by Monday.

Brigadier CB Mitchell, Section Head: Planning and Strategic Management, SAPS, covered the following responses:

Underspending 2021/2022

Of the total SAPS budget, R100.4 billion, allocated for the 2021/2022 financial year, the actual expenditure, as at 31 March 2022, was 99.13%. This is a noticeable improvement in the spending performance of the 2020/2021 financial year. Underspending was therefore only 0.87%.

Audit Opinion 2021/2022

No material findings were issued in the interim audit, and the Department is positive that an unqualified audit opinion is again possible for SAPS, for the 2021/2022 financial year’s final audit.

Filling of Critical Posts

Critical vacant posts in the SAPS are advertised and filled on a regular basis. The post of Divisional Commissioner for Crime Intelligence has been advertised, and the filling of the post is currently being prioritised.

Term of Office of the National Commissioner

The contract of employment for the National Commissioner is between the President and the National Commissioner; this is a fixed-term contract that is not dependent on age.

Comprehensive Report on the SAPS Air Wing

As at 20 April 2022, there are six serviceable helicopters and five serviceable fixed wings. This is a total of 11 serviceable aircraft.

IPID Annual Performance Plan 2022/23

Ms Jennifer Ntlatseng, Executive Director, IPID, presented an Executive Director’s overview, which included the key priorities for the 2022/2023 financial year:

  1. Amendment of IPID Act.
  2. Strengthen investigative capacity and improve the quality of investigations.
  3. Implementation of IPID Protection Policy to mitigate possible threats against investigators.
  4. Development of framework for case screening and prioritisation of cases.
  5. Finalise the development and signing of MoU with the Military Ombuds and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.
  6. Continuous reprioritisation of personnel for optimal utilisation of limited resources.
  7. Appointment of contract workers to assist the department with contingency liability.
  8. Source a new Case Management System.
  9. Finalisation of key ICT projects:
    1. Network upgrades for SITA data line;
    2. Network upgrade for Telkom links; and
    3. Computer upgrades; 193 computers were procured in the 2021/2022 financial year
  10. Empowerment of youth through learnership and internship programmes.
  11. Empowerment of women through procurement of goods and services from women-owned enterprises
  12. Increase representation of persons living with disability in the department.
  13. Continue to strengthen internal control systems to ensure compliance with applicable legislation.

Mr Patrick Setshedi, Acting CFO, IPID, covered the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) expenditure overview. He said that the MTEF budget allocation does not make space for any expansion of services by IPID; it is just a continuation of the commitments that it already has. IPID will focus on the recruitment of investigation quality assurers to improve the quality of case dockets and increase prosecution of these cases. Considering the limited resources, IPID has partnered with the provincial departments of Community Safety in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Northern Cape in order to share resources and assist IPID with office spaces and to ensure that its services are accessible in various communities. IPID has also reprioritised its resources over the MTEF to ensure that it improves its ICT infrastructure and modernise its services.

Ms Suzan Letlape, Director: Strategy and Performance Monitoring, IPID, covered the adjustments to the Strategic Plan for the 2020-2025 financial period. She said that the only adjustments were for Programme Two, Investigation and Information Management. There are adjustments to targets for three outcome indicators under Programme Two:

- Increase in the number of criminal cases decided by the NPA – target increased from 1 503 to 2 500.

- Increase in the number of disciplinary recommendations initiated – target increased from 1 398 to 2 500.

- Increase in the number of disciplinary recommendations – target increased from 1 437 to 2 000.

[See presentation for more detail]

Civilian Secretariat for Police Services: Annual Performance Plan 2022/23

Mr Tumelo Nkojoana, CFO, CSPS, presented the finances for the CSPS. He said that the budget for the current financial year 2022/23 is about R150.2 million, which is an increase of R1.2 million from the previous financial year (this equates to less than one percent). In the previous financial year 2021/22, the CSPS had a budget of about R148.9 million; this budget increased by about R12 million, compared to the prior year (which was 8.5% at the time).

Ms Itumeleng Moagi, Director: Strategic Management, CSPS, covered the emergent theory of change, key achievements in 2021/22, factors contributing to the performance of policy, priorities for the medium-term and the revised outcomes of the Strategic Plan.

She said that the CSPS embarked on a theory of change, which would allow it to better articulate how the work that it does culminates into the impact on the ground and how the CSPS intends to work, going forward, in order to influence this change. During the strategic planning session last year, the Minister indicated that the change that is referred to must be tangible, and communities must be able to confirm that there has been a change, in terms of the impact on the ground. The CSPS has adopted this as an emergent theory of change that will be implemented incrementally over the remainder of the medium-term and adapted where relevant, as and when the contextual environment evolves.

Based on the direction provided by the Minister of Police during the review of the CSPS strategy, the Department has identified the following emerging priorities for the remainder of the planning period:

  • Transforming the organisational culture to embed principled leadership and collaboration, and to focus on impact;
  • Contributing to the enhancement of the effectiveness of the criminal justice system by identifying legislation that requires review to this effect, and by participating in key JCPS Cluster structures;
  • Utilising research to benchmark with international and regional best practices in terms of policing approaches;
  • Improving the relationship between communities and the police;
  • Strengthening monitoring (including media monitoring) and oversight in order to provide an early warning system;
  • Finalising the Customer Satisfaction Survey in line with Priority 6 of the MTSF;
  • Striving to become a centre of excellence with respect to policing policies and strategies; and
  • Implementing the emergent CSPS theory of change.

[See presentation for detail]

Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority: Annual Performance Plan 2022/23

Dr Leah Mofomme, Chairperson, PSIRA, introduced the council members and top management of PSIRA. She said that PSIRA is proud that the gender ratio of its top management is 50%.

Mr Sam Chauke, Director, PSIRA, said that PSIRA is pleased with the strides that it has made with regards to the change in management; it has met its target in terms of gender equity.

Mr Stephan Badenhorst, Chief Operating Officer, covered the amendments to the Strategic Plan and the Annual Performance Plan in respect of the four programmes. He said that there were only three areas that had amendments to the Strategic Plan.

He said that the targets for Programme One (Administration) are a continuation of the theme for the MTEF period. Programme Two (Law Enforcement) is a continuation of the inspections, investigations and firearm inspections that PSIRA conducts; the targets were increased to ensure that PSIRA works towards the level of compliance. In terms of prosecutions, the target is kept at 92% of cases successfully finalised. Programme Three (Training and Communication) is a continuation with adjusted targets for 2022/23, to improve the level of professionalisation and activities in marketing, communication and stakeholder relations. Programme Four (Registration) has targets set in terms of the average turnaround time for registering business and security officers to ensure that there is efficiency.

Ms Mmatlou Sebogodi, Deputy Director: Finance and Admin (CFO), PSIRA, presented the budget information. She said that the budget growth over the MTEF period is estimated at an average of seven percent, which is mainly collected through annual fees and administration fees. PSIRA is a self-funded organisation, but it just needs to ensure that its revenue streams are able to ensure that there are adequate resources. Future estimates and plans indicate a higher growth in expenditure vs revenue (budget) with the existing funding model, hence the need for the Levies funding model.

[See presentation for detail]

Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union input on SAPS 2022/23 Budget Vote

Ms Tryphina Phihlela, Senior Researcher, POPCRU, covered the following points:

Management Structure

POPCRU is of the view that the SAPS management structure is top heavy and it impedes the organisation. This top-heavy structure consumes too much of the budget allocated to the Department. This structure concentrates much needed personnel and skills to fight against crime at the high echelon of the institution instead of service delivery points where resources are crucially needed. POPCRU therefore submits that this bloated structure be reconfigured in a way that would take experienced and skilled personnel to the ground level where the actual fight against crime is waged.

Lack of Resources

The lack of resources and infrastructure in police stations undermines the efforts of fighting and prevent crime in communities. Most police stations in rural areas and townships are housed in unsafe and dilapidated structures – exposing the police members to unconducive working conditions and attacks by criminals. Some of the police stations are resourced with fewer vehicles than required, subsequently impeding the expected service delivery. POPCRU submits that these persistent challenges receive a priority from this 2022/23 Budget Vote.

Crime Prevention and Community Involvement

The successful working relationship between communities and SAPS remains elusive. This was affirmed by the research study conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in which it was revealed that trust levels between communities and SAPS have remained relatively low for the past 23 years.

Gender-Based Violence

POPCRU urged the Department to improve services rendered to victims of sexual offences and domestic violence by ensuring that a victim-friendly service is rendered and that victim-friendly rooms are established at all police stations. It further challenges SAPS to increase GBV desks to all police stations across the country.

Visible Policing

POPCRU believes that police visibility is an efficient deterrent towards crime prevention. It submits that more police officers must be employed.

Police killings and attacks on police stations:

These spades of attacks demonstrate the vulnerability of police officers in police and satellite stations; this is undoubtedly attributed to lopsided allocation of resources.

Policing Union of South Africa input on SAPS 2022/23 Budget Vote

Mr Mpho Kwinika, General Secretary, IPUSA, presented the following points:

Programme One: Administration

Mr Kwinika said that Programme One includes the compensation budget for all staff members in other programmes. Programmes Two, Three, Four and Five are incomplete because the compensation for managing posts is accounted for in Programme One. Treasury should be consulted to unbundle this. The advantage is that it will empower operational senior management, divisional and provincial commissioners to use their discretion on deployment within their financial allocations.

For the first time, the detective services can be given sufficient compensation budget to that they can build their own capacity.

On the forensics services subprogramme, he said that it costs a lot of money transporting forensic evidence to national laboratories. It must be a requirement for each province to have its own forensic laboratory. There should be investment in forensic competencies from specific graduates and partnerships with universities on locally designed technology. Otherwise, the backlog of DNA tests shall continue to be a SAPS nightmare for years to come and victims shall not get the justice they deserve and on time.

Programme Two: Visible Policing

Mr Kwinika said that communities are happy when they see police in uniform. Currently, there is a political battle in the SAPS that has led to many vehicles driven unmarked for the past three years. There are serious constraints when it comes to government fiscus and SAPS management must live within their means.

Programme Four: Crime Intelligence

He said that, if there is seriousness about effective crime-intelligence-led policing, then the Department must do away with Programme Four. Resources for crime intelligence are to support the core function, that is crime prevention and crime detection – which is where the capacity should be allocated.

Programme Five: Protection and Security Services

After noting the political killings taking place in this country, IPUSA finds it necessary that security of executive authorities should not be in doubt.

Additional comments: IPUSA is also worried about the utilisation of task teams to investigate certain crimes, which falls within the competencies of provinces. It is very expensive to house and compensate police officers involved in these teams. There is a need to form specialised units. It is better to form these units and spend less on compensation of employees and housing.

Discussion

Mr H Shembeni (EFF) referred to the IPID presentation. In terms of the backlog, he asked what number of cases were awaiting technical reports, such as the post-mortem, DNA, ballistic, histology and toxicology reports. He asked about the budgetary effect of the proposal in expanding IPID’s mandate to include other law enforcement agencies. At the start of the 2021/22 financial year, IPID had 22 734 “post-decision monitoring cases”; these were completed cases that were referred to the SAPS, Municipal Police Services (MPS) and National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). The progress status could be awaiting either outcome. He asked how IPID would dispose of these cases.

On the CSPS presentation, he asked what the status of the Community Safety Forums (CSFs) countrywide was. He asked how the upcoming local government elections would impact the establishment of the CSFs. In terms of the assessment reports on the SAPS complaints management, he asked how the Department conducts these assessments because it depends on the accessibility of the SAPS complaints database. He asked if this database was reliable.

He asked why there are two employment Acts within this Department, in terms of the Public Service Act and the SAPS Act. He explained that the members that are employed under the Public Service Act receive different training from police members who are trained in terms of the SAPS Act. He questioned why there were so many murders of police officers, why so many firearms get lost or taken from the police, and why the SAPS service delivery is so poor. He said that the Public Service Act and the SAPS Act cannot run concurrently in one Department. 

Mr O Terblanche (DA) said that he found the presentations from the unions very informative, and he asked that the Committee receive a copy of it.

He referred to the IPID presentation. He said that it was indicated that IPID completed investigations on 4 121 cases in the 2021/22 financial year, of which 53% were backlog cases. He asked IPID how many new cases it received in the 2021/22 financial year, and what the current backlog is. He asked when IPID would finalise the MoU with the Military Ombuds and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.

He asked what impact the CSPS has on the ground, and how is this impact measured. He said that it was good to see that the CSPS is working on the theory of change. Apart from developing theories, he asked why the CSPS does not ask the public for their opinion of the CSPS performance. He asked what the CSPS has achieved in terms of its mandate of oversight, governance, service delivery, performance and resourcing of the SAPS because the SAPS are still experiencing major problems in that regard. He asked when the CSPS would finalise the Customer Satisfaction Survey. He said that there is legislation that the CSPS is working on that is eagerly awaited by the Committee and the public.

Mr A Seabi (ANC) said that all of the organisations that presented work in the same environment but use different formats, which becomes cumbersome. He said that he is not sure if it is possible to follow the same format, and he observed that the format used by PSIRA was user-friendly.

He said that, while the IPID presentation noted that the compensation of employees was the Departments largest spending area, he observed a duplication with IPIDs Programme Two, (Investigation and Information Management) and Programme Three (Legal and Investigation Advisory Services) which are about investigations. He asked whether these programmes could not be combined into one programme, because this would assist in saving resources. He asked why IPID reported a huge backlog when its scope of operation is limited. The outcome indicators, especially for Programme One, were not smart and made it difficult to observe if there has been any progress when reporting on a quarterly basis. The outcome indicators are not specific and, in some instances, it is not time bound.

He said that the CSPS presentation was confusing because it had a lot of writing but it was difficult to detect what it aimed to do by who and by when.

He observed that PSIRA will spend about 10% of its budget on rentals, which amounts to more than R30 million of its total budget. He asked if it were not possible to utilise those funds to build their own infrastructure.

He said that the SAPS presentation understated the R4 billion that was returned to National Treasury. R4 billion is a lot of money and he thinks that SAPS should have taken this seriously. He suggested that the Committee should get a legal opinion on the contract of the National Commissioner before he reaches the age of 60.

He welcomed the informative presentations from the unions and agreed that the Committee should receive a copy. He observed that the unions have also raised their concern about the killing of police officers and police officers that commit suicide; this was one of the issues that were raised in the previous meeting but SAPS has not provided a response to those questions. He insisted that the National Commissioner submits a plan on what he intends to do in this regard because these are serious concerns.

Ms L Moss (ANC) welcomed the presentations, especially the opinions from the unions. She referred to the IPID presentation with regards to the appointment of contract workers to assist with contingency liability; she asked how many contract workers would be appointed, how long are their contracts and what the cost of those contract workers is. She asked if the contingency liability cases were dealt with per day, month or on a quarterly basis. She asked why the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng were described as hotspot provinces, while it is known that the Free State has many challenges. In terms of the Strategic Plan, she asked what was the progress on the outputs for Programme One. In terms of the percentage procurement of goods and services from women-owned enterprises per year, she asked what kind of goods and services IPID receives from women-owned enterprises, and what the total cost of these goods and services is.

In terms of the outcome indicator for the number of investigations for corruption cases that are decision ready per year, she asked what kind of corruption cases it referred to. She said that the Committee cannot get a general indication of the progress of these corruption cases without knowing what it refers to.

On the CSPS, she referred to the eight percent cost of consultancy fees and asked what these consultancy services were, how much it cost and what skills the consultancy services provided. She asked whether the vacancies were for critical skills or professional skills.

She said that, when the President responded to visible policing in the House last month, he said that there is a challenge with visible policing in South Africa. The recruitment of 12 000 personnel is a drop in the ocean because there are very big challenges in the communities and a lack of visible policing. The POPCRU presentation also highlighted the challenges with visible policing, especially with the SAPS underspending on visible policing.

Responses

CSPS

Mr Takalani Ramaru, Chief Director: Monitoring and Evaluation, CSPS, referred to Mr Seabi’s comment about the format. He agreed that there is no prescribed format for the presentations. In this instance, the CSPS followed the format that it usually uses but it is amendable to adapt some aspects of the PSIRA presentation to make it simpler. On the comments about the theory of change and the confusion of the CSPS presentation, he replied that the CSPS will engage with the Committee Secretary to identify the exact issues that Mr Seabi would want the CSPS to address; the CSPS will submit a response in writing.

In terms of Mr Shembeni’s question about the accessibility of the SAPS complaints database, he replied that there are two approaches that the CSPS uses for the complaints. The first approach is that the CSPS receive complaints directly from the public; these complaints would be assessed and resolved. The CSPS will deal with these complaints on its own or it would refer them to the relevant unit responsible. The second approach, in line with the SAPS Act, looks into whether the SAPS are able to deal with the complaints that are presented to them. On a quarterly basis, the CSPS would go to SAPS and get access to the database of all of the complaints. The CSPS would look into how the SAPS deals with all of its complaints and whether these complaints are being resolved within the prescribed framework and timelines. The CSPS would also provide recommendations as to how the complaints could be resolved.

On the question by Mr Terblanche, concerning the impact on the ground and how it is measured, he replied that, in their presentation, the CSPS indicated that the reason why it has to embark on the review of its Strategic Plan was to address this very issue. The CSPS has since crafted its outcome indicators in such a way that it will be able to measure its impact on the ground. The way that the CSPS use to measure the impact that it was making on the ground was to refer to the feedback it received from the members of the public. For example, in some of its previous presentations, the CSPS would report on the good stories that it received from members of the public that indicate their satisfaction or compliment the work that the CSPS does. The impact on the ground would also be observed when the SAPS has implemented the recommendations made by the CSPS and there are notable changes.

In terms of addressing the challenges that SAPS are facing, the CSPS writes reports when it does its oversight work that would be given to SAPS. These reports contain specific recommendations on issues that SAPS would need to take into consideration. These reports are also presented to the ministry that will make follow-ups to ensure that SAPS is reporting on the recommendations that have been made. There were many instances when the CSPS were able to see that SAPS has made changes to their work. For example, the CSPS recommended that SAPS have gender-based violence (GBV) desks to assist members of the public. SAPS has implemented the GBV desks at several police stations and the CSPS can see the results of it.

The CSPS had already finalised the Customer Satisfaction Survey in the previous financial year. The CSPS will send a report to the Committee and will be prepared to do a formal presentation in this regard.

In response to Ms Moss, he said that the vacancies are of all types. From time to time there are employees who move from the CSPS to other organisations through promotional positions and at various levels. The CSPS tries as much as possible to fill the vacancies to avoid such challenges. The norm given by the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) is a 10% acceptable vacancy rate. The CSPS believes that it is a small department so it has strived to have a seven percent acceptable vacancy rate and tries to fill as many vacant positions as possible.

Ms Dipsy Wechoemang, Chief Director: Corporate Services, CSPS, said that the CSPS is really trying to address the vacancies. However, with the introduction and implementation of the recruitment, selection and retention strategy, the CSPS intends to retain the resources that it has without losing it to other departments and institutions. Although the internal promotions are a positive intervention, a number of internal promotions within the department have negatively affected the recruitment process. There is no impact on the vacancies when promotions happen internally. From 01 April 2021 until 31 March 2022, the CSPS has filled 13 vacancies, but 77% were internal promotions because it follows the same process as it would when recruiting externally.

Mr Nkojoana, CFO, said that the CSPS does not use consultancy services very often. But, in certain instances, it is mainly for the programme of Legislation and Policy Development; these are for specialised skills required during the process of policy development. There are also instances that the CSPS has established consultants who are only used and paid for when appointments are made, or when some staff are referred to those kinds of consultants. However, the consultants are only used as and when they are needed.

Mr Benjamin Ntuli, Chief Director: Intersectoral Coordination and Strategic Partnership, CSPS, said that there are 141 CSFs at the moment. After the local government elections, he can then only present the actual municipalities where these CSFs exist, because it is dependent on the configuration of wards after elections of local government.

IPID responses

Mr Thuso Keefelakae, Head of Investigations, IPID, referred to Mr Shembeni’s question on the outstanding technical reports. He said that, on a monthly basis, IPID would check how many technical reports it had received and how many are outstanding. During the fourth quarter there were 360 technical reports outstanding, but since then some technical reports were received. In terms of the disposal of post-decision monitoring cases, he said that, as and when IPID finalises cases, this increases the post-decision monitoring. As soon as a case is finalised, IPID would close the case within a reasonable timeframe. There is a standard operating procedure that IPID follows for the closure of cases.

He referred to Mr Terblanche’s question on the completed investigations of cases in the 2021/22 financial year, of which 53% were backlog cases. He said that the backlog or old cases are often cases that require quality work and IPID completes more of these backlog cases than the current cases. IPID received 5 295 cases in the previous financial year, which is quite a lot but it is being attended to despite the challenges experienced. IPID tries various strategies and mechanisms to deal with this.

In response to Mr Seabi’s question on why IPID experienced a backlog when its scope of operation is limited, he replied that the total backlog as at the end of March 2022 that was inherited from the previous financial year is 24 402 cases. When adding the current backlog and post-decision monitoring cases, it is 37 116 cases, which is a lot. When this is considered in terms of the available personnel, one investigator on average would have over 250 000 cases.

He referred to the question by Ms Moss, in terms of why certain provinces were classified as hotspots. He said that the hotspot provinces meant that the intake was very high in those provinces, and the nature of those cases received are considered very serious – such as death as a result of police action, which is a problem in some provinces. There are also torture cases and other classifications that are of serious nature, hence those provincial offices are classified as hotspots. What is normally referred to as the “big four”, refers to Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Western Cape; these four provinces would account for 75% of the workload of IPID. The challenges in the Free State have been receiving attention. On 25 May 2022, there will be a special sitting in the Free State where such issues will be addressed; this sitting will include key stakeholders such as the National Commissioner as well as the Deputy Minister, to try and deal with the challenges experienced in the Free State province.

On the question relating to what type of corruption cases IPID deals with, he said that the type of corruption that IPID deals with varies. In some instances, it is entrapments, where the members of the community would then involve IPID to deal with those entrapments in terms of the applicable legislation, especially when the members of the community would want to set a trap on the members of the SAPS. The other common corruption cases involve promotions, where there are issues of manipulations of systems. Other cases might involve manipulation of statistics – for example, when the police arrest 15 people for serious crimes but would only charge and take fingerprints of one person, meaning that one person carries the burden of 15 people. Although this raises the statistics of the SAPS, it is then realised that one person could not commit various crimes in various locations and at the same time.

PSIRA response

Mr Chauke, CEO, referred to Mr Seabi’s question about rentals. He said that he agreed that rentals are quite expensive, but PSIRA has previously tried to purchase its own building through National Treasury (NT). The NT did not approve this on the basis that they preferred that the building be purchased on a lump sum. PSIRA are looking into scaling down on space and decreasing the amount spent on rentals.

POPCRU response

Ms Phihlela, Senior Researcher, said that POPCRU does appreciate the role that the CSPS has in terms of policy development. However, POPCRU believes that there is a gap in the implementation of the policies. POPCRU would want to know what kind of mechanisms the CSPS has in place to ensure the proper implementation of all the policies that it develops, so as to improve policing in accordance with all of the legislations and aimed at improving within the country.

IPUSA response

Mr Kwinika, General Secretary, referred to Mr Shembeni’s question about the two employment Acts within the same Department. He referred to the Safety and Security Sectoral Bargaining Council (SSSBC) Agreement 2, 2011, Part D; 5.1 which states “Parties acknowledge that the core business of the South African Police Service is to prevent, combat and investigate crime and therefore parties will embark on a process that seeks to explore a compensation model, which differentiates between operational and support environment personnel employed in terms of the South African Police Service Act, 1995”. Chapter 5.2 further states “The parties further agree to pursue measures during the 2011/2012 financial year with DPSA and National Treasury that will ensure that current Public Service Act employees become a category of employees in the Department of Police. This will embrace the necessary changes to the legislation”. This speaks to the same issue and indicates that the SAPS Act is under review. This is an opportunity to make inputs to these changes to ensure that this proposal is embedded into the amended SAPS Act.

Further discussion

Mr Terblanche asked if IPID could provide him with feedback in writing on the questions that they have not responded to.

Mr Keefelakae agreed that IPID will send a written report on all of the questions that were not responded to.

The Chairperson said that it was important for the Committee to also acknowledge the role of private security in crime prevention, and the comments that the Report of the Expert Panel made on the role of private security companies during the civil unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

Mr Kwinika referred to the mobility of Public Service Act members in the SAPS. He said that the moment these members apply for posts that are salary level 8 then they have to be translated from Public Service Act members into the SAPS Act, hence they go for training. This will also be dealt with when dealing with issues of the SAPS Act and the SSSBC Agreement.

Closing remarks

The Chairperson said that it is very clear that the Committee would need another session with the unions to listen to and interrogate their suggestions. The unions have made extremely good comments, and the discussion was more fruitful because of these inputs.

She asked that all questions that were not responded to in this meeting be submitted in writing by the next Monday.

The meeting was adjourned.

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