SAPS, DPCI, Civilian Secretariat 2021/22 Annual Report; with AGSA & Minister

Meeting report

Chairperson’s Opening Remarks
The Chairperson noted apologies from the Deputy Minister.

Mr A Seabi (ANC) suggested moving the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service (CSPS) on the agenda to another day. However, the Chairperson said that it was important to address all the items on the agenda, but not to rush through it. They would go through all the items and if they had sufficient time to address CSPS, they would then do so.

Mr O Terblanche (DA) reminded the Chairperson that in the previous meeting she said that they were going to arrange a meeting with the Minister and National Commissioner to discuss various outstanding issues.

The Chairperson replied that that meeting was definitely going to take place and it was prioritized. There were difficulties to find a time that suited everyone but she urged the Minister to prioritize the meeting as a formal decision was taken in the Committee to have a physical meeting.

The Committee's draft Budget Review and Recommendation Reports (BRRRs) would need to be considered by the Committee on 19 October 2022 before the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS).

Minister's Opening remarks
Minister Bheki Cele thanked the Chairperson for the opportunity to be part of the meeting. The Ministry would be a part of the meeting, but requested that the meeting should not be on a Wednesday. There was not much else to say.

The Chairperson thanked the Minister and said that they have been trying to coordinate the meeting but that it has been very difficult. Therefore, the prioritization by the Minister was much appreciated and it would not be on a Wednesday.

National Commissioner’s remarks
General Sehlahle Fannie Masemola, SAPS National Commissioner, said there was not much to comment but the audit report had been presented to SAPS and it was indeed an important matter. SAPS was busy addressing the matters raised by AGSA.

The Chairperson acknowledged the National Commissioner and his team and hoped that they would be enough time to be able to interact with the Members.

Overview by AGSA South Africa
Mr Eugene de Haan, AGSA Deputy Business Executive Manager, introduced the AGSA team and gave a brief introduction about AGSA.

Ms Nelisiwe Mhlongo, AGSA Acting Senior Manager, presented (see document). The performance of SAPS continued to have challenges with the reliability of reported performance information. Key issues that need to be addressed include limitations imposed due to how indicators were planned for and developing audit action plans that addressed actual root causes.

Programme 2: Visible Policing – its underlying records materially differed from those reported in the following categories:
• Number of reported contact crimes
• Number of reported crimes committed against women and children
• Number of identifiable stolen/lost SAPS firearms recovered
• Number of stolen, lost, and illegal firearms recovered.

Programme 3: Detective Services and Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) – the underlying records materially differed from those reported in:
• Percentage of outstanding case dockets related to contact crimes older than three years
• Percentage of outstanding crime-to-crime DNA investigative leads finalised
• Percentage of outstanding integrated ballistics identification systems investigative leads finalised
• Percentage of biology DNA intelligence case exhibits (entries) finalised
• Percentage of results of trial updated for the following: not guilty verdict.

The overall impact was that the achievement of the targets was not aligned with the realities of the country in terms of crimes as achievements were not supported by accurate records and material limitations experienced.

Key targets not achieved in specific programmes were:
• Percentage reduction in reported contact crimes (P2)
• Percentage reduction in reported contact crimes committed against women and children (P2)
• Percentage of identified drug syndicates and criminal groups neutralized with arrests (P3)
• Routine and non-routine case exhibits finalised within 35 & 113 days (P3)
• Percentage of case exhibits not finalised exceeding prescribed time frames (P3)
• Percentage of IBIS and biology DNA intelligence case exhibits finalised (P3).

The low achievement of targets translated into the fact that the Department was not able to fully execute its mandate as set out in the Constitution.

Overall SAPS set their targets low compared to prior years; therefore, the 2021/22 actual achievements of the indicators were not assuring us of the full extent of the required service that needed to be measured. AGSA noticed that the targets were more reactive than proactive and therefore they were not in alignment with the objective of the programme as captured by management and approved.

Ms Mhlongo guided the Committee through the three themes and their findings:

Theme 1: Reduced levels of contact crimes, crimes against women, and crimes against children
From the review of the Annual Performance Report (APR) and audit outcome they could not confirm that SAPS was contributing to the reduction in levels of contact crimes and crimes against women and children due to the following:
• SAPS only achieved 33% (3 out of 12) of its set targets after the set targets were set up low to factor in COVID conditions which didn’t realize during the course of the year.
• The achievements reported were not supported by sufficient appropriate audit evidence and therefore AGSA could not confirm what has been reported as being achieved was achieved.
• Overall AGSA noticed that the set targets were more reactive than proactive and therefore not in alignment with the objective of the programme and therefore not linked to SAPS reducing contact crimes overall.
• Desired outputs as described in the APP in some instances cannot be directly linked to the planned indicators and targets. The impact of not linking planned indicators to desired outputs results in the achievement of key indicators not translating to lived experiences of the citizens and indicators do not assist it to achieve its key objectives.

It was therefore not clear that SAPS achieved its intended objective to “Discourage all crimes, by providing proactive and responsive policing service that will reduce the levels of priority crimes.”

Theme 2: Forensic investigative leads comprehensively utilized
AGSA could not confirm that SAPS was ensuring that forensic investigative leads were comprehensively utilised, for it to resolve cases quicker:
• AGSA noted that SAPS set their targets low compared to the prior year and the current year’s actual achievements of the indicators, therefore not assuring us of the full extent of the required service that is needed to be measured.
• Despite the high achievement rate of 75% (3 out of 4) of targets during our audit AGSA could not confirm that the achievements were fully supported with adequate supporting documentation. Furthermore, in some instances, AGSA noted the audited values differed materially from the reported achievement by management therefore overall AGSA was able to report with the assurance that they are successfully supporting the forensic investigative leads.

It was therefore not evident how SAPS achieved its intended objective “To contribute to the successful prosecution of offenders by investigating, gathering and analyzing evidence.”

Theme 3: Enhanced processing of forensic evidence case exhibits (entries)
AGSA could not confirm that SAPS enhanced the processing of forensic evidence:
• SAPS achieved 0% (0 out of 5) of its set targets, therefore indicating that SAPS did not meet its objective by not achieving any of the set targets.
• SAPS measured the number of days taken to finalise samples i.e. (fingerprints, ballistics, and DNA samples) received from officials by calculating the turnaround time from the date evidence was captured into their Forensic Science Laboratories (FSL) system to the final processing by the lab. This type of measuring does not take into account the time the samples are collected from the victims or suspects to the time they are submitted for lab processing. Due to the full cycle not being tracked by its performance measure the information SAPS report seemed to be incomplete and not the full cycle of the process, therefore not talking to the lived experience of citizens.
• During the audit process, AGSA could not confirm that the achievements were fully supported with adequate supporting documentation. Furthermore, in some instances, AGSA noted the audited values differed materially from the reported achievement by management therefore overall AGSA was not able to report with the assurance that they were successfully enhancing the processing of forensic evidence.
• Overall from our understanding, this was one of the core functions of SAPS, and the process was 100% within the control of SAPS however this was one of the worse performance targets when compared to other functions of SAPS.

It was therefore not evident how SAPS achieved its intended objective “To contribute to the successful prosecution of offenders by investigating, gathering and analyzing evidence.”

ICT message
• Excessive delays with implementing systems key for IJS
• Challenges noted with stability of system (ICDMS)
• Use of outdated Operating Systems renders ICDMS insecure and increases the chances for perpetrators/hackers should they attempt to gain unauthorised access to ICMDS.
• The external integrations where SAPS is integrating with other IJS-cluster departments were behind schedule

AGSA recommended that SAPS enter into SLAs for each of the projects that were under development and included performance clauses for SITA to which they should be held accountable and penalized should they fail to provide the required resources for each of these projects. SAPS was advised to ensure that it carried out internal Project Assurance Reviews on each of these projects and report any potential delays to the IJS Steering Committee. Delays related to readiness from other IJS departments should be reported to the IJS Steering Committee for resolution.

Material Irregularities
AGSA identified possible fruitless and wasteful expenditures that required SAPS to go and determine the full extent of the fruitless and wasteful expenditure within 90 days of identification. If they were confirmed they would be disclosed in the next financial period.

The overall root cause and findings by AGSA were:
• Poor record-keeping processes for case dockets and storage facilities at FSL (DoP)
• Consequence measures were not always implemented at the appropriate level (DoP)
• Inadequate reviews by management to prevent material misstatements on reported
• Inadequate review and monitoring controls over the preparation of the financial statements
• Management was not effective in developing and monitoring the implementation of audit action plans. Key root causes of findings not always identified and addressed (DoP)
• Controls were not always effective to detect and prevent irregular expenditure (DoP and IPID).

Financial management and compliance
• SAPS maintained an unqualified audit opinion on financial statements. Audit action plan was not effective to address qualification on number of recovered stolen or lost firearms and reported contact crime performance indicators. Detective Services performance information. Material findings on material misstatements; limitations in FSLs and leads finalised.
 • Material compliance matters on procurement and consequence management was not adequately addressed my management.
• PSIRA has regressed with a qualification on principal liability. A significant finding raised on the AFS on principal liability and compliance with legislation. The lack of oversight due to inadequate monitoring of projects to ensure that expenditure is supported by adequate and complete evidence. Regular monitoring and adequate reviews must be implemented to ensure principal liability is support by accurate and complete evidence.
• IPID maintained an unqualified audit opinion. SCM controls regressed
• CSP maintained a clean audit. Needs to focus on how to better support the portfolio

AGSA suggested that SAPS should revise performance indicators to make them consistent with the lived experiences of citizens, review performance indicators where the targets were set low, and consider revising the targets. The Portfolio Committee should review the Annual Performance Plan (APP) during the budget votes to ensure that the targets reflect the objectives of the portfolio. SAPS should actively implement consequence measures at commander levels, where controls were not effective in preventing, detecting, and correcting errors, especially in performance reporting, and report on this progress. The Committee should request SAPS to report on the progress it was making to address record-keeping challenges for performance reporting, as these were negatively impacting its performance and service delivery.

Discussion
Committee members all appreciated the thorough AGSA report.

Mr A Whitfield (DA) said it was up to the Committee to take the opportunity to make a difference in the South African Police Service. The Auditor-General has identified systemic, institutional, administrative, and management crises that should never arise when you have a professional administration. The Committee often reflects on the crime statistics in the performance of SAPS when the issues are really within the institution itself and its failure to address its shortcomings. He commended AGSA for its comprehensive presentation. He pointed out that there is a clear problem within Detective Services and that was no secret as they have been championing the Forensic Services issue in SAPS since 2019. The Committee has been hoping for some improvements and hopefully these will be reflected in next year’s report. It was clear that when a department achieves only half of its targets by using up its whole budget, there is something fundamentally wrong in the system within that department. There have been multiple problems with Forensic Services in the past couple of years, however, it should be noted that the number of detectives keeps declining. This means that number of case dockets is increasing. Statistics point to the fact that SA has lost one detective per day over the last three years and this was worrisome. Hopefully, SAPS will take this seriously and identify solutions to recruit and remunerate detectives to an adequate standard. People in highly specialized programmes, such as detective services, need to be rewarded for their service and efforts need to be put into keeping these individuals interested in remaining in SAPS.

Supply chain has been identified as being an ongoing problem and that is visible in the irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure (IFWE). In terms of consequence management, he asked if AGSA was aware if SAPS has disciplined individuals responsible for incurring such high levels of IFWE. The Committee has to hold the Minister and Deputy Minister accountable for the lack of consequence management if that were the case.

Mr M Shaik Emam (NFP) expressed condolences to the family of Tatum Hendricks. He asked the police to report if it was indeed a police officer who hit her with his car. [He later noted that he was informed that a police officer was not responsible].

Little was known about consequence management, particularly with repeat offenders. It was the responsibility of SAPS to uphold the consequences for the individuals who are regularly breaching the rules. This matter is brought to the Committee’s attention year in and year on. During COVID-19, questions, the Committee asked SAPS about the huge discrepancy between the two service providers where one charged R2 500 and the other a couple of hundred rand each for 5-litre sanitizers. To this day, they have not received an answer from SAPS.

His understanding of police services were that they had the responsibility to prevent crime. Given the situation in the country, it was clear that they were not doing what they were supposed to be doing. They come in reactive after the crimes have been committed. He asked the Department what measures should be implemented at school level, where problem children could be identified. This should be a collaborative effort of SAPS together with other departments so they get to the root of the problem.

The targets set for Detective Services were low. If the targets were being reached successfully, they would be visible to people on the ground. Success was not visible on the ground.

They have been on oversights visits to many areas such as Welkom and Mpumalanga. One of the major problems identified was the pressure on laboratories and the lack of efficient forensic laboratory services. The laboratories cannot function effectively and that is why cases are not being solved, as they are unable to provide accurate and timely reports. He asked how SAPS is planning on resolving this. He asked if more power should be given to the Office of the Auditor-General. Is it receiving correct and accurate responses from SAPS on the irregularities?

He noted concern about contract management and supply chain management which has also been raised with the Committee before. He requested the Committee be provided with specific cases so that those could be interrogated further and what it could do about this.

Mr H Shembeni (EFF) commented on SAPS internal controls not being addressed and this is exactly what the committee has been complaining about. Nothing was going to change if they just continue like this. Change must start with the management of SAPS. The Integrated Case Docket Management System (ICDMS) has not yet been completed and he asked why. Why was there a delay in the Integrated Persons Management (IPM)? He asked for reasons for all the delays.

The SAPS is reactive and not proactive. SAPS only reacts when events in the country gain attention from the international arena. The repeat findings and consequence management need to be addressed urgently. He suggested that management must produce or apply for their positions to determine if individuals were qualified for these positions. He pointed out that a lot of promotions have been identified where people do not qualify for the positions. Corruption and nepotism were taking place in SAPS and this had to be stopped. He questioned who the power had to be given to then if it was being misused as they were getting nowhere with the current management. There have been a lot of arrests in the police and they were still going to see a lot of arrests in senior management. He called on the Minister to deal with the management of the police. Confidence in SAPS needs to be re-instilled in people and it starts with the Committee. SAPS has to be in the eye of the country. Consequence management was important and SAPS management needed to be restructured and capable people with the necessary qualifications needed to be put in place to run SAPS.

On losing detectives because of remuneration, it was unacceptable and something has to be done about this. Specialized detectives are not being paid appropriately so that was why they were leaving. The detectives who were being sent to the college to get training were not using their knowledge and skills. He called out the Minister and said that it all started when he hired people in higher-ranking positions who were not police officers.

Rev K Meshoe (ACDP) said that it was a serious problem that detectives were leaving their jobs when they have the capacity and training to investigate but they were not interested in using those skills as they were not getting paid properly. To be in VISPOL was not as challenging as being a detective. Sometimes you drive around in a police vehicle but do not come across any cases, whereas being a detective you have the opportunity to solve cases and to go into dangerous areas to investigate certain cases. The lack of detectives was not being taken seriously enough and it needed to be addressed urgently. Many court cases were being thrown out because of insufficient evidence and lack of proper investigation. This was a huge problem that could be addressed if the detectives were being suitably remunerated. Detectives needed to be shown more appreciation for there to be more convictions.

After the audit findings, questions always arise about corruption and the IFWE. He asked if this was all due to the lack of capacity, and if so, was AGSA allowed to make recommendations for changes in the management structures and peoplewithin the police. There were going to be no improvements if there was no consequence management. The findings had to be addressed.

On the poor record keeping, he asked if AGSA was allowed to ask the police how exactly they were keeping records. There needed to be improvement in record keeping, otherwise dockets got lost, etc.

He asked SAPS how they planned their targets because they have been more reactive and not proactive and preventative. Crime levels were very high in South Africa and something had to be done about this.

Mr A Seabi (ANC) said that it was clear from the AGSA report that SAPS was struggling with its performance. It was worrying that their performance was not reflecting their expenditure. According to the audit report, it was clear that SAPS was not addressing prior audit findings (connection lost for a moment). AGSA reported on the ICDMS agreement with SITA. Outsourced services like SITA and the Department of Public Works (DPW) were frustrating SAPS performance. SITA and DPW were supposed to deliver certain services and they were not doing that. He suggested that SAPS had to perform those responsibilities on its own and take accountability for the expenditure and non-performance.

Ms P Peacock (ANC) pointed out that the audit findings were still the same as the previous year. The findings point to regression, misstatements, repeat findings, underspending, misalignment of targets, and many other issues. The Committee cannot have repeat findings and find that there have been no improvements.

On the misalignment in the APP, the Committee has always been concerned about how the indicators and targets were set and if they were speaking to what was expected of the Department; and if the targets that were set were realistic.

Mr O Terblanche (DA) pointed out that the police were not able to function properly in their primary Section 205 responsibilities like visible policing and detective services and they were not doing that. The Committee could not leave the meeting today without stating that serious intervention is needed. The National Commissioner was the accounting officer. He acknowledged that Gen Masemola only started his term in April 2022; but SAPS performance was unacceptable. The Minister was also responsible for the police. South Africa has a failing police system, they were unable to do their work and they were regressing in basic policing functions. The police were going to have to sit up and make serious changes. They cannot keep on repeating the same mistakes. The police budget was being spent year in and year out but no proper services were being delivered.

Dr P Groenewald (FF+) classified the audit report as shameful. He hoped that they were going to get answers today to hear exactly what SAPS was going to do not have a repeat again.

What was important for the people of the country was if there was progress and a reduction in crime and in serious crime statistics; and improved performance in targets for firearms; forensic lab results; outstanding forensic reports; and violence against women and children. These were important issues for the people and they wanted to see progress in these. The crime statistics were incorrect and they differed severely. SAPS has been misleading the Committee and it was disturbing because it was clear from the audit that the South African public was being misled by SAPS, and this was not the first time.

The Chairperson emphasized what Dr Groenewald said and that SAPS has been misleading the Committee and the presentations they had been receiving were all inaccurate. As the accounting officer, the Committee was going to call out the National Commissioner that the SAPS team was misleading the Committee. She called on the Minister, saying that the information received on the forensic laboratories and the central firearm registry had been misleading. The Committee legally cannot accept this misinformation any longer. The Committee was held legally responsible for accepting information that was being represented to them. The concerns of the Committee were being raised by AGSA and they cannot tolerate it any further. She pointed out that what SAPS was doing to the Committee was a criminal offence.

Ms Z Majozi (IFP) said that the Minister has to get his house in order. SAPS needs to take a look into the police stations where the cases were being reported as there was mismanagement happening at the police stations. She does not know how SAPS wanted to function properly if they could not even count on their police stations. The Committee was only aware of half of what was happening. It was alarming that the Committee spent hours listening and engaging on SAPS reports that were misleading and inaccurate. There are police officers who are doing as they pleased. Management has to do oversight visits to the police stations to see exactly what is going on and to get accurate reports to bring to the Committee.

Ms B Marekwa (ANC) said that the matters raised were concerning. On the IFWE, SAPS has been given sufficient money but they have not spent it where it was necessary. When the money was misused, services were robbed from communities who needed them. GBVF was still happening and SAPS could have spent money to empower and educate communities on GBVF. However, SAPS has not been reaching out, nor have they been addressing the issues identified such as the laboratories and detective services. She urged SAPS to put in more effort to get a clean audit.

On consequence management, divisional commissioners would allocate tasks to other police officials. Where it was found that a person was not delivering, consequence management has to take place. People could not fear one another when it came to holding each other accountable.

All fingers were being pointed at government as it allocated funds to departments. Where there was under-expenditure or IFWE, consequence management had to be addressed if the country was to see the department they were hoping for.

AGSA reported the indicators that were not consistent with the planned objectives. SAPS needs to re-think its objectives and re-align them to meet its targets and deal with this mismatch. If the targets were low then they would in no way provide the safe and secure environment that people deserve. SAPS needs to be proactive and budget to ensure they reaching such targets.

Mr Whitfield pointed to Theme 3 - Enhanced processing of forensic evidence case exhibits that read: “overall from our understanding this is one of the core functions of SAPS, and the process is 100% within the control of SAPS however this was one of the worse performance targets when compare to other functions of SAPS”. SAPS often gave the Committee responses filled with excuses and they were often told that externalities affected the target performance. In this measurement of forensic cases, this process was 100% within SAPS control; therefore, the Committee cannot accept any excuses based on external factors since this has long been an issue. It was good to raise the Committee’s attention to this. SAPS has to take honest responsibility for its failures and not shift the blame.

Mr Shaik Emam suggested SAPS set its targets in consultation with the Committee, as this would put the Committee in a better position to measure the outcomes of the targets, and to ensure that the targets set were realistic.

AGSA response
Mr de Haan addressed consequence management, saying that they audit according to the National Treasury framework on how consequence management should be conducted. The reason AGSA raised this matter was that investigations were started but they were not concluded, or they were not being done in the 90 days prescribed by the framework to determine if it was IFWE. Once that has been confirmed, then you move over to the actual consequence management process, and for this, there was no specific timeline. They have noted that this was something that the department would want to expedite. The reason is if you still want to do consequence management, the officials must still be employed by SAPS and for recovery of money. The problem comes in if IFWE cases have been put on hold for a long time, and officials have left then consequence management becomes a challenge. He suggested that they have to start looking at the most recent cases first and work back to the older cases. Some of the ongoing investigations have been identified and they were just waiting for the investigations to conclude to then determine what has to be done.

On the low targets, the question that should be asked was how were the targets formulated; what informed the audit action plans; what information within SAPS informed the targets; and how those targets were linked to the financial and human recourses to execute those specific targets. There were several low and high targets that were identified.

On proactive police response, looking at Programme 2 and Programme 3, the wording of the objective mentioned ‘proactive strategies’ or measures to do policing. AGSA realized that some of the targets were more reactive rather than proactive.

Material irregularities have been identified but that process has not been finalised yet. There were some IFWE they were looking into in more detail. At this point, nothing has been confirmed yet and they have nothing to formally report to the Committee.

AGSA does give recommendations to SAPS to help them to make their indicators more proactive rather than reactive. They help SAPS to go in a clearer direction by making specific recommendations. AGSA has seen improvement in the area of financial statements. Other areas needed attention. SAPS took the audit process very seriously and it commended them on that.

AGSA did look at the physical record-keeping processes and that was where they were able to identify challenges in record-keeping.

On whether AGSA confirmed if recommendations were implemented or not, AGSA had the Status of Records Review process earlier in the year than the audit where AGSA identified if recommendations in key areas were implemented as an early warning system to identify red flags. AGSA then gives the accounting officer, the National Commissioner, feedback on these findings.

On SAPS dependence on sister departments for its performance, this was not the first year when this was reported. AGSA suggested that SAPS had to have an alternative audit action plan and processes in place to ensure that objectives were still being reached.

On taking responsibility, that question should be directed to SAPS and its Audit Committee. The Audit Committee had an audit action plan and they monitored it to ensure that the matters were addressed. The question should perhaps rather be about the effectiveness of the audit action plan in ensuring that repeated findings did not occur.

He noted the comments and recommendations that were made by the Members.

Ms Nelisiwe Mhlongo replied that SAPS management would be able to provide more information on the specific cases of irregular expenditure. The details on irregular expenditure / procurement cases for 2021/22 as well as prior years were all available.

On the IFWE, SAPS has been doing its part in addressing the cases, however, the progress is slow. The majority of the cases were sitting in the investigation phase and this was concerning because they have not started with the proper consequence management yet. Some cases have been fully investigated but they were sitting with HR and the actual consequences have not been put into effect.

On whether AGSA was able to recommend certain things, if they identified a deficiency within the environment, they would have a discussion with management to do an assessment to determine what the problem was. If there was a problem AGSA is able to issue a recommendation. To address a gap in the skills, AGSA recommends that people have to be sent for training.

SAPS Audit Committee response
Mr Luyanda Mangquku, SAPS Audit Committee Chairperson, addressed the question of what exactly the Audit Committee was doing to assist SAPS to address the audit findings. They have a very close working relationship with AGSA and that allows the Audit Committee to help SAPS to address issues from all angles. Many issues have been raised. The Audit Committee was an advisory oversight structure and even though they make recommendations, they depend on SAPS to take their recommendations and implement them. Overall, there has not been an impactful implementation. The Audit Committee has followed up on the findings that were raised by the internal audit. The shortcomings need to be addressed, but there is room for improvement. The Audit Committee will ensure that the findings raised are taken right across SAPS so that SAPS does not just focus on specific cases.

On the audit action plan, they have seen that were high levels of implementation of the audit action plan in the past. However, they do see that AGSA raised similar findings in the previous years. There is room for improvement in ensuring the effectiveness of the audit action plan is successful so that the past is not repeated. The latest audit action plan was in the process of being finalised.

The Audit Committee met regularly as in quarterly and they were responsible to give directions to SAPS on which areas they need to focus on and then SAPS reports back to them every quarter. In doing this, management was being held accountable. They were currently busy building up a database that contained all the issues raised to hold management accountable. In this way, they would be able to zoom in on a specific issue that was raised in specific police stations.

What they have done as an Audit Committee was to provide a report on what they found and they then communicate the findings and recommendations to the highest level of the Minster. This ensured that they were able to bring urgent matters to the highest levels to be attended to. They have open relationships with AGSA and stakeholders and the Audit Committee is always invited to the sessions when SAPS is held accountable.

On the performance report, the Audit Committee has raised this and requested that SAPS review the targets and reconsider them. They continued to advise and make recommendations to SAPS to ensure that they had an impact on the ground.

He emphasized that the Audit Committee was very involved with SAPS on the ground. They were going to put pressure on SAPS to ensure that they get a clean audit in the next financial year.

The Chairperson thanked AGSA for the thorough responses and expressed her respect for AGSA and commended their hard work. All the questions raised by the Committee were also relevant for a response by SAPS. She was going to allow SAPS to respond to their questions after their presentation.

Gen Masemola said that they acknowledged and accepted the AGSA report. They do have a lot of improvements to make in terms of objectives and targets. He wrote a letter to the Provincial Commissioners, demanding accountability from their side.

On the key objectives not aligned with the targets and indicators, they were drafting a policing strategy that was going to be presented to the Committee before they finalised the process.

Certain areas within SAPS were dependent on one another. They were addressing the renewal of contracts where certain areas were affected by the lack of resources.

The new divisional commissioner has been appointed in the Supply Chain Management Division. They were addressing the IFWE cases. They were now entering a period of going through a training process and SAPS was looking into bettering their targets and finding suitable recommendations for improvements.

The Chairperson said she was going to allow SAPS to address the Committee after their presentation and she was not limiting the Minister and National Commissioner’s time to respond to the questions.

Mr de Haan of AGSA took note of the comments by the National Commissioner. They were having engagements with the different generals involved in specific divisions. They were looking for ways in which they were able to help SAPS to address the challenges faced. It took a combined effort to measure and solve some of the more complex matters. He said that the Audit Committee was a key stakeholder in helping them and SAPS to solve the issues identified.

Mr Andries Sekgetho, AGSA Business Executive, thanked the Committee for their engagement. He expressed his respect and gratitude for the Committee and appreciation to the Minister and National Commissioner for their hard work and for listening to their recommendations.

SAPS 2021/22 Annual Report
The Minister handed over to the National Commissioner to introduce the presentation. The National Commissioner introduced the SAPS members present in the meeting.

Maj Gen Leon Rabie, SAPS Head: Strategic Management, and Lt Gen Puleng Dimpane, SAPS Chief Financial Officer, took the Committee through SAPS Annual Report:
Section 1: Auditor-General SA Audit Outcome: Annual Financial Statements
Section 2: Audited Financial Results
Section 3: Audited Annual Performance Results
Section 4: AGSA Audit Findings

The Department’s 2021/22 Annual Financial Statements were unqualified.

Total expenditure for the 2021/22 financial year amounted to R99 595 392 105, which represents a spending rate of 99.13%. An overview was given of the spending performance per programme.

On the Annual Performance Results:
• Administration Programme had 21 performance targets. An achievement rate of 80,95% was achieved. Target underperformance was noted for: stolen/lost SAPS-owned firearms, establishment of new police stations, confirmed irregular and fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
• Visible Policing Programme had 24 performance targets, with an achievement rate of 70,83%. . Target underperformance was noted for: recovery of stolen/lost SAPS-owned firearms, finalisation of new firearm licences within 120 working days, reduction in number of reported contact crimes, including at top 30 high contact crime stations, reduction in number of reported crimes against women and children; and escapees from police custody.
• Detective Service Programme had 29 performance targets and was the worst performing programme with achievement rate of 51,72%. Target underperformance was noted for: detection rates, organized crime, including reduction of drug syndicates and organized criminal groups and gangs, percentage of trial results updated for guilty and not guilty verdicts, generation of previous conviction reports, and all forensic evidence targets.
• Crime Intelligence Programme, with 12 targets, performed well, with an achievement rate of 91,67%. Underperformance was noted only for arrests of identified transnational crime suspects.
• Protection and Security Services Programme recorded security breaches, at both identified government installations and identified VIP residences, resulting in an achievement rate of 71,43% on its seven targets.

AGSA audit findings noted that the achievements reported in the annual performance report materially differed from the supporting evidence provided for the identified indicators.

Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (DPCI) Annual Performance Plan 2021/22
Lt Gen Seswantsho Lebeya provided guided the Committee through an overview of DPCI performance. He highlighted the successes of the DPIC in seizures, arrests, and confiscations. The following successes of the seven APP indicators were achieved:
• A total of 2 809 arrests were effected compared to 2 253 in 2020/21 – an increase of 556 arrests.
• Convictions for 296 166 charges were secured in court for 2021/22 compared to 38 411 charges in 2020/21 – an increase of 257 755 charges.
• Seizures with an estimated value of R697 million of counterfeit goods, precious metals, wildlife, as well as R2 billion in narcotics were realized. A total of 626 firearms and 12 114 rounds of ammunition were seized, as well as 395 explosives. A total of 248 vehicles valued at R76 844 071 were seized and forfeited to the state.
• A total of 194 orders including restraint, preservation, confiscation, and forfeiture orders were issued for an amount of R209 million, for a total number of 265 assets.

In line with its mandate to diminish illegal narcotic, 25 clandestine drug laboratories with 47 arrests were identified and dismantled during 2021/22, compared to 30 laboratories dismantled with 60 arrests in 2020/21.

Dr Lebeya said that they were doing their best to address all the challenges and there has been a shift to focus on the key areas. He also mentioned highlights in various provinces which pointed to DPIC successes.

Discussion
The Chairperson handed over to Mr Seabi to chair the meeting further.

Mr Whitfield commended the Hawks for their work under the leadership of Lt Gen Lebeya. It is clear that they have improved over the years. He highlighted two events – the current arrests of former councillors and current municipal officials, including a city manager involved in tender corruption; and in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, the Hawks have addressed a longstanding criminal syndicate who hijacked government buildings and that led to the deterioration of some of the communities in surrounding areas as property values declined.

SAPS presentation showed that it has not had a good financial year in terms of performance. In fact, the audit findings were almost double that of the preceding years, with 29 findings.

On Forensic Services performance, the flooding in Amanzimtoti that caused damage to the Forensic Science Laboratory is a valid point but what has the department done to address that in redirecting those case exhibits to other laboratories or establishing private-sector partnerships to expedite the analysis of the DNA samples?

On protection services, compensation of employees exceeded 80% of its budget. He asked the National Commissioner to explain how that was possible.

Several police stations were built but they were not fully operational. He referred specifically to the Chatty police station in Nelson Mandela Bay. Why were these police stations not fully operational?

Of the 109 arrested, Mr Shembeni asked if any suspects have been identified and did they know if those perpetrators were receiving instructions to go and steal the minerals.

It is clear that money was being used in SAPS AirWing but where and when were the helicopters utilized as they were never visible when a serious crime was committed? The only time when helicopters were used was during the Minister’s imbizos.

How many cross-border operations, if any, did SAPS have and were there any successes?

There were reports of stolen South Africa police vehicles brought to Malawi, and it seemed as though some of those were being used as state vehicles. He asked how they were planning on bringing those vehicles back to South Africa.

On the Government Security Regulator and security in Parliament, he asked who the security personnel were who were removing officials from Parliament. Were they working under SAPS Protection Services or as a separate unit?

Mr Terblanche congratulated the Hawks on their good work. Lt Gen Lebeya mentioned a few charges where people were found guilty and he asked how many people were involved there. He also mentioned R66 million in goods seized from people working for the government service. How much was seized from the private sector?

SAPS identified 93 focus areas, of which they achieved 65. He questioned if it was realistic to set such a high number of targets and suggested reducing the number to make them more achievable.

Money was shifted between sectors within SAPS such as from Supply Chain Management and Infrastructure to other projects. That would have a future impact on its operations because now those sectors were going to have a lack of resources. He mentioned the lack of police stations in communities where they were needed. The building new police stations and buying police vehicles were being delayed due to the lack of available funds.

It was expected that all police stations had victim-friendly rooms. He requested that General Masemola and his team do oversight visits to fact-check this statement, as it was not the case.

On irregular expenditure, he asked how the Committee and the Department were going to solve this problem.

Dr Groenewald had a question about civil claims. During the COVID-19 period, there were 13 262 new civil claims registered valued at R67.6 billion. A total number of 46 020 claims valued at R112,1 billion were still pending at the end of 2021/22. What ‘acts’ were these by the police as to his knowledge, many of these ‘acts’ are due to unlawful arrests? What was the reason for 46 020 outstanding civil claims from SAPS perspective?

It was the fourth consecutive year that IFWE increased. Time and time again the Committee heard that the police were going to take proactive steps to ensure that this was dealt with. What exactly was going to be done to ensure there was going to be none in the future?

The SAPS presentation dealt with the AGSA audit findings; however, the solutions to the problems were nowhere to be seen. Also the reported differences between the police statistics and the AGSA audit findings on Programme Two: Visible Policing had to be presented to the Committee.
In Programme 3: Detective Services, only 18,4% – 10 472 of 56 653 case dockets for contact crimes older than three years had been finalised. That means 46 000 criminal cases older than three years have not been resolved. He asked why they had such a vast case backlog. There were not enough detectives to solve the cases. What was SAPS going to do to solve this problem? Were they planning on employing more detectives or what?

Only 8,78% (22 244 of 253 428) DNA intelligence cases were processed within 90 calendar days in 2021/22. He asked what the current backlog was as this was undermining the criminal justice system. DNA was vital for solving many cases such as rape cases and currently they were failing women and children with the low success rate in solving the cases.

He asked about the Cape Town laboratory that was flooded with chemicals as they were supposed to be contained and sealed to ensure they were not able to spill.

He asked DPCI what the charges were against the Zama Zamas who were arrested. He knew that there were many illegal firearms.

Mr Shaik Emam congratulated the Hawks on the wonderful work they have done. He commended the Minister for always being available but that the National Commissioner was never available when he was needed, even when urgent matters had to be attended to.

With the high levels of unemployment, when SAPS recruits, you have everybody applying. He suggested they recruit people with a passion for policing and investigation so that professionals are employed in the field.

The high levels of crime will never be able to be combatted by SAPS alone, but it is a collaborative effort by all departments. SAPS needed to get to the root cause of the problem. SAPS could collaborate with the Department of Social Development and the Department of Basic Education to identify problem children at an early stage to prevent high levels of criminal activities in future. Was there a plan to incorporate something like this?

He questioned if it was humanly possible for a detective with over 200 dockets to do justice to any case. It was impossible and they were expecting miracles with limited resources.

There was a R53 billion budget but the number of crimes was increasing. The police only dealt with crime after it was committed if they were dealing with them at all. He asked why it accepted the budget cuts when they knew the challenges they were facing with the lack of resources.

On the quality of investigations, Mr Shaik Emam said that many people were leaving the police force because of the lack of incentives. People were being promoted despite not having the necessary qualifications and training. What was SAPS going to do to ensure that those with the required qualifications were the ones who were being promoted?

When the Committee was in Mpumalanga, the police commissioner identified a serious problem saying that the lawyer who does all the bail applications for those criminals conducting illegal mining activities, carried around R250 000 cash with him and was paying the bail for each of the criminals. No one questioned why he had the cash and from where he got it. The police said that they were unable to do anything about it.

There was a massive problem with the laboratory services which led to many cases getting withdrawn, unduly delayed or the courts were giving bail because the police were unable to provide sufficient evidence. What was it planning on doing about this matter?

He noticed that a lot of arrests were made for illegal firearms and ammunition and a lot were being confiscated. He asked if SAPS did not believe that the country was under siege or being held hostage. With the illegal firearms and ammunition, together with the high level of illegal mining, does SAPS have a comprehensive plan with stakeholders like the private security industry to eradicate this once and for all?

Ministry and Department response
Minister Cele answered Mr Whitfield’s question, saying that the record was indeed broken until the scratching that made the record broken was fixed.

The Cape Town laboratory was the best laboratory in Africa and in many other countries, with top-of-the-range facilities. The laboratory that was repeatedly flooded was in Amanzimtoti in Kwa-Zulu Natal. That laboratory was going to be flooded again as they were unable to divert the river that ran past the laboratory. The closed Amanzimtoti laboratory meant the Western Cape and Gauteng laboratories were overloaded. Gqeberha’s new forensic laboratory in the Eastern Cape was set to be completed by February 2023. Almost all samples that the Western Cape was currently overloaded with were from the Eastern Cape. Once the Eastern Cape’s new laboratory was fully functioning, the Western Cape laboratory would no longer be overloaded with samples. KZN was the only province that was still going to give them problems as SAPS was unable to bypass the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI). Over the past four years, they have been asking DPWI to move the laboratory. As Gen Masemola had mentioned, SAPS head of supply chain management was meeting with DPWI.

On private laboratories, the President has appointed Dr Judy Dlamini together with SAPS forensic laboratory staff to work on the relationship with the private sector. However, it has not been successful up to this point. The Deputy Minister was working on this as well but this matter was not under SAPS control but in the hands of Dr Judy Dlamini. Facilitating and capacitating the laboratories does not only hinge on the police. However, this does not mean that the police have not done their work. He mentioned that 16 contracts for laboratories were never renewed and they all collapsed under the rule of the previous National Commissioner. All of them have been restored and put back in order and they were currently being monitored. He, along with the Deputy Minister, does oversight visits to the laboratories and the employment capacity has increased and all the machines are fully functioning. The laboratory hours have also been increased from 8 to 16 hours a day, and they were looking at increasing it to 24 hours to be able to deal with the backlog.

The backlog figure of 251 000 DNA samples that was mentioned was from 2021/22. It has decreased to 84 000 this year. They met with the DNA Board and the latest that they would deal with the backlog was December 2022. For 2022/23 so much work has been done and that is how they have been able to decrease the backlog. They had hoped to be done with the backlog by September, but it should be done by December.

The Minister agreed that the Chatty police station was not fully functioning yet. There were visible policing vehicles and they were working on the detective services to fully capacitate the station.

There had been 196 000 SAPS members and now they were 175 000. This meant that they were around 25 000 members down and this meant that all units were not going to be able to recruit new people whether they were Public Order Policing (POP), detectives or special task force. The lack of employees in SAPS was a budgetary matter. In previous years before COVID-19, training was reduced due to the low level of intake. They were given 10 000 people this year for training and 4000 of them were going to the POP. According to the National Instruction, in 2012 SAPS was supposed to have 12 000 POP members, and presently they had about 5 000 members. This meant that even with the 4 000 trainees they were not going to reach the requirement. To reduce the high level of crime they were going to have to increase the number of visible policing. It was evident in other countries that there were police officers around every corner and South Africa did not have that. They had been informed by National Treasury that SAPS was only going to get 5 000 people next year due to other demands across government and they were hoping to get 10 000. This meant that the units in SAPS were going to be half their strength due to lack of people.

He said that it should be noted that they have made a lot of progress on the laboratories.

On collaborating with other departments, they were not going to win the battle, no matter how many departments they collaborated with. The Department of Public Works was one such department and there were police stations that are overdue by 10-15 years. Most of the money they returned to National Treasury was money for infrastructure because infrastructure within the police was not a fast process when they had to work with their sister department.

The other money that was not helping SAPS much was the money allocated for technology as they also had to deal with SITA in a sister department.

SAPS was not going to be able to deal with the Zama Zamas if the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Defence were not going to assist them with illegal crossing. Almost all the people who were a part of the Zama Zamas were illegal immigrants. The most important department was the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy as it was responsible for closing the mines that were not utilized anymore so that they could not attract the Zama Zamas.

SAPS National Commissioner and Department response
Gen Masemola replied that they were doing their best to resolve the KZN laboratory challenge.

On the COE over-expenditure in Programme 5 Protection Services, it was a programme that was labour intensive and that the protectors worked after hours and that is why they would incur ‘over-time’. They were looking at possibilities of a dispensation for an allowance and that this might reduce expenditure to an extent.

The Chatty police station was operational, there was a station commander; a lieutenant was appointed, and there were working vehicles at the station. However, it was still understaffed and the police station has not been officially opened but they were working on that.

SAPS did not have a contract to service the AirWing fleet. They were slowly but surely putting contracts in place. The contracts they had in place had been cancelled and they were working on getting them back. They do have helicopters and they were being serviced regularly. They were being used mainly for crime prevention operations by the various provinces.

On cross-border operations, they have crime prevention operations across the border with neighbouring countries. He did not have the figures with him in the meeting but they recently had Operation Usalama.

They do have vehicles in neighbouring countries, like Mozambique (more than 80 vehicles), Zambia (75) and they also have several in Malawi. They were currently busy negotiating to get the vehicles in Zambia back into South Africa. It was a process to get the vehicles back into South Africa, but that they were busy with it.

He had a meeting on 11 October with the Organised Crime Unit and DPCI on organized crime related to car-jacking and cross-border crime. He gave them ultimatums in terms of identifying the kingpins who were getting the vehicles across to the neighbouring countries. They had to deal with the people who were stealing the vehicles here and getting them across the borders.

He took note of the comment by Mr Terblanche on the three focus areas and SAPS would schedule a meeting to engage with the Committee to look over the targets.

On victim-friendly rooms, he does not recall that SAPS ever said that all police stations had them. He was aware that 139 police stations across the country do not have victim-friendly rooms. Supply chain management was busy addressing the matter.

The police had a draft strategy that they had developed to improve the department and during the planning session they will look into ways to improve service delivery and work on plans on how they could rectify certain areas.

On detectives, he said that the Minister said quite a lot about that. He acknowledged the number of detectives had reduced drastically. A few years ago they had around 25 000 detectives, whereas now they had just over 17 000 detectives nationally. They were also looking into the service allowance that has not been increased for operational managers. Currently, they were just negotiating with National Treasury on that.

On civil claims, anybody was allowed to put in a claim if they felt as if they were not treated well by SAPS. They have embarked on an awareness campaign to make SAPS members aware of what to do and what not to do. They were also identifying the police stations that have received a lot of civil claims and were then interrogating them to resolve the issues.

The lawyer who carried around R250 000 in cash was an issue that had to be raised with the provincial police commissioner.

They have established teams in 21 districts identified as hotspots for illicit mining activities. Unfortunately, they will not be able to combat illicit mining activities as long as there were open mining shafts but they would continue with efforts to eradicate this problem and encourage their sister departments to join them in fighting this.

The IFWE increase was being taken seriously by SAPS and they were doing their best to find solutions.

Lt Gen Dimpane, SAPS CFO, touched on fruitless and wasteful expenditure. She said that when this was analyzed, the main penalties related to licencing of police vehicles, as well as interest charged on claims against the state. It took time to have the vehicles licenced and they were busy engaging with partners like Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) to have a memorandum of understanding to be able to deal with this problem. When it came to the challenge of interest on claims, they put together a project with legal services to interrogate this type of fruitless and wasteful expenditure. They have continuous engagements with the State Attorney's Office to ensure improved controls on this. If they determined through investigation that SAPS members were negligent in carrying out the duties expected of them, they did recover that fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

For 2021/22, R621 000 was incurred and they managed to recover at least R186 000 of that. They would finalise the investigations and determine if SAPS members were liable to pay back the monies. That was a matter which they did not tolerate at all and they took it very seriously when a member was not carrying out his or her duties.

On the actions taken on irregular expenditure, this area has troubled the department for years and therefore they were more than qualified to deal with this. They have put systems in place and identified several transactions that needed to be investigated. They were not where they wanted to be in dealing with these matters but there was a lot of improvement. They know that they could be doing more in terms of compliance with the necessary timelines to finalise this problem area in the department.

Maj Gen Eleanor Groenewald, SAPS Head of Litigation in Legal and Policy Services, addressed the number of civil claims and the reasons for this. The 46 000 pending claims at the end of 2021/22 included previous years as well. The reason for the number of claims still pending was that the claimants in terms of court rules should approach the court for sit-down dates. SAPS was proactive in dealing with these matters to reduce the claims.

On the R67 billion in claim amounts, SAPS has no control over the amount of the each claim instituted against the police. These were not the actual payment amounts paid out to the claimants. During the course of litigation, the amounts would be amended accordingly and it was argued in terms of previous court orders on which precedents were set.

Lt Gen Samson Shitlabane, SAPS Divisional Commissioner: Protection and Security Services, replied that the Government Security Regulator was the component responsible for national key point and strategic installations. It was a stand-alone that reported to Parliament under the Office of the Secretary of Parliament. They have been having discussions between SAPS and Parliament looking at the establishment and reconfiguration the responsibilities around Parliament. On the expenditure, they have not been able to train and recruit people, and this had an impact on the demand which would automatically affect the budget.

Maj Gen Edith Mavundla, Head of Technology Management, SAPS, replied about the Investigation Case Docket Management System (ICDMS) and Integration Persons Management (IPM). In a nutshell, they got a proposal through SITA because of the mandate that SITA needed to procure on behalf of the department. When SITA was unable to procure on behalf of a department they may then hand over the authority to the department. Likewise, the department has to ask SITA for approval to be allowed to do a certain procurement – that would normally happen on matters that were specific to the department or security-related.

When there were matters aligned to other departments, like the Integrated Justice System (IJS), there was a value chain where they strategized with the IJS Board and then have a strategy that would realize the value within the Justice Criminal System. Although ICDMS was not concluded yet, it is because of the IT specialists. Years ago, they used contractors to do the development when IJS funding was still with SAPS. National Treasury called them off from using the contractors and they reverted back to using IT human resources and it was going to be sourced through SITA. This was where SITA came in. The project would then get delayed because IT human resources were expensive and scarce. With National Treasury rates, the experts were reluctant to get involved in government-related projects where they were not going to get paid the equal rate of the relevant skill. Therefore, they lose these IT skills during the projects as they continued. They were tracking and mitigating the risks as they went. This was why AGSA reported delays, as there were delays when the project started, and specifically on the ICDMS the delays were continual because of these matters and the aging technology. SITA has implemented a strategy to prioritize all of the skills required within the ICDMS and they were looking on having it finalised in 2024/25.

It had been difficult to get started on the IPM project until they engaged with SITA and that they needed to change their strategy. They had to get a company that had the specific skills to work on the IPM that was going to work with them. In 2020 they got a company. It was continuing well and they will be implementing the IPM in the next financial year. They were getting started to pilot the IPM development in every province.

Maj Gen Senobia Hankins, Divisional Commissioner Supply Chain Management, SAPS, addressed the irregular expenditure. As indicated by AGSA, the main concern was the delay in determining if each case was irregular or not. They acknowledged the AGSA findings and they had 90 days in which the determination tests had to be finalised. Investigating officers were appointed in all the business units to work on the irregular expenditure prior year cases. As an initiative, they have appointed an irregular expenditure committee in all the provinces at the provincial supply chain level led by the provincial head of the supply chain management. They have added other key role players to the committee such as a representative from internal audit; legal services; supply chain expert as well as the financial office. Once they discovered that the investigative office was dragging its feet on the finalisation of the determination test, they instructed all investigating officers to go to the IE committee to give a progress report on finalising the determination tests. They have already seen significant results and the backlog cases have now moved to consequence management to be investigated as irregular expenditure cases. They were working on finalising the remaining backlog on old cases.

On the new cases, they have put systems in place to completely eradicate irregular expenditure, or at least reduce it significantly. They have a Division Supply Chain Management that developed the Performance Assessment Tool rolled out to all the provinces and the station level. The tool focused a lot on the procurement space and they were already seeing the benefits of the tool. The tool was utilized to determine if there were any challenges early on and they had their teams ready to do immediate rectification and immediate training when procurement issues were picked up in business units. They conduct immediate training and rectification of problems. They were already seeing the positive effects of this tool and a decrease in possible irregular expenditure cases. As another initiative, they were taking accountability to the supervisors in the environments and they developed a checklist for every procurement file where the supervisor has to check, verify and ensure all the necessary steps were followed before the next activity could be initiated.

They have also done significant enhancements to their provisioning administration system, looking at the complete lifecycle of when an asset was procured up until the asset was disposed of. They also built in stages into the system where the supervisor has to sign off before the next steps could be followed. All supporting and required documents from a certain transaction were going to be available on this system.

As an initiative, the SCM Division was doing roadshows in all provinces on a continuous basis on irregular expenditure and the enhancement of supply chain practitioners in the business units. They were currently in the Eastern Cape.

Maj Gen Leon Rabie addressed the question on planning and target setting. SAPS was a service organization and this made it very difficult to identify targets and commitments that were reflective of the outcomes of the programmes. The Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) has introduced a results-based approach to planning. The indicators in the APP need to include the output of impact indicators, which were the results of the different programmes. For example, in Programme 2: Visible Policing and Crime Prevention the ultimate output indicator would be the absence of crime and the community’s perception of safety and security. The department does not have total control over the absence of crime or the reduction in crime levels; however that was what they were being measured on. AGSA referred to the proactive measures implemented to prevent crime. SAPS acknowledged that it was important but that those were reflected in the lower level planning where you had an annual operational plan where the focus was on specific activities and inputs to reduce the high levels of crime. When they go through the APP process each year to determine the specific targets associated with that, they have to take into account the principle of result-based indicators; what was determined in the MTEF; what was identified in the President's State of the Nation Address; the priorities set by the Minister, etc. All these factors had to be taken into account when the APP was prepared.

When they go through the target setting almost a year in advance, they consider historical trends, as their primary indicator. In addition to that, they have to take into consideration all the competencies and capabilities in the department. Its mandate and responsibilities in the Constitution are to serve the people of the country and ensure that they live in a safe and secure environment.

Minister's closing remarks
Minister Cele referred to the fact that there has been a reduction in the budget allocation and the capabilities of SAPS and that was not always visible in the numbers presented. The budget figures presented remained more or less the same over the current MTEF period. However, the net effect of that was that the department lost 20 000 people and that has an impact on target setting that it had to take into consideration. They would like to reduce some targets. A lot of the targets were legacy targets. There were also new targets that were constantly being added to the list. They would like to have an opportunity to go over the targets and the indicators to see if they could reduce the number of targets.

In Programme 3, the constitutional mandate associated with that is the effective investigation of crime. The final result or success lay in the effective investigation of the crime and presenting it to court. Taking it through the criminal justice system for the conviction fell outside the SAPS mandate. They had a role but they had no control over the process. Their goal was to ensure that they had an optimal detection rate that they could report.

They have taken note of all the AGSA comments and have been working closely with AGSA. He acknowledged that they had a problem with record-keeping but that they were working on this. In the areas where they were not successful, they had to make improvements to address these. As a national department, it was rather challenging because they had 1 300 business units reporting back to them. However, they were implementing measures to improve the systems in place.

The audit report was retrospective in that it reported on things that occurred 6-months ago. If findings were being made on the accuracy of records on, for example, the recording of crime. When the findings were made they could not just go and address the findings that were made, they had to go back and fix that total population and they had very limited time to do that – from the time that the audit was conducted to the time when the report was submitted to the necessary oversight bodies. They asked AGSA to give them more time to respond to the audit findings. For example, if they had to go and validate all the reported contact crimes, then they would have to go and validate over 600 000 in just a matter of a few weeks. This would be very difficult to coordinate.

Some of the proactive measures that were not presented in the APP, were present at lower levels of planning. They will present their National Policing Strategy to the Committee in due course, wherethis proactive measure would then be investigated.

They did have areas where work had to be done but it should also be noted that there were areas where they had a clean audit. They were in the process of arranging a meeting with DPME, National Treasury and AGSA to ensure that the correct items were measured and reported on.

The SAPS National Commissioner said he had no further comments to add.

Further discussion
Mr Seabi repeated his question that during the Committee oversight visit in Mpumalanga, a police officer said that nothing could be done by the police about the incident where the lawyer had R250 000 and paid bail for the people, especially the kingpins, arrested for illegal mining activities. He asked the Provincial Commissioner to address this.

Lt Gen Semakaleng Manamela, SAPS in Mpumalanga Provincial Commissioner, replied that such an allegation would be investigated and that the response would be given in due course. They would ensure that an investigation would happen.

Minister Cele asked rhetorically if there was a law that stated what amount of cash a person was allowed to carry on them and if the police were allowed to arrest a person for carrying around a certain amount of money.

Mr Seabi asked if Mr Shaik Emam could answer the Minister’s question.

Mr Shaik Emam pointed out that the Portfolio Committee on Police had a serious meeting with the Provincial Commissioner on allegations that were raised by many police officers on this matter. The Provincial Commissioner thought that it was part of her mandate and part of the authority she had to investigate the matter or to interrogate the lawyer. He pointed out that the Committee was allowed to question this as in his view it was a case of money laundering.

Mr Seabi remarked that the Provincial Commissioner said that they were going to investigate the matter. However, the Minister asked if it was against the law to carry around R250 000 cash.

Minister Cele replied that if he went to the bank and withdrew R250 000 cash, that would be acceptable. If he was pulled over at a roadblock and the police questioned him about it, what was going to happen? Were the police allowed to interrogate you about why you were carrying around such a large amount of money?

Mr Shaik Emam noted that SAPS was struggling to identify the kingpins and the Minister's response was that you may carry around any amount of money with you. He questioned why in today’s political climate, anyone would risk carrying around such a large amount of money when there are much safer ways to transfer money. He asked if there was anything in terms of the law that allowed the police the right to question individuals about such incidents. If they were allowed to trace the money that could be a possible way to detect the kingpins.

Minister Cele replied that they were allowed to interrogate the individual if they came across a similar situation. It remained a problem when it came to the laws of South Africa. There were people, for example, in the transportation industry who carried large amounts of cash with them and who made cash transactions. He mentioned this example as it was dependent on the situation.

Mr Seabi thanked the Minster for his response.

Mr Shembeni pointed to the purpose of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) to combat money laundering and terrorist activities. Was this Act not aiding the police in addressing such suspicious activities?

Mr Seabi said that they would await on the Provincial Commissioner report and then take it further.

The Chairperson took over again and suggested they take a break.

Mr Terblanche asked if the police were going to be present in the meeting after the break.

The Chairperson said that SAPS was going to stay but the Minister was allowed to be excused.

Break

DPCI response
Lt Gen Lebeya replied to the question if the kingpins had been arrested. They were aware that 22 of the individuals were not just from a lower level. The prosecutor was the one who deals with the charge sheets and to be a leader of an organized crime group was an offence in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA). They did not want to get ahead of the prosecutor but they had identified a leader, which is why they first arrested 87 perpetrators and thereafter arrested more, who were at a higher level than the ordinary individuals. In Khutsong, where they arrested six they were not the individuals who went into the mines. Of the 88 arrested, it was postponed from 12 October to 15 November when it would possibly be referred to the High Court; however, developments were taking place. On the matter of the 21 individuals who have been accused, this has been moved to 20 October to consider bail and other matters.

On the counts that the individuals have been convicted, he replied that it was 1 060.

On the number of items seized that were forfeited to the state, the figure for confiscated assets was inclusive of individuals from both the private and public sectors.

On the charges against the arrested Zama Zamas, the matter was in the hands of the prosecutor and the accused individuals have not been arraigned yet but they needed to take into consideration the doctrine of common purpose. The offence of conspiracy to commit robbery was an inchoate offence and these were just as serious as the actual offence. When the statement was released it stated that the accused individuals would face preliminary charges of conspiracy to commit robbery, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, contravention of the Immigration Act, and the possibility of other crimes.

Further discussion
Mr Terblanche said that there was a tremendous number of outstanding cases which still had to be resolved and he asked what SAPS was planning, taking into consideration the lack of resources compared to the number of dockets.

National Commissioner Masemola said that he was unsure if Gen Lebeya could respond to that.

The Chairperson said that it was the question on the SAPS cases and asked Mr Terblanche to repeat his question.

Mr Terblanche said that it would take SAPS years to resolve the number of outstanding cases and he asked what it was going to do to resolve this.

The National Commissioner replied that there were always going to be cases older than three years in various categories. Some cases would have been closed but with warrant of arrest issues being that they have not caught the suspect yet. All cases have a brought forward to date, which means that they will be reinvestigated every year. However, when a suspect was found, the case would move on. If a suspect was undetected, it would be brought forward again in the following year or so.

Maj Gen Lesetja Mangale, SAPS Head: Criminal Record and Crime Scene Management, added that the question was answered adequately. The cases outstanding over three years implied that they were being investigated, if they have been filed as undetected or if they were being resolved. They were aware of the shortage of investigators. There were initiatives they embarked on and there was a Cabinet Memo to the effect that they wanted to capacitate investigation capacity. This memo was intended for the Ministers in the IJS space to assist SAPS in solving the crime.

Civilian Secretariat for Police Service (CSPS) Annual Report 2021/22
Ms Itumeleng Ledwaba, CSPS Director: Strategic Management, and Mr Tumelo Nkojoana, CSPS Chief Financial Officer, presented. CSPS achieved an annual performance score of 92% (24 out of 26 planned targets) which was an increase compared to its 89% the previous year. It reported on its capacity-building workshops, anti-crime campaigns and imbizos. CSPS had 91.6% expenditure. It vacancy rate was 8.33% by 31 March 2022. It was prioritising the filling of vacant funded posts and monitoring of expenditure to avoid underspending.

CSPS undertook an analysis of the SAPS policy framework on civil litigation processes. Findings point to the fact that the operational policy and interventions by SAPS to manage civil claims are not effective and should be reviewed. The review should focus on the proactive aspects of managing civil claims to address the serious operational challenges and poor management.

It gave a progress report on legislation:
• Firearms Control Amendment Bill
CSPS was instructed by the Portfolio Committee to conduct further consultations with the firearms fraternity to attain consensus and the bilateral meetings are ongoing.
• South African Police Service Amendment Bill
The costing of the SAPS function for community policing structures is estimated at R111.2 National Treasury, CSPS and SAPS are discussing the costing of the CPF structures.
• Independent Police Investigative Directorate Amendment Bill
The request for approval for processing the Bill through the JCPS Cluster has been submitted to the Minister
• Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Amendment Bill
The Portfolio Committee deliberations are ongoing.
• Protection of Constitutional Democracy against Terrorist and Related Activities Amendment Bill, 2021
On 17 March 2022 it was recommended that the Bill be submitted to the JCPS Ministerial Cluster.
• Critical Infrastructure Protection Act, 2019
The Proclamation putting into operation certain sections of this Act was gazetted on 10 March 2022. The Minister approved draft Regulations on establishment and functions of the Council for public comment and these are being processed.

The DNA Board had developed its own governance rules and procedures in accordance with the DNA Act for the effective and efficient functioning of the Board. Its Sub-Committees were comprised of at least three board members, some serving on more than one committee. She noted the following Sub-Committees in particular:
• Ad hoc Committee (Planning Committee) was there to develop a plan of action (POA) to oversee the eight objectives of the Turnaround Strategy for the Division: Forensic Services. Over the longer term, the Board would determine if the purpose of the strategy has been realized.
• Public Relations Sub-Committee aimed to promote awareness of the DNA Board functions and mandate, broaden media awareness, expand its online presence and communication services.

Discussion
Ms Peacock had a concern about the vacancy rate. With such a high unemployment rate, it could not be justified that there was an underspending due to vacant funded posts. The presentation stated that it was due to promotions and other reasons. There was a policy that described how to appoint, promote and deal with that transition. It had a double impact as there was unemployment and underspending. How would CSPS ensure the policy spoke to changes in strategic and important positions being transitioned smoothly. This was going to have a direct effect on how the police were operating.

Mr Terblanche asked for more information on the SAPS Amendment Bill. He noted CSPS mentioned that they did several anti-crime campaigns and he asked for more information on exactly what it was they did.

CSPS response
Mr Takalani Ramaru, Acting Secretary for Police, acknowledged the vacancy rate was extremely high. There would always be an amount unspent due to vacancies in certain positions as although people were acting in those positions it was at a lower salary node and this affected expenditure. Most of the positions that were vacant in March 2022 were already filled or were in the final stages of being filled. They were ensuring that they completed this process as soon as possible.

As indicated in its last presentation to the Committee, they experienced a challenge since July in terms of SAPS Act, since they were unable to move forward because they were still resolving the funding of the community policing forums (CPFs). Currently, they were finalising the funding model, and they were awaiting the legislation. They believed that before the end of the calendar year…(Mr Ramaru lost connection)

Mr Milton Ntwana, CSPS Legal Advisor, continued that the only outstanding issue was the SAPS Amendment Bill was that they were still sorting out CPF funding. There was a meeting earlier in the week to sort this out. Once that was resolved the Bill could be processed.

Ms Ledwaba replied that in Quarters 2, 3 and 4 of 2021/22, they had anti-crime campaigns on several matters such as GBVF; responsible liquor trading and youth against crime through sports in the Western Cape. They had about three anti-crime campaigns on crime prevention in the Western Cape. They assisted SAPS in the launch of Operation Safer Festive Season anti-crime campaign in the North West province.

Further questions
Ms Marekwa said that the Department of Police underspending highlighted by the audit report was something that they needed to address urgently since it has been a problem since 2012. The underspending was robbing people of much-needed resources that could have been channeled toward improving communities.

The largest underspending by CSPS was in Programme 3: Legislation and Policy Development. She asked how there could be an overachievement of performance targets while it was the programme with the most underspending.

On the non-functioning of the community policing forums, she asked how this was going to be addressed. Besides the funding, she asked if the community was being allowed the opportunity to participate and assist the police in reporting crimes and so forth.

The Chairperson asked Mr Seabi to conclude the meeting and apologized for having to log out.

CSPS response
Mr Ramaru replied that there were still people who were willing to participate in the CPFs. As a Department, together with provincial secretariats, they were in the process of evaluating the function of CPFs at various stages. When challenges were identified they try to come up with initiatives to try and assist them. In most cases, they conduct training for CPF members because it was one area where they realized it caused challenges where members did not understand what they were dealing with. They were busy with those assessments and following up on them with interventions. There were instances where they found that members were not dedicated and then they go in and assist to ensure they got people involved who were interested and willing to assist the community and SAPS in dealing with crime.

Mr Nkojoana, CSPS CFO, replied that for 2021/22 CSPS underspending was mainly on goods and services and some capital assets which were supposed to be procured to do with moving to their new offices. That process was delayed to this financial year. They requested a rollover from National Treasury but it was not approved.

On Programme 3: Legislation and Policy, that money was allocated for a new position that was created. Legislation also dealt with legal matters of the Department, therefore a new post was created. A new post was also created in Policy. By the end of the year, the recruitment processes that they had to follow had to be rolled over to the current financial year. Interviews had already been conducted for both posts and the positions were to be filled in the current financial year.

Mr Seabi asked about the IPID Amendment Bill.

Mr Ramaru said that the IPID Bill was served before the Cabinet Committee and it was supposed to go to Cabinet now. [He later corrected this saying he had received information from the Ministry that Cabinet had approved that the Bill go forward for publishing for public comment].

Dr Groenewald asked why National Treasury did not approve the rollover.

Mr Nkojoana replied that according to National Treasury, the amount exceeded the threshold allowed to be rolled over and that was why they did not approve it.

Mr Seabi asked Dr Groenewald if he was happy with the answer.

Dr Groenewald said that he would have liked more specifics but that he would accept the answer.

Mr Seabi allowed an opportunity to address outstanding questions the Committee had for SAPS.

Final questions to SAPS
Dr Groenewald said that he had said what he wanted to say. He was aware that some dockets were still waiting to be followed up but it was shocking that this is taking over three years. The question was what priority, if any, was being attached to these outstanding cases?

Mr Shembeni pointed out that if there were currently 66 000 cases at the moment and they have only dealt with 10 000, the number was going to keep on increasing year after year. How was SAPS going to deal with the growing number of cases? He asked what exactly caused the backlog in the system and how many dockets were still ongoing active cases and which dockets were, for example, awaiting warrants for arrest.

National Commissioner Masemola replied that when a matter was being presented to the Committee it meant that it was being prioritized. They were busy working on the dockets and they had a project that dealt with it. They were using other means, including the Person Identification and Verification Application (PIVA) and suspect profiling with the goal to reduce the number of dockets. Some dockets have a warrant for arrest and they will be closed with a brought-forward date, whereas some will be listed Undetected with a brought-forward date, meaning that they were going to be reopened.

Maj Gen Mangale replied that the National Commissioner was correct in saying that there was a project to reduce contact crime. Through this project, they were able to guide provinces on what to do to reduce the number of dockets, which in turn would form part of the larger number of dockets. They were waiting on the courts to decide if they were able to prosecute, then the investigation could be finalised. Each province had a special team who dealt with the dockets to ensure that the caseload was being reduced.

The SAPS National Commissioner had no further comments. He replied that he did not have an answer to Dr Groenewald’s question on the oldest docket still outstanding and how many dockets had been closed as ‘cold cases’.

Closing remarks
Mr Seabi suggested that they do oversight visits to the laboratories in Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KZN and also have a session with the DNA Board. The Committee agreed to this.

Ms Nicolette van Zyl-Gous, Committee Content Advisor, reminded the Committee that they had a meeting with the DNA Board on 19 October but she took note of the request for oversight visits.

He thanked the Committee for their input at the day-long meeting and adjourned it at 16:17pm.