SAPS & CSPS 2022/23 Annual Reports, with AGSA and unions input (Ministry present)

Meeting report

Opening Remarks

The Chairperson said that although the Committee's mandate for the meeting was set, it was crucial to mention the significant escalation of kidnappings in the Eastern Cape province. The Eastern Cape was quickly becoming the kidnapping capital of South Africa and it was extremely concerning. Since 2022, more than 150 kidnapping cases have been recorded in the province. The SAPS should act decisively to stop the escalation of the heinous crime that struck fear in communities. The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) had also noted, with grave concern, the increasing rate of police killings and attacks on police stations. During the year under review, a total of 34 police officers were killed, an increase from the previous year. The rate at which POPCRU’s members were perishing at the hands of heartless criminals served as a clear indication that SAPS did not have an efficient strategy or a plan to curb the scourge. Implementable safety strategies were required to curb the killings of police officials. One police life lost was one too many.

At the end of that week, following the Committee’s engagements, the Committee would compile its Budgetary Review and Recommendations Reports (BRRR). The Committee would assess the service delivery and financial performance of the various departments and entities and make the necessary recommendations to the Minister of Police, the Accounting Officers and the Minister of Finance. The Committee would also evaluate the effective, efficient and forward use and allocation of resources and thus make recommendations on the future use of resources. The BRRR process was one of the key oversight roles for parliamentarians and the Committee. The Committee would have a subsequent meeting on 13 October 2023, where the Committee would look at the annual reports for the remaining entities.

Briefing by the Auditor–General of South Africa (AGSA)

Ms Thabelo Musisinyani, Acting Business Unit Leader, AGSA and Ms Nelisiwe Mhlongo, Acting Deputy Business Unit Leader, AGSA, took Members through the presentation. They said there was an improvement in the overall performance of the auditees, being the South African Police Service (SAPS), Civilian Secretariat for Police Service (CSPS), The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), and The Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSiRA).

SAPS

SAPS obtained an unqualified audit opinion with findings in the 2022/2023 financial year. The 2022/2023 audit outcome remained unchanged from the 2021/2022 financial year because of unaddressed consequence management issues, irregular expenditure, Supply Chain Management (SCM) non-compliance and performance information. SAPS was struggling with its daily and monthly controls. SAPS could obtain a regressed audit outcome if left unaddressed, as the daily and monthly controls were meant to strengthen the entire financial process. SAPS’s findings on the indicators and targets reported in the performance report were of great concern. SAPS still had inconsistencies in the information captured and in the information supporting the reported indicators and targets. In certain instances, case dockets could not be found, making it impossible for the AGSA to validate the contents of SAPS’ performance report.

Targets achieved/not achieved

SAPS achieved 67% of its targets in the 2022/2023 financial year and almost spent 100% of its budget allocation. However, Programme Two: Visible Policing and Programme Three: Detective Services achieved 72% and 36% of their performance targets respectively. Key targets not achieved included: the percentage reduction in reported contact crime which had a 7.7% increase, the detection rate of contact crime which sat at 46.26%, the percentage of drug syndicates and criminal groups neutralised which sat at 10% and the percentage of forensic exhibits finalised within prescribed timeframes which was not achieved.

Key Observations

SAPS measured the achievement of forensic evidence targets from the date evidence was captured onto the system and not from the date that samples were submitted for analysis, thus real delays were not measured. Instances were identified where the SAPS took more than 1 000 days to capture the processing of forensic evidence on the system, thus causing significant delays to investigations. The detectives did not follow up on forensic evidence such as DNA, fingerprints, and ballistics.

There was no consequence management for those who lost case dockets. As a result, that has become accepted as a culture that significantly impacts service delivery and negatively impacts the justice system. No monitoring system tracked the movement of dockets, especially between detectives and courts. There were insufficient controls over the storing and monitoring of movement of closed case dockets.

Material Irregularities

A breach of contract by SAPS resulted in an arbitration award against SAPS amounting to approximately R31m. SAPS performed the necessary disciplinary actions, identified the official responsible and improved its internal controls. AGSA recommended that SAPS consult the state attorney to recover the loss.

CSPS

The CSPS had obtained a clean audit in the 2022/2023 financial year. The CSPS achieved 90% of its targets in the 2022/2023 financial year. The CSPS was the link between the South African citizens and SAPS but only a few people were only aware of its services. It needed to increase its visibility. It was also important for the CSPS to provide recommendations to SAPS and ensure they were fully implemented.

IPID

The IPID obtained a clean audit in the 2022/2023 financial year. It had achieved 77% of its targets in the 2022/2023 financial year.

Key Observations

The regulations of the IPID Act required all cases to be finalised within 90 days of registration and IPID did not apply the turnaround time when formulating and reporting on its performance indicators. At year's end, IPID had 13 919 active cases (76% were backlog cases) and only 120 investigators, resulting in an average of 116 cases per investigator. Thus, there were insufficient resources to finalise all cases. When investigations were complete, IPID did not have the power to enforce appropriate action.

PSiRA

PSiRA obtained an unqualified with material findings audit opinion in the 2022/2023 financial year. Like SAPS, PSiRA was also struggling with the daily and monthly controls and if left unaddressed, this could result in a regressed audit outcome. PSiRA achieved 84% of its targets in the 2022/2023 financial year.

Material Irregularities

PSiRA’s material irregularity is related to a prepayment of approximately R31m made to a service provider in the 2020 financial year, which has not resulted in any corresponding services being rendered to PSiRA to date.

Overall Irregular Expenditure

The SAPS, PSiRA, CSPS and IPID collectively had an irregular expenditure of R289 784 459 in the 2022/2023 financial year which was an increase from R281 023 000 in the prior financial year.

[See the presentation for more details]

Discussion

The Minister of Police, Mr Bheki Cele, said he had a spotty network connection and only heard about 50% of AGSA's presentation. However, he would attempt to connect the dots from what he had heard, as SAPS and AGSA had a great working relationship. SAPS has spent some time interacting and listening to the AGSA and thus, the SAPS was aware of the matters presented by the AGSA. However, it would be inadequate for him to respond prematurely to the majority of the matters presented by the AGSA. Rather, a written response would be more appropriate for the SAPS to communicate how it has implemented the AGSA's advice. He admitted that it could have better handled the consequence management-related matters. Consequence management was easier to address in lower-ranking positions and more difficult in higher-ranking positions.

Mr A Whitfield (DA) thanked AGSA for the work it did and congratulated the departments and entities that registered improvements in their audit outcomes. AGSA had mentioned that management action had been taken by PSiRA in response to the R30m material irregularity. Could it provide more information on the matter? What specific action had been taken and was AGSA satisfied with it? If AGSA continued to be unsatisfied, what further actions would be taken?

Mr Whitfield said that the CSPS had previously committed to completing a review of SAPS’s disciplinary regulations, and it was unclear if AGSA was aware of that commitment. The Committee had not received any feedback on the commitment taken over 18 to 24 months ago. The matter was raised because AGSA had highlighted IPID’s inability to enforce accountability. AGSA also highlighted that the SAPS had weak consequence management. The review of SAPS’s disciplinary regulations was fundamental and should be a key performance indicator. Could AGSA confirm if they were aware of any efforts by the CSPS to review the disciplinary regulations of SAPS? Until that was done, IPID would remain impotent in enforcing accountability and consequence management would remain weak.

Ms Z Majozi (IFP) welcomed AGSA's report. If its findings on certain departments and entities were similar to the prior year's findings, then it indicated that the related departments and entities were not adhering to AGSA’s recommendations. Minister Cele had said that SAPS had a good working relationship with AGSA and thus the recurring findings were concerning. Could AGSA indicate if the departments and entities showed willingness to address the audit findings?

Mr O Terblanche (DA) acknowledged the quality of AGSA's report. The existence of internal control deficiencies signalled ineffective leadership in SAPS. What was AGSA doing to put pressure on it and the Minister to ensure that actions were taken? Recalling that Minister Cele said it was difficult to take action against senior police officials, he said the Committee could not allow things to proceed in that manner. There seemed to be recurring issues relating to procurement, expenditure and consequence management. There was a huge consequence management issue within SAPS and the Committee would like to hear from the Minister on how the issue would be addressed.

Ms N Peacock (ANC) said the Committee was of the idea that an audit recovery plan would be made after every audit outcome. What were AGSA's mitigating strategies that could be included in SAPS's recovery plan to assist in the process of managing the outcome? Did AGSA ensure that there was a monitoring process to ensure that SAPS was on the right track in implementing its recovery plan? Was there a relationship between AGSA and the internal audit function of SAPS? AGSA’s recurring and unaddressed audit findings would not have existed if such a relationship existed. Was AGSA monitoring the work of SAPS’s internal audit function to address the misalignment of targets and unrealistic predetermined objectives which could not be realised? What was the role of the internal audit function and was it doing what it was supposed to do?

Mr B Golding (DA) said political will was required to bring about consequence management. The excuse offered around the difficulty in dealing with the staff at senior level would not be considered. The day-to-day internal controls related to record-keeping and record-capturing were at their lowest. There was something wrong if SAPS failed to keep or capture records at a basic level. What were the recommendations for addressing the issue at a basic level? Would it be recommendations related to consequence management or training?

Mr Golding said that there seemed to be a general Information Technology (IT) issue at SAPS. If the system was not running, then the Investigate Case Docket Management System (ICDMS) would not be used or not used properly which pointed to basic record-keeping and record capturing issues. Was the issue around record-keeping and record capturing an IT or training issue?

Mr Golding said that it was assumed that the CSPS and IPID would make the necessary recommendations which ultimately could not be enforced as they were merely recommendations. What recommendations were made from the lowest to the highest level of SAPS? If SAPS failed at the base, everything would go wrong.

Ms M Gomba (ANC) commended AGSA for the work it did. The audit report has shown good results which showed that there were committed administrators who wanted to see SAPS succeed. The departments and entities that had good results were congratulated. The results of some departments and entities were bad but were not too much of a concern.

Responses

Ms Mhlongo said the PSiRA material irregularity came about as there were no services rendered to PSiRA by the service provider. It was evident that PSiRA had been interacting with the supplier, as training sessions needed to take place. PSiRA had also identified and recruited students who would be trained. One of the key issues identified was that there were no supporting documents for the previous year for the transaction that occurred. It was communicated to AGSA that training had not yet taken place, meaning that the benefit for the R31m pre-payment had not been realised. AGSA would follow up on the matter so that PSiRA could indicate what it was doing to ensure that the training occurred. If the training failed to occur, AGSA would move on to the next process and make enforceable recommendations to the accounting authority and the necessary follow-ups would be made. AGSA was unaware of any review of the SAPS disciplinary regulations conducted by the CSPS. AGSA would make the necessary follow-ups to determine the progress of the review process.

During AGSA's engagement with SAPS management, AGSA issued recommendations and had discussions with management. The AGSA noticed that it was struggling with performance information. The issues around the day-to-day internal controls were the simplest errors preventing SAPS from reporting accurately on performance information. For example, when a person's gender was captured as male instead of female. Such simple errors should be picked up at the police station level. The Station Commander or the next commander after the person who captured the information played a crucial role because they had to correct the simplest errors. As part of ensuring that SAPS was heading in the right direction, AGSA was planning on having workshops within SAPS to ensure that the message was conveyed to employees at a junior level. It was the management's responsibility to relay the message to the junior staff but AGSA would see that it conveyed the message in the stations where audits were conducted. AGSA had also planned on adopting a station or a district. The plan had been discussed and approved by management and would be implemented in the new cycle. Key processes needed to occur because AGSA usually became aware of the performance information around 31 May in the preceding year. AGSA wanted to embark on a process where it continuously reviewed the station or district to identify the internal controls and some of the captured information over time so that it would be corrected immediately. Depending on the outcome and how well the process unfolded, a template would be taken to be implemented in other police stations or districts which would most likely assist SAPS as a whole. The task ahead was huge and could not be done all at once. SAPS’s internal audit function would play a critical role in the plan.

The relationship between SAPS’s internal audit function and AGSA was good, and AGSA committed in the current financial year to strengthening and improving it. AGSA could not visit all SAPS areas and thus the internal audit function was required to do its part. SAPS had good action plans to a certain extent, but the implementation was challenging. The organisational culture issues, which included accountability and consequence management, played a critical role. For example, the procedure was to capture in the register when a case docket was moved from the police station to court. If an employee failed to capture that information in the register and the supervisor was aware of the non-compliance but failed to hold the employee accountable, that would cause issues because the behaviour needed to be corrected to ensure that it would not recur in the future. AGSA would ensure that it strengthened its relationship with SAPS and that the internal audit was doing its work and reporting accordingly. The momentum at which the controls were implemented was a challenge, hence the effects of the implemented processes were not felt. Through the insight it obtained, AGSA wanted to start influencing SAPS, IPID and the CSPS to ensure that they moved to a better position and that everyone in the ecosystem played their role.

Minister Cele said he did not hear Mr Whitfield’s and Ms Majozi's questions due to connectivity issues. Consequence management at the senior level was not a challenge unique to SAPS but was an issue across the entire government. As seen previously, the Directors-General (DGs) and the Deputy DGs were taking Ministers to court and the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) and other parties were intervening. How should SAPS deal with consequence management, especially at the senior level, considering the legal system, labour laws, democracy and transparency, not only in SAPS but across the entire government? SAPS continued to work with top management to ensure that it dealt with police officials accordingly. It was a known fact in SAPS that a police official (i.e. a divisional head) could be suspended for eight years with pay. During the suspension period, there would be court proceedings which would either result in the government or the police official winning the case. Several members of top management were currently being taken to court. AGSA was also involved in the process. It was impossible to decide to defy the necessary court processes as there was a system in place that made consequence management at the seniority level difficult to address. Even though political will existed, it was constrained by the whole system.

The State Information Technology Agency (SITA) and the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) worked closely with SAPS. AGSA mentioned that it was important to capture the information in the docket accurately and duplicate it to prevent the docket from getting lost. That required proper IT systems. SAPS had informed the Committee that it had difficulties with its IT system. For example, about a month ago, he had visited a certain police station at night and the police officers were using the torches on their phones to fill in documents and affidavits. That station had a generator that had stopped working about three years ago, and numerous appeals were made to get it fixed. Yet another appeal had been made on the previous day and yet another discussion was had with the Minister of Public Works. The police station could not function without proper IT systems, and it was unacceptable to have such a situation. SAPS has communicated its IT-related issues with the Committee and the Committee should not pretend it was not aware of them. The IT problem was beyond what SAPS could do unless the procurement system was changed and SAPS could create and build capacity for addressing the challenge internally. Governmental departments did not want to work with SITA because it retrogressed.

The Committee was correct in saying that it had continuously raised certain matters that needed to be addressed by SAPS. Some of the issues raised by the Committee had been addressed and some matters were in the process of being addressed, hence some entities such as the CSPS and IPID, had performed well. The entities not only had capacity issues but resource issues as well. The CSPS’s and IPID’s budgetary issues had been raised by the Committee, especially as they pertained to limited human capacity and IT equipment budgets. Some items within the budget had improved and SAPS was happy about the improvements. Regarding the connectivity challenges, it was not SAPS's IT systems that were problematic but the problem was being considered. There were major connectivity issues In places like Kwamhlaba Uyalingana, Kwa Majola, etc. The people residing in those areas could not make any calls, irrespective of the network service provider they used. If those people were being attacked in the middle of the night, they would not be able to call SAPS. Similarly, SAPS also experienced connectivity issues and police officials had to reach the mountaintop to communicate. The internet connectivity challenge was a problem faced by everyone and the SAPS would work with the whole country to try and solve the matter.

The Minister asked to be excused from the meeting as he had to attend a Cabinet meeting. Deputy Minister Mr Cassel Mathale could answer the outstanding questions.

The Chairperson said all departments were frustrated with SITA and the DPWI. A system change should be discussed at Cabinet level. The Committee would support SAPS and a presentation should be made to Cabinet so that certain matters were dealt with. Certain issues like repairing the generator could be fixed, which should not take the DPWI 18 months to do.

The police unions and related stakeholders were next to brief the Committee. The IPID and the CSPS were congratulated on their audit outcome improvements. The SAPS and PSiRA obtained an unqualified audit opinion with material findings but there had been some improvements. Several issues had been mentioned by the AGSA and the Committee relating to consequence management, material irregularities and supply chain management non-compliance. AGSA had also mentioned performance-related challenges in terms of its visible policing which sat at 72%, and detectives which sat at 36%, even though the budget had been fully spent. Further issues related to call centres and forensic laboratories affected case dockets. The Provincial Commissioners’ main responsibility was to address the detective-related issues. Could SAPS address the issues the AGSA and the Committee mentioned during its presentation?

Input by the South African Policing Union (SAPU), the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU), and the Independent Policing Union of South Africa (IPUSA)

SAPU

Ms Tshepo Matsane, Deputy General Secretary, SAPU, said Mr Thabo Matsose, President, SAPU, was abroad with the General Secretary to tackle other union matters. Policing in South Africa was a major challenge for various reasons and realising the vision of the National Development Plan (NDP), that “in 2030, people living in South Africa feel safe and have no fear of crime”, was still light-years away. The NDP had existed since 2012, and 11 years later, there was a need to be very realistic about what could be achieved in the next seven years. Crime in South Africa was out of control, and doing the same thing over and over would not have achieved a different outcome. SAPU wanted to align itself with the views expressed by the Minister in the foreword to the report to the effect that the collective participation and support of every citizen, community organisation and stakeholder was crucial to the success of policing efforts. It could not be the sole responsibility of the 100 000 operational women and men in blue to stand between a safe and secure society and anarchy. All spheres of government should be on deck to break the tide of criminality and the SAPU requested the Committee to be a vanguard in that regard. It was high time that everyone in South Africa acknowledged that we were in the midst of a low-intensity war by looking at the murders per day statistics. Currently, between 70 to 80 people are murdered per day in South Africa which was up from a figure of 57 per day in 2018. When would those in power realise that decisive action was required? Only if South Africa topped the murder rate of El Salvador and Mexico? Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, on average, 17 civilians were killed per day in that country – that paled into insignificance if compared to the figures in South Africa, ostensibly a “stable” country.

Comparing the Detective Services Programme’s achievement rate of 43.3% and the Crime Intelligence’s achievement rate of 100%, the following was concerning: It was stated that in terms of the neutralisation of drug syndicates, four out of 40 were neutralized (10%) and in terms of organised criminal groups, ten out of 49 were neutralised. How was it possible that Crime Intelligence could achieve a 100% rate, given the fact that the majority of the drug and organised crime cartels were still freely roaming around? Surely, the performance targets of Crime Intelligence should have focused on those areas of concern and not on other targets where they obtained a so-called 100% rate?

In the annual report, it was stated that one of the focus areas was the allocation of R25m for enhancements to safeguard police stations. Although the initiative was welcomed, the amount of money allocated must be placed in perspective. If every police station throughout the country was allocated a portion of this money, each police station would receive R21 500, which was hardly enough to install two burglar gates. Police stations were sitting ducks at night. In 2022, Kwaggafontein, Giyani and Bushbuckridge police stations were attacked in the space of a few months. It was further mentioned that 90 police stations would be attended to in each financial year for that purpose. Although SAPU was very much aware of the financial implications of that initiative, the government needed to be approached in that regard, as the initiative would take nearly 13 years to complete in terms of the current planning.

SAPU noted that a procurement-related deviation was condoned by National Treasury (NT) in respect of accommodation for police trainees in the Northern Cape. The deviation left a sour taste, as it was difficult to comprehend how it was possible not to plan and manage the procurement process for accommodation at the specific locality, given the fact that the enrolment of trainees did not happen overnight but was supposed to be a carefully planned project. Surely, the management involved in the incident should be held accountable. To add injury to insult, as a trade union, SAPU had to intervene in the standard of accommodation and food at the Kimberley base.

Why had SAPS not yet embraced the recommendations of the Panel of Experts report that the Code of Conduct and the Code of Ethics should be amalgamated into the South African Police Service Code of Conduct and Ethics? The panel also commented that the Code of Conduct might be outdated compared to similar codes. Although the Expert Report was finalised in 2018 (but only released by the Minister in 2021), more than two years have passed since, and SAPS management was still silent on their position on the recommendation. Maybe the Committee could provide the necessary force to activate that process.

The annual report had omitted the SAPS Amendment Bill, 2020, in the Bills tabled in Parliament. This Bill contained several amendments to the 1995 Act. It would be appreciated if the Committee could enquire from the relevant roleplayers why there was a deafening silence on the tabling of the Bill and try to obtain a commitment from SAPS.

As depicted in the report, the organisational structure reflected that the post of Deputy National Commissioner (DNC): Support Services was vacant. However, the incumbent still occupied the post. The anomaly should be rectified in the report. The fact that an incumbent might be removed from fulfilling the duties of a specific post did not translate to that incumbent being permanently removed from the position.

The report mentioned that attacks at police stations had necessitated security upgrades at all police stations.

It was stated that 742 firearms owned by SAPS were either lost or stolen, and that was 142 more than the set target of 600. This “achievement” needed to be re-visited. In a country that was notorious for the number of crimes committed with firearms, it was astounding to read that SAPS sets itself a target for stolen or lost firearms. A zero-tolerance policy should be implemented as one stolen firearm was one too many.

In the annual report, the number of murdered SAPS members over five years was recorded. Although outside the reporting period, that number spiked to 31 murders in the first quarter of the 2023/24 financial year. The statistics should be a wake-up call for the government to address the phenomenon that SAPU previously characterized as treason against the state.

The annual report stated that SAPS had appointed an independent Risk Management Committee comprising four external members and four SAPS members. The four external appointees attended all four committee meetings, while none of the internal members attended more than one.

In respect of training expenditure, it was only the Administration programme that reflected the amount of money spent on training. The other four (operational) programmes reflected no amount of money being spent on training. SAPS management should explain if that warranted a deduction that no training was effected in the other four programmes.

The number of resignations in the reporting period amounted to 1913 (33.4% of all terminations). The figure was only slightly lower than the number of employees that went on retirement which sat at 2 139 (37.3% of total terminations). It was a cause for concern and should be interrogated, given the fact that the reason for resignation in the majority of the cases was better employment opportunities. The conditions of service of police officers should be a national priority, given the precarious state of the country in terms of stability. Another figure of concern was the number of appointments in terms of Regulation 47 of the SAPS Employment Regulations, of which seven were made during the reporting period. That type of appointment was a major cause for concern as it deviated from the normal principles of open competition for a vacancy but was left at the discretion of the National Commissioner and Minister. The fact that four out of the seven appointments were in the office of the National Commissioner led to suspicion that nepotism played a major role in those appointments. All posts in SAPS should be filled through transparent and open processes, without exception. SAPU was in the process of considering challenging the constitutionality of the regulation 47.

No performance awards were granted in the reporting period. The figure was quite disconcerting, given the fact that most, if not all, departments in the public service have a performance award system in place. SAPS abolished that practice many years ago without any substitute being introduced. Any seasoned Human Resource (HR) practitioner would know that a performance award system plays a major role in motivating employees and is an important tool in lifting the morale of employees. When would SAPS management attend to this deficiency?

During the reporting period, only one collective agreement was entered into at the Safety and Security Sectoral Bargaining Council (SSSBC). That was a major cause for concern, as the low number of concluded collective agreements over the past few years had been the norm rather than the exception. Management should do some introspection as to whether they regard sound labour relations and collective bargaining as a priority, given the low number of collective agreements that were entered into. Although the conclusion of collective agreements entails the meeting of minds of more than one party, management should be playing a leading role in that regard. In the future, SAPU would be tabling more and more draft collective agreements from its side, to fill that void.

The Chairperson said he hoped that the SAPS, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) and CSPS were taking notes as the police unions and the related stakeholders made their presentations so they could answer the questions that may arise in their presentations or response sessions.

[See input attached for more details]

POPCRU

Mr Tshepo Skhosana, Parliamentary Officer, POPCRU, passed the Union’s sincere condolences to members of the Committee and employees who worked very closely with the late Chairperson, Ms Tina Joemat-Pettersson. POPCRU remembered her for the significant contribution she made during her tenure.

He noted that of all five of SAPS’s programmes (Administration, Visible Policing, Crime Intelligence, Detective Services and Protection and Security Services), only one, Crime Intelligence, achieved 100% of its performance targets. The significantly lower performance of the Detective Services was especially deplorable, given the role that it played in crime investigations. POPCRU was further disheartened by the fact that Forensic Service fell short of meeting any of its nine targets. It was common knowledge that reported crimes could not be thoroughly investigated without well-functioning forensic services.

Despite the recall of 400 former SAPS members to capacitate the Detective Services, the unit still remained understaffed. The detectives in that unit had huge caseloads, and this negatively affected the outcomes of investigations. There must be an urgent intervention to train more young detectives.

The underperformance of Visible Policing was also of grave concern, including the number of police stations providing victim-friendly services, mainly for Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF)-related crimes.

Another concern reflected in the report was around illegally owned firearms. POPCRU has witnessed increased firearms-related crimes, more especially Cash-In-transit (CIT) and other armed robberies. Moreover, SAPS had also reported a significant number of lost firearms during the period under review. POPCRU acknowledged that the majority of the firearms got lost as its members were being attacked by ruthless criminals and during the attacks on SAPS facilities such as police stations. SAPS needed to introduce some drastic measures to curb this. The increase in illegal firearms must be contained through the development of an efficient electronic Firearms Control System (FCS). That would ensure effective tracking and monitoring of firearms in the country. The Firearms Amendment Bill should also be finalised to address some of the gaps.

POPCRU welcomed implementing Project 10 000 and other initiatives to address the challenge of insufficient personnel within SAPS. However, it was important to highlight that, the new recruits would merely replace members who left the service since the 2020/2021 financial year due to numerous reasons such as terminations, natural attrition and retirements. The new recruits would therefore not improve the police-population ratio of 1:417, which exceeded the stipulated United Nations’ (UN’s) ratio of 1:220. Before that recruitment programme, SAPS had lost about 11 178 police officers, reducing an establishment from 187 358 to 178 708 in the past three financial years. Out of the total establishment, SAPS employees were approximately 145 246, providing actual policing services to almost 62 million South Africans and undocumented immigrants. POPCRU was of the firm view that more must be done to ensure that the SAPS had the required human capital to fight crime, especially at the ground level. That must be bolstered with necessary resources such as vehicles for effective crime prevention.

The report was silent on the lack of upward mobility of constables, sergeants and warrant officers. The stagnation of members was frustrating and extremely demoralising; there was therefore an urgent need for the SAPS to introduce a proper mechanism for ensuring the upward mobility of employees. That intervention would add value to building a professional and capable police force, as remuneration and allowance were vital to the well-being of employees.

Despite the vehicle contingent of 49 130 (4.51 personnel per vehicle on average), there were still occasions when SAPS members were unable to provide services to the community due to the unavailability of vehicles, especially in rural and remote areas. During a meeting with the Committee last year, the Minister revealed that 1 169 police vehicles in Gauteng had been out of commission. That was a common challenge across the country, with one of the contributing factors being challenges at the SAPS garages. POPCRU questioned the accuracy of the report on physical resources as some were dysfunctional and not adding any value to effective policing.

POPCRU was disappointed by SAPS’s failure to meet the projection made on the building of police stations. That challenge, coupled with the long-standing problem of inadequate vehicles and personnel, created a nightmare for the dedicated men and women in blue. It was important to also mention that the alternative of mobile contact points was not viable. Those methods strained the resources of police stations, thereby creating more skeleton personnel and related resources.

Lack of technological advancement also remained a serious challenge within the SAPS. On this matter, especially in building police stations and technological infrastructure, POPCRU noted that SAPS depended on the DPWI and the SITA. It therefore submitted that the responsibility of infrastructure development and IT infrastructure be migrated to SAPS.

POPCRU noted the increasing rate of police killings and attacks on police stations with grave concern. During the year under review, a total of 34 police officers were killed, an increase from the previous financial year. POPCRU believed more should be done to ensure the safety of police officers. Implementable safety strategies were required to curb killings of union members. POPCRU firmly believed that one of the critical measures for preventing police officers from attacks and killings was providing safer accommodation (barracks) and an affordable housing scheme. Many union members were currently renting backyard rooms in townships due to a lack of affordability for decent housing as attested by the findings of the SAPS Organisational Climate Survey (OCS). It was against this backdrop that POPCRU previously submitted that the SAPS Amendment Act, in particular, section 67(1)(a), that a 24-month sentence for obstructing police officers from executing their duties was lenient and would not in any way deter criminals. POPCRU further reiterated its submission that there was an urgent need to amend Section 49 of the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) and declare the killing and attacks of law enforcement officers as treason.

There was a demand for broader involvement of the community through well-resourced and effective Community Policing Forums (CPFs). POPCRU believed that that approach would serve two purposes. Firstly, it would get everybody to put a hand on deck in the fight against crime and secondly, it would re-establish the lost trust and relationships between communities and police. The performance indicator in the annual report claimed that functional police stations with functional CPFs stood at 99,91%. Nevertheless, POPCRU perceived that achievement with a great deal of scepticism because the report did not indicate the breakdown of the target achieved in terms of the police stations. During the release of the 2022 third-quarter crime statistics, SAPS reported that 1 156 police stations had active CPFs. This was still questionable, considering reported financial and resource constraints facing the CPFs. Contrary to the far-fetched and misleading claims made by SAPS, POPCRU submitted that effective and efficient CPFs be established and numerically correspond with all 1158 police stations across the country. POPCRU welcomed all interventions, such as the Community Policing Strategy, introduced by SAPS to combat crime but with no necessary resources mobilised, all interventions and efforts would result in a futile exercise. POPCRU did not see the active participation of traditional councils in rural areas to assist in the fight against crime despite the existence of strategies like the Rural Safety Strategy. There was a glaring absence of monitoring mechanisms in implementing all those strategies. They existed only on paper, without yielding any tangible results.

POPCRU noted the continuous increase in violence against women and children. POPCRU noted SAPS’s interventions towards fighting that scourge, including legislative interventions assented to earlier this year. POPCRU also noted some developments presented in the report, especially on GBVF-friendly services in police stations and dedicated GBV Desks. It was however dismaying that the SAPS had failed to install or establish victim-friendly facilities in all police stations.

POPCRU believed that the training of 26 575 police officers was a step in the right direction to help handle complaints of violence against vulnerable groups, but it further submitted that more members must be trained to ensure improved service to all victims of that crime. Notwithstanding the developments presented in the report on GBVF, South Africa was still considered the rape capital of the world with 10 818 rape cases reported in the first quarter of 2022. The rate at which women were killed by intimate partners in the country was five times higher than the global average.

Fruitless and wasteful expenditure for the period under review was unacceptable and preposterous for a department whose budget was continuously slashed by the NT. POPCRU vehemently condemned the reported misuse of funds and further submitted that remedial measures be put in place to prevent the malpractice moving forward. POPCRU was concerned about how outstanding targets would be achieved as the government continued to cut budgets. POPCRU called on the government to stop implementing austerity measures as they hindered government departments, including SAPS, from delivering services. If the budget cuts continued, the fight against crime would remain a pipe dream and the country's subsequent collapse into lawlessness would be inevitable.

[See input attached for more details]

IPUSA

Mr Bethuel Nkuna, President, IPUSA, noted with disappointment that the failures of the SAPS far outweighed its achievements. IPUSA noted the significant yearly non-achievement of performance targets under programme two: Visible Policing relating to the reduction of crime. It was known that the SAPS did not have complete control over the decrease in such crimes i.e. contact crimes, house-breakings and murders. The SAPS should be assisted in setting relevant crime-related targets. The prevention of crimes under visible policing was fully reliant on other departments and the control of all performance variants such as the Department of Justice (DoJ). It should be acknowledged that once a crime had been committed, the SAPS had significant control of its performance which was to arrest or to detect. The detection rate was fully within the SAPS’s control but not the conviction rate. The non-achievement of targets under programme three: Detective Services, was related to conviction.

Under programme two: Visible Policing, the output indicator on firearm licenses was a target that was constantly underachieved. IPUSA was of the view that the Firearms Control Act was incorrectly placed and “a round peg was being placed in the wrong hole”. The licensing process and competency were not SAPS’s mandate or should not have been legislated as such. SAPS was only responsible for compliance and PSiRA was closely related to firearms. Perhaps it was time to hire a consultant to look into the feasibility of the matter. SAPS had planned on reducing contact crimes when it had no control over such crimes. Could a better performance target be determined?

IPUSA believed that the non-achievement of targets under programme three: Detective Services resulted from a capacity issue. SAPS should check its human resourcing and staffing plans and develop a staffing plan for the future. Competency assessment and skill gap analysis’ were required for investigative competencies to ensure a developmental programme existed. SAPS should set its targets solely on indicators that are fully dependent on the SAPS’s performance. For example, the case verdicts were not fully dependent on SAPS’s performance as other external parties needed to play their role.

Programme four: Crime Intelligence had many crime incidents and the crime intelligence unit was often questioned. However, the report showed progressive performance with all output indicators being achieved. Something was amiss unless the output of performance indicators was understated or did not speak to crime intelligence policing. It could also be that crime intelligence products were not processed in time to inform the operations that prevent the occurrence of such crimes. Examples could be given on tavern killings and critical infrastructure damage.

Was there any difference between National Key Points (NKPs) and strategic key installations? The distinction was not clear in the annual report. IPUSA was concerned about AGSA’s comments on the material irregularities in the 2018/2019 financial year around the non-cancellation of a contract entered into in July 2014. AGSA received misleading information on the contract from SAPS management. The material irregularity pertained to a contract awarded illegally and upon the service provider realising that they could not provide the services, they opted for a settlement of R14m and it was unclear why the SAPS paid the service provider R24m. An additional amount of R7m was further paid to the service provider. AGSA said the amount should be recovered. The SCM, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and legal services were responsible for the non-cancellation of the contract and for not saving SAPS from paying millions. Did the dismissed police official stop the SAPS from cancelling the contract? Did the dismissed official request for their dismissal to be reviewed?

The target for lost or stolen firearms was not indicated in the report. The report did not mention the firearms stolen during robberies by criminals from the client services. IPUSA was concerned by the SAPS’s target of 600 lost or stolen firearms and a targeted recovery of 10%. The target was disheartening for a country engulfed by high crime levels. There should be zero tolerance for lost or stolen firearms. 

Discussion

The Chairperson thanked the police unions and the related stakeholders for their presentations. He welcomed the congratulatory remarks on his appointment as the Chairperson of the Committee and the condolences to the family of the former Chairperson of the Committee, the late Ms Joemat-Pettersson.

Mr Whitfield expressed the collective condolences of the Committee to the members of the union who had been crime victims and tragically killed. Condolences were also sent to the families of those affected by crime. Looking at the performance of the detective service programme, detective services should be the focus of the Committee. The union's thoughtful comments and insights were appreciated.

Mr Golding said it was important to note that everyone was aiming for the safety of the country and SAPS members. The Committee would like to get further feedback on the matter. Making the matter treasonous was one thing but the Committee wanted to understand other solutions like providing barracks, which was what Mr M Shaik-Emam (NFP) was advocating for. How could the Committee assist? Was awareness training required? What was required at a training level? How could police officials be secured? Was equipment required, training, or barracks? The staff needed to be motivated and feel safe. If the staff were feeling unsafe, how would they secure the safety of residents? He doubted that the budget would allow for an influx of 50 000 new staff members. What was SAPU’s view on the volunteer structures? A point had been raised about having a better working relationship with Community Police Forums (CPF), which qualified as volunteer structures. The Committee requested the support of SAPU as it was looking into consequence management as it pertained to SAPU’s members. If a consequence management culture was achieved in the organisation, everyone would be in a better position.

POPCRU's comments on police vehicles were interesting and perhaps it could provide more information. However, he doubted the validity of the statistics. The Committee needed to see what the member impact and community impact were to give context to the statistics.

He recalled that IPUSA said the key indicators needed to change and be more relevant. What did IPUSA have in mind? The work and efforts of SAPU, POPCRU, and IPUSA, as well as the sacrifices of the union members, were also appreciated. It was important to partner with the unions and stakeholders to improve the situation.

Ms Gomba said she was mainly concerned about the killing of the police officials. The Committee hoped to see a lot of improvement and hopefully, the DPWI would assist in beefing up security at vulnerable police stations. Many attacks took place at the police stations and the criminals disarmed police officials. The Committee would like to get more information on the issues mentioned by IPUSA to interrogate the matter and intervene with the relevant stakeholders.

Mr Terblanche thanked the SAPU, POPCRU and IPUSA for their informative presentations. Several recommendations were made on what the new SAPS service should look like and how technology could be utilised. The Committee needed to engage with the unions and stakeholders so that the focus could be on relevant matters and things could be changed.

Responses

Mr Matsane said there should be a zero-tolerance policy regarding lost firearms.  As a custodian of the law, SAPU made it its primary goal to ensure that firearms and the resources of the state were taken care of so that the issues surrounding crime were addressed and to prevent civilians from having licensed or unlicensed firearms in their possession which could fall into the hands of criminals. To reduce the number of killings, SAPU suggested that SAPS consider the re-establishment of specialised units that dealt with specific crime areas such as murder or precious stones, and ensure that they had sufficient capacity. Currently, police officers are haphazardly working on cases without a clear strategy for establishing a focus on particular crimes.

SAPU members were afraid to use their firearms because they received a lot of backlash in many instances and were not always supported by SAPS management. The matter needed to be addressed as it affected how officers approached crime. Looking at AGSA’s report, it was noted that the SAPS incurred an irregular expenditure of approximately R2m in the 2022/23 financial year and R1m in 2021/22. This was concerning because SAPU members were complaining about lack of resources. Minister Cele also mentioned the unavailability of generators to resolve the load-shedding issue. If the budget was abused, SAPS would not be able to function properly and its members would not be properly taken care of. The morale of union members was quite low due to employment structures within SAPS. In one meeting, SAPU informed SAPS senior management that it needed to look at the promotion policy as it was not appropriately structured.

Ms Thandekile Mkhize, first vice-president, SAPU, confirmed that SAPU called for people who killed police officers to be charged with treason. It was appealing to the Minister to request Parliament to review the Bill and ensure that harsh sentences were implemented for individuals who killed police officers.

Mr Mluleki Mbele, National Negotiator: Safety and Security Sector Bargaining Council (SSSBC), said POPCRU believed the challenges faced and highlighted would be addressed if all stakeholders worked together. There were fewer killings of soldiers because they were housed in barracks. Thus, police barracks or police villages should be introduced where officers have the option to acquire houses segregated from the general community.

Section 49 of the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA), 1977, should be reviewed as it was not user-friendly for police officials. Police officers should be able to protect themselves first and the communities when performing their duties. Criminals were more technologically advanced and it was important to adopt a smart policing model to enhance the policing of the SAPS. If the police vehicles had a system that provided a profile of a detained person and detailed the crimes of that person, police officers would be able to immediately arrest them. The system of SAPS was nowhere near the fourth industrial revolution and cybercrime was problematic in South Africa. The system would assist in ensuring efficient and effective policing and that SAPS was not merely acting on crimes already committed. SAPS should have proactive ways to fight crime.

Mr Skhosana said that a shortage of police vehicles would affect police visibility in communities as there would be a shortage of police officers conducting patrols. Sometimes, police vehicles were taken in for servicing for long periods and a simple light bulb replacement could take up to three weeks. The service of repairing police vehicles was outsourced to private service providers and POPCRU believed that the service should be provided in-house.

Mr Mpho Kwinika, General Secretary, IPUSA, congratulated the Chairperson on his appointment. He said that the SAPS needed to move from the current policing model to a modern policing model which was applied throughout the world. No one and no number of imbizos would stop police killings – only the police department itself could do it. SAPS had a mental and physical capacity issue. The police officers in the Northern Cape were killed after identifying a suspect who was in possession of a stolen vehicle in Bloemfontein and was headed towards the Northern Cape. They had full control of the suspect until the suspect overpowered and used the police officer's firearm to kill the two police officers. SAPS needed to have the funds to procure bullets. Shooting ranges should also be identified. SAPS previously collaborated with the defence force to use their shooting facilities. The SAPS needed to go back to the basics to ensure that police officers could use force as per section 49 of the CPA. Section 49(1) of the CPA prescribed how a police officer should behave and detailed the maximum use of force when effecting a lawful arrest. If the police officers were not empowered to know the benefits of Section 49, police officers would continue to waver and hesitate while criminals had no manual to follow and could act decisively. There were police officers who had not been to a shooting range in three years. SAPS was producing police officers whose manuals had reduced physical training and shooting practices because the SAPS wanted to conform to the standards set by the Safety and Security, Sector Education & Training Authority (SASSETA) and other institutions like the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). The National Commissioner of Police should design courses that address the current challenges. The regulation of firearms in terms of the Firearm Control Act regulations was close to PSiRA and SAPS needed to focus on compliance. For example, the Special Commander of Mamelodi should know how many civilians had registered firearms within their policing precinct. If civilians had access to 1 000 firearms, how many of the 1 0000 firearms registered in the policing precinct were still there? How many of the deceased owners of the firearms had surrendered their firearms to SAPS? From the 1 000 firearms, how many were still in lawful hands? That was a massive job that needed to be done by each police station after firearms had been registered and police stations took over the compliance issues.

Looking at the firearms confirmed lost and stolen by the SAPS, IPUSA did not believe there should be a target set for lost or stolen firearms, even though it was inevitable because of how busy the SAPS was. The target of 600 lost firearms was unacceptable and there should be zero tolerance for lost firearms. Firearms were everywhere because SAPS was not regaining control over the firearms that were in the hands of civilians and safeguarding the firearms within the control of SAPS. Firearms should not be kept at mobile police stations. If the SAPS did not change its attitude on how it tackled matters, it would keep on having the same problems. IPUSA was satisfied with AGSA’s report and would engage with it and follow up on the issues.

SAPS Annual Report 2022/23

Deputy Minister Mathale commended the progress made by the SAPS, the CSPS and other entities. While there were existing challenges, tremendous progress had also been made. The working relationship with AGSA was appreciated as it kept the police department on the right track. The guidance of AGSA and the Committee gave rise to the progress made by the various departments and entities. The Ministry met with AGSA and was committed to responding appropriately to its recommendations. The leadership resolved that it should respond well in advance of AGSA’s recommended deadline. He made a commitment to the Chairperson and the Committee to respond to the issues raised. The explanation behind PSiRA’s prepayment and the resolution would be given. Through its presentation, SAPS would respond to the shortcomings identified by AGSA. The Department would continue to do its work until it obtained a clean audit. He didn’t think it was appropriate to say that in 11 years, the NDP had not been implemented. The NDP had been implemented but certain things had not yet been implemented.

General SF Masemola, National Commissioner, SAPS, said that SAPS had 95 key performance areas, 64 of which had been achieved and 31 of which had not been achieved. It welcomed AGSA's report, in which SAPS was given an unqualified audit opinion with findings. The management had discussed that it needed to review and take note of AGSA’s recommendations. AGSA pointed out that performance indicators needed to align with the citizens’ expectations. SAPS intended to work on the matter after the Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MTSF). SAPS would interrogate and adjust the plan of programme four: Crime Intelligence, which was mostly supplying or supporting programmes two: Visible Policing and three: Detective Services, so that they could be aligned. SAPS was aware of the recent CIT heists, and it responded accordingly. Four suspects in Gauteng were arrested last Thursday, and four more suspects were arrested on Friday. SAPS recovered some rifles in Soweto on Saturday but it was not satisfied as it still had to arrest every person who was involved in the heists. Every person involved in CIT heists nationwide would be arrested, especially in the most targeted provinces like Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. The SAPS would continue in its pursuit until everyone involved was arrested.

Lt Gen PP Dimpane, Divisional Commissioner: Financial Management Services (CFO), SAPS, said the SAPS received an unqualified audit opinion with findings for three consecutive years. The SAPS received a budget of approximately R102bn in 2022/23. The spending rate was 99.95%.

Maj Gen L Rabie, Component Head: Strategic Management, SAPS, gave an overview of spending performance per programme. The Administration Programme achieved 17 out of 22 performance targets. It was concerning to note that a total of 742 firearms owned by the SAPS were confirmed as stolen or lost, which was 142 more than the set target of 600. The loss of SAPS-owned firearms could be attributed to various factors, including the escalation of crime against members, including, but not limited to robbery in townships or other places, housebreaking, theft from offices/stores, negligent loss by members and the loss of property during motor vehicle accidents.

SAPS planned to establish three new police stations, in 2022/23, namely; Muyexe Police Station in Limpopo; Dwarsberg Police Station in the North West; and Riemvasmaak in the Northern Cape. The Muyexe and Dwarsberg police stations remained incomplete. Notably, the construction of Osuthu Police Station in KwaZulu-Natal was completed ahead of schedule in March 2023, despite being initially planned for completion in 2023/24. A total number of 323 incidents of fruitless and wasteful expenditure were confirmed, compared with 105 incidents in 2021/22. The completion rate of audits during the 2022/23 period was 94% against a target of 100%. Audits were conducted by AGSA at the same sites and some closing meetings could not be secured with the auditees.

The Visible Policing Programme achieved 17 out of 24 performance targets. A total number of 4 616 stolen/lost and illegal firearms had been recovered, 1 922 more than the target of 2 694 for the year. A total number of 245 identifiable stolen/lost SAPS firearms were recovered against a target of 215.

Notably, all 37 168 identified illegal liquor outlets were closed, compared with 31 449 during the previous financial year. A total of 31 039 vehicles were also recovered, against a target of 28 619. That included 29 686 identified vehicles, 1 143 unidentified vehicles and 210 vehicles recovered during cross-border operations. Out of a total of 1 156 functional police stations, 1 155 of them had operational CPFs.

The highest number of hits related to wanted persons was recorded at the OR Tambo International Airport, with 483 hits, accounting for 30.94% of the total hits. The Beitbridge Border Post recorded 284 hits. In terms of circulated stolen vehicles, the Beitbridge Border Post again had the highest number of hits, with 488, accounting for 28.69% of the total hits, while the Groblersbridge Border Post recorded 254 hits.

Performance on the finalisation of applications for new firearm licenses within 120 working days was 58.20% against the set target of 90%, an increase from 51.31% in 2021/22. Reported contact crime increased by 7.7% to 654 761 from 608 059 in 2021/22 against a targeted 9.21% reduction. In the previous financial year, contact crime had increased by 13.5%. Reported contact crimes against women increased by 8.1%, from 179 208 to 193 669, against a targeted 9.17% reduction, and reported contact crimes against children increased by 2.1%, from 45 197 to 46 165, against a targeted 7.36% reduction.

The number of escapees from police custody was just short of the set target of no more than 562. A total number of 564 persons escaped in 410 incidents. All escape incidents were analysed and investigated to determine whether police members should be held accountable and to inform future prevention and control measures. The limited human resource capacity of police stations, the physical infrastructure like the state of police detention facilities and the number of detainees managed by SAPS at police stations, in transit and at court all functioned as risk factors for escapes that must be managed.

The worst-performing programme was the Detective Services Programme, which achieved just 13 out of 30 performance targets. Enhanced profiling of suspects and implementing a structured monitoring system at the divisional level resulted in the finalisation of 35.93% (7 717 from a total of 21 477) of outstanding wanted persons already circulated at the 30 High Contact Crime Weight Stations, against a set target of 12%. The Johannesburg Central Police Station stood out with the highest number of finalised cases related to wanted persons, with 196 cases. The number of arrests for dealing in illicit drugs has shown a significant increase, rising by 65.31% from 196 arrests in 2021/22 to 324 arrests in 2022/23.

Compliance with taking buccal samples from Schedule 8 arrested offenders was 81.77%, with 296 574 samples taken from a total of 362 686. The achievement surpassed the target of 75%. Significant progress was made in finalising person-to-crime DNA investigative leads, crime-to-crime DNA investigative leads, fingerprint investigative leads and Integrated Ballistics Identification System (IBIS) investigative leads. The continuous monitoring of performance through weekly accountability sessions with all provinces played a crucial role in achieving these results.

The detection rate for contact crimes was 46.28% or 415 091 from a total of 896 976, not achieving the set target of 51%. The detection rate for contact crimes at the 30 High Contact Crime Weight Stations was 33.05% or 43 180 from a total of 130 659, not achieving the 45% target. The detection rate for crimes against women (18 years and above) was 70.07% or 163 833 from a total of 233 804, just below the target of 71% and 62.95% or 39 628 from a total of 62 950 for crimes against children, not achieving the 65% target. The finalisation of 13.45% or 5 929 outstanding case dockets related to contact crimes older than 3 years, from a total of 44 085, indicates progress in addressing the backlog of these cases. However, it fell short of the set target of 15.09%.

The neutralisation of four out of 41 identified drug syndicates, with 30 arrests, achieving a rate of 9.76% and the neutralisation of 11 out of 48 identified organised criminal groups, with 51 arrests, achieving a rate of 22.92%, indicated a lower level of success in addressing those criminal networks. Ten out of 14 registered serious organised criminal project investigations were successfully closed. The agent was removed from the project before the finalisation of the project. There was insufficient evidence to link the targets to criminal activities.

The Crime Intelligence Programme achieved all 12 performance targets. The review of all registered network operations to redefine priorities and establish linkages between cross-provincial operations led to the successful termination of 418 from a total of 557 (75.04%) network operations against a target of 60.85%.

Implementing a Vetting Intervention Project and enhancing the capacity of a National Vetting Evaluations team led to the finalisation of 703 security clearances against a target of 692. The timeous finalisation of assessments received from clients, proper planning by management allowing the assessment of overt premises and the effective coordination and organisation in the assessment process led to the finalisation of 423 overt mandatory physical security assessments against a target of 365.

The Protection and Security Services (PSS) Programme achieved five of its seven performance targets, underperforming in the evaluation of NKPs by both the PSS and the Presidential Protection Service (PPS). No security breaches were reported during in-transit/physical protection by the PSS Division and the PPS Component. No security breaches were reported at identified government installations and identified VIP residences, by the PSS Division and the PPS Component.

[See the presentation for more details]

Presentation by DPCI

Lt Gen (Dr/Adv) SG Lebeya, National Head of DPCI, said the DPCI revised its mandate with effect from 1 April 2022. The DPCI has selected more complex and serious cases to deal with. The DPCI continued to focus on serious organised and commercial crimes and serious corruption. That very day, the DPCI arrested at least 20 suspects in different provinces, including the acting Deputy Head of the department in the Northern Cape. The DPCI was continuously growing at a slow rate because it was gaining and losing personnel simultaneously and was currently sitting at a capacity of 52.04%. If resources were available in the next two financial years, the DPCI would be fully capacitated. The DPCI appreciated its allocated budget but would require an increase in the 2023/24 financial year to fully capacitate itself as the caseload was continuously growing.

Lt Gen ST Nkosi, Deputy National Head: DPCI, said The DPCI was measured on seven performance indicators in the Annual Performance Plan (APP) and had achieved six. The DPCI was measured on four indicators in the MTSF, of which three were achieved. All six Serious Corruption Investigation (SCI) performance targets were met. The DPCI achieved one out of two performance targets under Serious Commercial Crime Investigation (SCCI). The DPCI achieved one out of two performance targets under Serious Organised Crime Investigation (SOCI). Under the SOCI, the DPCI achieved the target on the percentage of serious organised crime project investigations successfully closed and failed to achieve the target on the percentage of identified clandestine laboratories dismantled with arrests. The DPCI achieved 79.09% of its performance targets under the Priority Crime Specialised Investigation (PCSI). The target related to the percentage of specialised cyber-related crime investigative support case files successfully investigated within 90 calendar days.

The DPCI achieved 2 995 arrests in 2022/23, and secured 907 convictions. An estimated R1.77 billion worth of items were seized. Concerning the police killings, 76 arrests were effected by the DPCI. A total of 30 convictions were secured with a combined 416 years imprisonment handed down to the accused, including nine life sentences. 42 cases involving 74 people accused were pending trial. A total of 198 arrests from an overall 314 CIT cases have been effected, and 33 convictions were secured. A total of 1 461 firearms were seized, 5 778 explosive components, and 77 564 rounds of ammunition. The DPCI made 461 arrests relating to Precious Metals and Diamonds (PMD) and 214 convictions were secured. R25.6m worth of PMD-related items were seized. With regards to endangered species, 92 arrests were made, 36 convictions were secured, and R101.1m worth of endangered species were seized.

[See the presentation for more details]

Discussion

The Chairperson said the APP informed the budget and thus the Annual Performance Report (APR) should also speak to the budget. Lt Gen Dimpane had said that SAPS had spent almost 100% on all programmes, although money had been moved from one programme to another in some cases. If 100% of the budget was spent, there should be a 100% performance outcome. Could SAPS clarify the discrepancy between the budget and the performance achieved? As per AGSA's comments, was SAPS able to check if there was value for money where it had spent money?

Mr Whitfield said that the reasons provided for under-performance were unacceptable, particularly as they pertained to targets under the Criminal Record Centre and Forensic Services. The increasing trend of kidnappings in the Eastern Cape was alarming. He said he had met with several business people within the various communities of the Eastern Cape and they were terrified and did not believe that enough was being done to address the situation. The Committee had an opportunity to gain the confidence of the communities and thus SAPS and the DPCI should assure the communities that there were plans established to dismantle the organised syndicates that terrorised particularly the business owners. There seemed to be a disproportionate spike in kidnappings in Buffalo City Metropolitan Area, King William’s Town, East London and the surrounding areas and there were allegations that the members of SAPS could be colluding with some of the criminals. A very strong response should be provided to the Committee to give both the Committee and the public confidence that the shocking spike in kidnappings was being addressed. A person was more likely to be raped or murdered in the Eastern Cape and it would be terrible to add kidnappings to the list.

There seemed to be a challenge in the detective services programme which the Committee first discovered when it exposed the near collapse of forensic services performance in the second or third quarter of 2019/20 when the DNA backlog was exposed. The Committee then raised the matter and placed pressure on the SAPS and there was a focused effort to address the backlog. However, there was still an unacceptably high backlog of over 55 000 case exhibits. In the same way that the Committee sharpened its focus and worked together to resolve that matter, the crisis within the detective services needed to be addressed.

In response to a parliamentary question asked in the previous year, it was indicated that there were 1 300 fewer detectives in 2022 than in 2018. He suspected that that picture had not improved. The average case load per detective was in the hundreds with some dealing with case dockets of over 300 or 400 simultaneously. There appeared to be a general depreciation of skill and experience as evidenced in the annual report, where the percentage of identified organised crime groups neutralised with arrests sat at 20% against a target of 70%. The reason for the deviation was the under-capacitation of units in the organised crime environment and the inadequate development of members within the organised crime environment. Why was that the case and why was there an insufficient emphasis on detectives and the capacity and skills required?

Earlier this year, the Minister publicly committed to re-enlist SAPS members in the detective services environment who had retired early or resigned. Re-enlisting former detectives would increase capacity and skills. Was there a programme within the SAPS to identify and re-enlist former detectives and capacitate the programme? The Committee deserves an answer on the funds spent on the criminal justice system from 2010 to date. The Committee needed answers on the integrated justice system and modernisation projects. What was the reason for the significant under-expenditure?

Did the SAPS have maintenance contracts on the systems and equipment used in the FSL division? Based on the expenditure, those contracts appeared to not be in place. What was the status of all the contracts in the FSL division? Have the contracts expired? On numerous occasions, SAPS has mentioned that fighting crime as a society is important. Echoing the words of SAPS, the Minister and the Deputy Minister, crime did not originate from SAPS and thus a government and society approach was required. The annual report stated that no Private-Public Partnership (PPP) or approvals existed currently, which was confusing considering SAPS’s consistent argument that it could not deal with crime independently. Why were no PPPs in place when there was a specific commitment to investigate such partnerships to address the DNA backlog? How many private laboratories had been identified and what was the estimated cost associated with those partnerships?

He agreed that the whole process of licensing firearms was not the mandate of SAPS or should not be legislated as such. He said he had previously raised the matter in Parliament and requested the Minister to consider the establishment of a private-public relationship for the administration of firearms and the Minister said the matter would be considered. What progress has been made in investigating the possibility of establishing such a partnership with the private sector? What were the consequences for SAPS members whose firearms were lost or stolen? Firearms lost due to theft or the negligence of the owner was a serious matter as the public often faced the consequences.

The annual report showed that SAPS received an exemption under the NT regulations for supplying and delivering two BMW X5 armoured vehicles. What was the cost of the vehicles?  What was the purpose behind the procurement of those vehicles? During the Committee’s oversight visit to police stations, the Committee discovered that a vast majority of the vehicles were kept in the police garages for prolonged periods. Most of those vehicles were categorised as RT46, meaning they were being repaired or maintained externally by suppliers and were usually out of commission for more than 100 days, 180 days or a year. A minority of the vehicles were repaired in-house as per the spreadsheets forwarded by the National Commissioner. What was the SAPS doing about that unacceptable situation and was there a plan in place to identify new suppliers? Was a team engaging with the existing suppliers and insurance providers? Was there a plan in place to support the police garages so that SAPS vehicles could return to service?

Mr Golding said he had noticed that about 99.5% (R102bn) of SAPS’s budget had been spent and he was aware that the projected budget for 2023/24 was R114bn. However, he suspected that economic austerity would be an issue. What was the nature of the capital assets sold that generated revenue of R114m? Based on the size of the revenue, the assumption was that the capital assets were building assets and the SAPS was probably not in a position where it had the funds to build or buy more building assets. Under programme two, visible policing has been indicated as a success and 1 155 out of 1 156 police stations were reported to have functional CPFs. How was the percentage achieved measured? The indication implied that 1 155 constituted CPFs were voted in and had people on a list. However, POPCRU’s presentation indicated that the CPFs in the police stations were not necessarily functional concerning integration and cooperation in communities. Could the CSPS provide more information on the matter? Could the breakdown of the Safer Cities Project success rate be provided in writing?

The detective services as they pertained to drug syndicates and organised crimes, performed dismally as only four out of 41 drug syndicates and 11 out of 48 crime syndicates were busted. However, crime intelligence was reported to have achieved 100% of its targets. Were there no crime intelligence indicators required for disestablishing syndicates? The DPCI had indicators around serious organised crime which he suspected fell into different categories. Were the DPCI’s indicators aligned with the SAPS’s indicators? The detective services unit was not performing and it seemed to be the only unit with that issue. He was disgusted by the targets on the percentage of outstanding crime-to-crime DNA investigative and IBIS investigative leads finalised. The targets for the DNA and IBIS sat at 6.3% and 13.5% respectively while the reported achievements sat at 57.23% and 38.14% respectively. The targets were low and the SAPS had serious problems. The indicators needed to be reconsidered.

While the DPCI only operated at a workforce of 52%, its performance was excellent. A plan in the short to medium term needed to be established to get the workforce as close to 100% as possible. Hopefully, the lessons and processes in the DPCI would be carried to the different departments.

Ms Gomba asked if there had been any recovery of lost or stolen firearms and if any investigations had been conducted. Firearms were the state’s assets and needed to be recorded on the state’s asset register. Seemingly, SAPS’s asset register was not properly managed as it should have reflected the number of lost, stolen, and recovered firearms. One of the programmes in the annual report was said to have achieved 67%. Why did the programme not achieve between 80% and 90%? Why were numerous targets not achieved under programme two: Visible Policing? SAPS was commended for achieving its training and development targets. Smart policing was encouraged because criminals were operating in the fourth industrial revolution while the government was behind in making improvements to supersede the technology used by criminals. The government needed to consider what it could do to be a step ahead of the criminals. The SAPS needed to look into providing police officers with adequate refresher courses and capacity-building tools. Police officers needed to undergo workshops on section 49 of the CPA to be able to work effectively.

Mr Terblanche asked if the SAPS could explain why it spent its total budget allocation but only partially achieved its targets. The SAPS was allocated a budget of R102bn with the civil claims against the SAPS valued at R1.87bn. How much money was budgeted to cover the claims? Was there a plan to reduce the claims? While crime prevention and crime detection were two of the most important areas, SAPS's performance was the worst. The very important person (VIP) protection services had approximately 1 500 personnel which exceeded the allocation made. Why did the SAPS not transfer some VIP protection personnel to crime prevention or detection? It seemed like infrastructure development was SAPS’s milking cow that subsidised other divisions. However, the Committee has heard of the appalling conditions of police stations where some police stations did not have adequate security measures to prevent being targeted by criminals. When would services be provided to bring police services closer to the communities?

Responses

Deputy Minister Mathale said he had heard the questions but would allow the National Commissioner and the SAPS and DPCI teams to respond first.

General Masemola acknowledged the underperformance of the detective services programme. Normally, where there was a shortage of staff, there was bound to be an increased expenditure to cover overtime costs. The FSL did not achieve its targets but its overall performance was quite high. The FSL received and registered 536 350 case exhibits in 2021/22 and 660 102 case exhibits in 2022/23 and had finalisted approximately 800 000 cases compared to the 300 000 cases finalised in the previous year. He admitted that the FSL did not perform within the stated number of days but was able to perform within the year.

In 2016/17, SAPS had over 26 000 detectives and currently, SAPS has just over 17 600 detectives. Management and the Ministry came up with a programme that would provide detectives with detective allowances and increase their uniform allowance with the aim of motivating them and increasing their morale. However, with the anticipated budget cuts, the programme was more likely to be negatively affected. In the previous and current financial years, SAPS received an additional allocation of 2 000 detectives from the 10 000 detectives it received in the previous year. In the current year, SAPS has identified officers it could promote to the detective level to boost morale. Since the previous year, SAPS has trained over 400 new detectives and several detectives were appointed. Approximately 600 detectives were promoted to non-detective environments. SAPS had embarked on a programme to recall those detectives. Thus far, 68 former detectives have been signed off to return to their detective roles. SAPS also re-advertised the re-enlistment of police officers, especially those at a productive age. The advert to employ about 400 of those police officers had been issued and SAPS received over 600 applications. The SAPS was currently conducting the necessary recruitment processes and the shortlisted candidates would start working from 1 November 2023. The DPCI received over 240 new recruits and the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) unit received approximately 1 000 recruits. Unfortunately, the detective issue could not be instantly resolved, although the re-enlistment and the re-appointment of detectives would boost the detective environment within the current financial year.

Several private companies wanted to work with SAPS but the machines they would provide differed from what SAPS required. Some private companies had the required machines but did not have the proper documentation. The FSL welcomed the assistance of private companies if they could satisfy the requirements. He was unaware of any private partnerships for licensing firearms and perhaps Deputy Minister Mathale would answer accordingly.

A total of 742 firearms were categorised as lost by the SAPS but were further divided into other categories. Approximately 250 firearms had been stolen when police officials were attacked or when officials were killed and their firearms were subsequently taken. Some firearms were stolen from storage units in the police official’s home, police station or unit. However, some firearms were lost or stolen due to negligence. For a negligent loss of a firearm, an investigation was conducted and the negligent member would be required to pay for the firearm, get a departmental or criminal charge or be declared unfit to possess a firearm for five years, either by the courts or by the police officers who conducted the inquiry.

The BMW X5s were purchased for transportation purposes in the PSS and PPS environments. The police garages had been decentralised and were now managed at a provincial level by the Provincial Commissioners. The repair budget would also be managed at the provincial level. SAPS embarked on a project to move from outsourcing vehicle repair services because some vehicles were returned in bad condition. The SAPS planned on insourcing the vehicle repair services and it had piloted the plan in the Western Cape where about 70% to 80% of the repairs were done in-house. The pilot was successful. Personnel from Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges were assisting SAPS with the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) of the DPWI which was being rolled out nationally. Hopefully, it would not be affected by the current budget cuts. While that was an external measure, SAPS implemented internal measures by employing more mechanics.

The contingent liability on civil claims was quite high, but the amount that SAPS would pay would not normally be the same. Unfortunately, SAPS worked mostly outdoors with the communities and was aware that it could attract litigation. However, there were areas where civil litigation could be avoided and SAPS had a programme to reduce civil claims. The programme was coordinated by Lt Gen P Jacobs, Divisional Commissioner: Inspectorate, SAPS. However, there were areas where litigation was unavoidable, but SAPS acknowledged that it could do much better. Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal were identified as hot spots for civil claims, and Lt Gen Jacobs was moving across the country to interrogate those areas. The legal services worked on an awareness campaign to make members aware that they should focus on reducing civil claims.

Lt Gen L Ntshiea, Acting DNC: Support Services, SAPS, said SAPU’s presentation highlighted the issue around SAPS’s employment structures and reported that the DNC: Support Services post was vacant. The National Commissioner was currently filling the position. She noted the issue around the non-attendance of the Risk Management Committee and the National Commissioner would address the issue.

The SSSBC was a bargaining chamber comprised of the SAPS and its social partners, POPCRU and SAPU. SAPS had previously had incentives and reward schemes formed through a collective agreement. However, at that time, labour unions indicated concerns over implementing the incentive and reward system and the SSSBC reached a collective agreement to do away with the system. If labour unions wanted the incentive and reward systems to be implemented, which would be good for motivating employees, SAPS could raise the matter once again with the SSSBC. The SSSBC could also determine other ways in which the police officials could be incentivised, especially officials who went above and beyond the call of duty. The SAPS had a reward strategy in place and, from time to time, gave police officials monetary awards. The reward strategy was different from the one mentioned by SAPU.

She agreed that the 10 000 detectives enlisted were smaller than the required numbers. SAPS was grateful that NT approved the recruitment of 10 000 detectives over three years. The last intake of these detectives would be in the 2024/25 financial year. At the moment, SAPS could not indicate whether it would be allowed to recruit a further 10 000 detectives but it would make its submission to the NT to request additional funds. SAPS lost about 6 400 employees in the previous financial year through different exit processes. SAPS hoped that its social partners and the Committee would support it in pressuring the NT to continue to provide funds for the employment of 10 000 additional employees.

The current policy states that the warrant officers get promoted on an application for various posts. However, the matter could be discussed further at the SSSBC by finding mechanisms to improve the upward mobility of the employees. SAPS was uncertain about being able to implement the austerity measures but the conversation would unfold at the SSSBC. The SSSBC also had to review SAPS’s promotion policy. The suggestions on the SAPS housing scheme were noted and would be discussed at the SSSBC.

Maj Gen TL Mulaudzi, Acting Divisional Commissioner: Detective and Forensic Services, SAPS, said that SAPS processed the backlog it had since 2018 when it did not have contracts for consumables and equipment in place. At that time, SAPS used quotations to buy certain commodities and SAPS had since resolved the contract issue. The latest contract was awarded in 2021/22. From the second to the fourth quarter of 2021/22, SAPS had finalised 81.85% of the case exhibits. In the 2022/23 financial year, SAPS had optimised all of its processes and had received 660 102 case exhibits and finalised 830 699, which showed that the SAPS did not just focus on the backlog accumulated over the years, but finalised new cases to avoid having adding to the backlog.

The FSL had changed from having two-year contracts to five-year contracts after considering the nature of the commodities it used. The FSL recently awarded a five-year contract for extraction kits and generic consumables. Some commodities did not require contracts and were still sourced using quotations. These commodities were monitored daily to detect any shortages.

In 2020, SAPS worked very closely with private institutions that wanted to assist it. One of the institutions was based at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and the other institution was the Central Analytical Facilities (CAF) which was based at Stellenbosch University.  These institutions indicated they had equipment that would provide high throughput for DNA isolation purposes. Upon evaluation, SAPS realised it could not use the equipment because it was not meant to test human DNA. However, the universities had a similar type of equipment that they used for conducting virus analysis. A validation was conducted but SAPS did not get the results it expected. SAPS continued with its analysis and bought genetic analysers, i.e., centrifuges and thermo shakers, to process the samples quickly. The forensic environment did not achieve its target because the majority of the cases that were processed in the previous financial year were already backlogged cases. SAPS completed 55 927 cases within 35 working days. Looking at the total finalisation of the routine cases, SAPS finalised 278 244 cases, meaning that the majority of backlogged cases were processed. In terms of cases that could be withdrawn from the court roll, SAPS supplied the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) with 34 378 cases in 2022/23 and 31 000 in 2021/22. SAPS had given the courts more GBVF cases in the current financial year, but the exact figures have yet to be finalised. The SAPS deposited 42 000 cases within the biology environment and 192 516 case exhibits within the forensic environment, including chemistry and ballistics, for the NPA to continue with its work.

Lt Gen (Dr) MI Fani, Divisional Commissioner: Supply Chain Management, SAPS, said that SAPS currently had 18 construction projects underway. Contractors were on sight and construction had commenced at 14. Of these 14, nine would be completed by the end of the current financial year and five would be finished by the end of the first quarter of 2023/24. Four construction projects were currently being evaluated, and the tenders were issued. SAPS had 15 mobile contact points earmarked for procurement in the current financial year and hoped the current austerity measures would not affect its plans. To fast-track the optimal utilisation of the current infrastructure, SAPS was looking at engaging implementing agents to ensure that the repair and maintenance of the current infrastructure happened speedily.

SAPS procured two vehicles for the President and Deputy President R2.25m each. The vehicles were bought through the arranged transversal contract (RT57) from the NT. SAPS also had an issue with the vehicles that were out of commission for more than 100 days. Of the 49 000 vehicles, 976 had been out of commission and pending repairs for more than 100 days. Those vehicles were a combination of vehicles that had major repair requirements and vehicles that required panel-beating. Panel beating was an issue because SAPS did not have in-house panel-beating facilities. SAPS also had a skills shortage for repairing the latest fleet types and for the intricate work done on the gearboxes and electronics of popular brands like Toyota and Isuzu.

SAPS had experienced issues around the competence of the contractors who did the repairs and it was addressing the rework required on some vehicles. SAPS did not have all the appropriate diagnostic tools, especially tools for electronics, but the related procurement would be made because funds had been made available to ensure that the police garages were capacitated. Total vehicle availability stood at about 81%.

SAPS had several engagements with suppliers looking to accelerate its build programme. It had identified a supplier in the Western Cape that identified sites owned by the government and looked at the possibilities of building infrastructure at those sites. The SAPS was identifying similar partnerships in other provinces that could accelerate its build programme.

General Masemola acknowledged that the increase in kidnappings in the Eastern Cape was a cause for concern. However, SAPS has put a multi-disciplinary structure in place that consists of the DPCI, Crime Intelligence, and Organised Crime to work on addressing the issue. It had several successes in several provinces, and SAPS was winning the war. A total of 12 suspects had been arrested thus far, six of whom were arrested for extortion and six for kidnapping. SAPS also recorded two victim fatalities resulting from the kidnappings.

SAPS requested time to compile a written report on the Integrated Criminal Justice Strategy (ICJS) since 2012.

Lt Gen Dimpane said the capital assets that had generated revenue consisted of SAPS’s vehicles and two old aircraft. The two aircraft generated R17.9 million and the remaining revenue was attributed to the annual auction of vehicles.

Lt Gen P Jacobs, Divisional Commissioner: Inspectorate, SAPS, said that SAPS faced enormous civil claims but noted that the amount claimed would be different from the amount paid. In the past two years, the Division Inspectorate responsible for compliance was allocated to the legal services division to develop a joint strategy on behalf of the National Commissioner. SAPS had an implementation plan for contingent liability and the down management of civil claims and it was officially approved on 27 July 2022. A national steering committee has been established since July 2022. The SAPS visited all provinces and met with the provincial leadership, from brigadiers upward, and took them through the driving factors for the civil claims. Each province had unique dynamics, claims and stations involved. He had visited seven out of the nine provinces.

SAPS had established provincial steering committees in eight out of nine provinces and had quarterly sessions which ranged from roadshows with thousands of students, to college visits where about 7 000 new students were addressed on behavioural issues. SAPS had a confirmed two-hour slot at various colleges and planned on addressing 10 000 students in the current year. The categories of civil claims ranged from accidents, assaults, police shootings, unlawful arrests, unlawful detention, and other related crimes. SAPS identified specific reasons for each of those categories. For unlawful arrests, unlawful detention, and assaults, for example, the behavioural issues of the members and the command and control over sound management were the reasons behind those crimes, and the related interventions were put in place. In some cases, corruption and collusion were found to be the reason behind the crimes. SAPS was found to be colluding with legal firms to willfully detain people for longer periods than prescribed. SAPS had identified legal firms that counted on people being legally arrested to develop civil claims, but SAPS was aggressively combating the issue. Historically, SAPS had not been efficient in aggressively combating groundless civil claims, but now it has an active approach to addressing the matter. A communication strategy was being developed to ensure the public was dealt with accordingly.

General Masemola said the VIP protection unit did not have a lot of personnel and like in other areas, the unit had lost personnel. Having visited a certain police accommodation the previous week, he witnessed the poor conditions. The matter would be discussed with the DG of Public Works as the DPWI was responsible for maintaining police accommodation.

SAPS was currently training 418 detectives at the training college. They were completing a basic detective course. The police killings needed to be addressed collectively by all stakeholders and any assistance or any additions to the existing strategies were welcomed. In solving the matter, SAPS agreed that better police accommodation was required and regular training courses would assist police officers in defending themselves better.

Deputy Minister Mathale said that SAPS was open to working with the private sector to fulfil the commitment made by the Minister in Parliament. The private sector has a role to play and has made great contributions to the services of the government. SAPS resolved that it needed to introduce cameras for the police officials to place either on the vehicle dashboards or on uniforms. The cameras would make great contributions in cases where accusations were made against the police officers. The cameras would also deter police officers from acting unacceptably.

General Masemola said that SAPS needed to spend double the amount to achieve more in certain areas. It had specialist operational units that dealt with illicit mining. Those specialist operational units had other functions but because illicit mining was a big problem, certain functions were completed during overtime. SAPS used the same overtime approach to the other areas. In 2021/22, the forensic unit registered over 500 000 cases and finalised 457 000 cases. In 2022/23, 660 102 cases were registered and 830 699 cases were finalised, including the backlogged cases. Additionally, the SAPS employed additional personnel in the forensics unit.

Lt Gen Lebeya said the DPCI and SAPS were working together to combat the Eastern Cape kidnappings. It emerged that the people close to the kidnapped victims were responsible for the kidnappings. The DPCI received allegations on the involvement of SAPS officials in the kidnappings and it would deal with the matter accordingly.

The DPCI had a plan to capacitate itself and hoped that, if resources were available in the upcoming two financial years, it would be fully capacitated. If circumstances were favourable, it could fill 1 137 posts in the current year. If the DPCI was allocated additional funds in the next financial year, the remaining posts would be filled and it would operate at a capacity of 100%. The DPCI loses under ten employees every month due to retirement, promotions, transfers, etc. In the 2022/23 financial year, about 84 employees were released from the DPCI either through transfers or promotions outside the DPCI. The DPCI also received resignations from employees who wanted to exit the government employee payment fund scheme. The law had a specific provision in terms of section 17(G) and if the DPCI had implemented that section, it would have been able to retain some of the employees who left.

Further discussion

Mr Golding repeated his question about CPFs. Did the numbers provided refer to functional CPFs or simply ones that had been constituted?

Mr Whitfield noted the Minister's comments on PPPs but pointed out that the annual report indicated that SAPS did not have a single PPP. The responses received did not match what was communicated in the annual report. The gravity of crime in South Africa implied that the SAPS had the support of the whole society. Could the Deputy Minister confirm whether there were any PPPs in place?

Mr Terblanche said the Committee was informed that the VIP protection unit had a post-establishment of 4 365 people while the actual number of personnel employed was 5 943. Thus, the VIP protection unit had 1 278 additional employees. He maintained that additional personnel should be employed under the detective services or crime prevention units.

Responses

Deputy Minister Mathale said that SAPS’s annual report reflected the current situation on PPPs, but did not state that the PPPs had no role to play in with SAPS. Through its engagement with the Presidential Council, the private sector team interacted with the President on addressing SAPS-related matters such as the SAPS call centre. Thus, there were engagements between the Presidential Council and the private sector.  Whether the engagements led to PPPs was a different matter.

General Masemola said the Minister assessed the CPF functionality through the provincial office. The provincial office checked if the CPFs met and implemented projects. CPFs were allocated R70m in the current financial year. While some CPFs were spending the allocated funds accordingly, some CPFs were underspending.

Maj Gen S Pienaar, Acting Divisional Commissioner: Visible Policing and Operations, SAPS, said CPFs had a checklist to report on. The reports were forwarded to the district commander and the provincial commander, who verified them. The reports were audited. CPFs should have elected executives appointed either at an Annual General Meeting (AGM) or other meetings convened. CPFs should hold regular meetings quarterly and the minutes should be available to be checked and audited. Senior members of the police stations should attend the meetings. The CPFs should also have adopted a community safety plan that should be executed and report on various activities. In the future, the budget allocations and spending of the CPFs would be worked into the criteria and monitored at a provincial level because the budget allocations were currently made to provinces. The CPFs would report on the R70m and how it was utilised.

Lt Gen S Sibiya, Deputy National Commissioner: Crime Detection, SAPS, said the drug syndicate targets had been reviewed for the next financial year and they had been aligned with the targets of the crime intelligence unit. Several individuals are usually involved when dealing with a syndicate, and the arrested hardly reveal other involved parties.

General Masemola said he would consult about the VIP protection personnel and send a written response to the Committee.

The Chairperson reminded SAPS to submit a written report on the VIP protection personnel matter and the other two reports requested by Mr Shaik-Emam. The police station in Ga-Kgapane was still being built after five years and that was concerning. Perhaps the Provincial Commissioner of Limpopo should visit the police station to determine the problem behind the delay and report to the Committee. The Premier of Gauteng announced that he had donated 1 000 vehicles to SAPS.  Could the SAPS provide a written report accounting for these vehicles? Were the donated vehicles included in AGSA’s report? Could SAPS update the Committee on work the previous National Commissioner started to review SAPS’s organisational structure?

CSPS Annual Report 2022/23

Mr Takalani Ramaru, Acting Secretary For Police Service, CSPS, said the comments and recommendations of AGSA would be taken into consideration. The CSPS would also consider the labour unions' comments and recommendations when it drafted its legislation plans. The CSPS achieved 25 out of its 28 predetermined indicators in 2022/23.

Ms Itumeleng Ledwaba, Director: Strategic Management, CSPS, said the CSPS had maintained a clean audit for three consecutive years. Targets not met in 2022/23 under Programme One: administration related to the implementation of the human capital strategy and the payment of creditors within 30 days, and under Programme Two: intersectoral coordination and strategic partnerships, they related to the assessments conducted on the functionality of CPFs. All indicators under Programme Three: legislation and policy development and Programme Four: civilian, oversight, monitoring and evaluation, had been achieved.

Successes

During the period under review, a total of 113 service delivery complaints against SAPS were attended to and finalised. The CSPS’s intervention in some of those complaints resulted in justice being served in several cases of murder: in a case where a man had brutally murdered his wife and hidden her remains in the bathroom, the CSPS’s collaboration with key stakeholders such as the NPA led to the cold case being resuscitated and the suspect being found guilty of premeditated murder. In the case of two university graduates who were murdered in the Eastern Cape (OR Tambo District), the CSPS’s intervention and engagement with other key stakeholders, such as local and provincial police, also led to justice being served for the young men.

The CSPS continued to contribute to the fight against the scourge of GBVF through various programmes, over and above the monitoring of SAPS’s compliance with the Domestic Violence Act (DVA). As part of implementing the Partnership Strategy and Framework, the CSPS has a programme through which it collaborated with stakeholders such as the Foschini Group to empower GBVF victims.

Further, the President signed and assented to the Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Amendment Bill in the period under review. The amendments provide for, amongst other aspects, the taking of DNA buccal samples from convicted schedule eight offenders before their release in cases where buccal samples were not taken upon arrest.

As part of the MOU signed with Memeza Shout, the CSPS collaborated with the NGO to facilitate the installation of rapid response alarms to protect school infrastructure during the period under review. In Gauteng, a total of 16 schools received rapid response alarms in June 2022 (11 in Pimville and five in Klipspruit). The programme was also rolled out in KZN in October 2022, where five schools in Kwa-Debeka, Claremont, Ntuzuma and Newlands received rapid response alarms.

Service delivery environment

During the reporting period, the CSPS facilitated 13 Community Safety Forum (CSF) workshops and conducted 13 capacity-building workshops on crime prevention policies with provinces and municipalities. Four anti-crime campaigns also took place in response to the rise in reported GBVF cases. High crime levels, including the scourge of GBV, necessitated the conducting of additional Izimbizo during the period under review. Of the planned target of eight, a total of 17 Izimbizo took place as part of the ministerial public participation programme.

The CSPS spent approximately R152.6m (98%) of its R155.9m budget allocation. That was a 6.3% increase against the 91.6% spending in 2021/22. The highest spending programme was the programme on inter-sectoral coordination and strategic partnerships which spent 100% of its allocation, while the lowest spending programme was on legislation and policy development which spent 96% of its budget. The bulk of the underspending on all the programmes was attributable to vacant posts. A total of 146 out 157 post establishments were filled. An amount of R2.9m on compensation of employees represented 91.4% of the total underspending of R3.2m. The CSPS spent 99% of its goods and services budget, 94% of its capital asset allocation and 95% of the transfers and subsidies budget.

[See the presentation for more details]

Discussion

Mr Golding asked how the enforcement of the CSPS and IPID recommendations could be strengthened when forwarded to SAPS. Was the CSPS measuring the implementation of those recommendations? Was there a broader marketing strategy around the CSPS’s services, including advertising for the general public to understand its role and how the public could access the CSPS outside the imbizos and CPF structures?

He recalled that in the last session, the CSPS was busy with the review of SAPS’s disciplinary regulations. What progress has been made so far? It was noted that the CSPS had achieved its target of providing legislative support to the Minister's office insofar as it had developed the IPID Amendment Bill. However, the performance target required the development of ‘constitutionally compliant legislation,’ but that Bill had turned out not to be constitutionally compliant.

Mr Terblanche commended the CSPS for its consistency in achieving a clean audit. The Committee received numerous complaints and questions from the public about what the CSPS did and how it operated. The public has stated that it did not see or feel the impact that the CSPS had on SAPS. He also wanted an update on the review of SAPS’s disciplinary regulations. Had the CSPS been aware that the IPID Amendment Bill was unconstitutional when it had forwarded it to the Minister?

Ms Gomba commended the CSPS for its clean audit. She was concerned about the employee health budget which was reported to be inadequate. Considering the nature of the work done by the CSPS or any other entity within the same cluster, a larger budget was required to take care of the employees’ health due to the trauma they went through and other psychological and emotional aspects of carrying out their duties.

Responses

Deputy Minister Mathale said the issue around the IPID Amendment Bill had been extensively discussed but the Committee had the right to ask the question. An unconstitutional Bill was presented to the Committee because there were many views around the appointment processes, the executive and the role of Parliament. Thus, a decision to obtain an external legal opinion on the matter was made. The Bill was sent to the Committee and Parliament before the receipt of the legal opinion. It would not have been advisable for the Bill to be withdrawn and re-submitted to Parliament because it would have impacted the processes that the Committee had to look at. There was no ill intention from the parties involved to circumvent any processes and the relevant information had been provided to the Committee. The law-making processes outlined the processes that should be followed when a Bill that had issues was sent to the Committee.  The Committee was briefed and obtained clarity on the processes that needed to be followed by its legal team. Through those processes, the Committee continued to process the Bill. The Committee had made a commitment to abide by the processes. There was no way the Department would push for the executive to have the final say after the related processes had been followed. The aim was to have a Bill that both the Committee and the Department were proud of and was a product of their engagements.

Mr Ramaru said the CSPS had some challenges with the implementation of its recommendations to SAPS over the years but it had had a fruitful discussion with the National Commissioner and agreed to processes that needed to be followed. It was discussed that the CSPS would brief the board of Commissioners quarterly and the different units and divisions within the CSPS would meet, as was currently the case, to discuss the recommendations. The system was working perfectly, but the matter would be resolved through various collaborations. The SAPS audit committee had requested the list of recommendations that the CSPS had made over the years. The audit committee would then check if those recommendations were implemented. In the next financial year, the CSPS would establish a unit responsible for reporting the percentages of the recommendations that had been implemented.

The concern and question around the marketing or visibility of the CSPS was also raised by AGSA and the CSPS had put in place a plan to ensure that it was visible to the public beyond the Izimbizo. For the CSPS to be able to market itself to the public, it would need a budget to do so but the CSPS was aware that the state was currently operating with limited resources. Thus the CSPS would cover a minimum budget to be able to market itself and inform the public about the programmes it offered, including programmes offered directly to the public. The CSPS had an impact on the work done by SAPS. As highlighted in the presentation, when the public reported cold cases to the CSPS, the CSPS communicated with SAPS and through its interventions, the cold cases were resuscitated and justice was served most of the time.

The CSPS was responsible for working with SAPS to ensure that its disciplinary regulations were reviewed. However, disciplinary regulations involved the relationship between the employer and employee and as such, the process needed to be led by SAPS, and it involved engagements with the SSSBC. The CSPS had identified a few issues that it had communicated to SAPS on areas it believed needed to be reviewed. These mainly impacted the work done by the IPID. Once the SSSBC processes commenced, those issues would be considered.

The CSPS did not have an adequate budget for it to make the necessary impact on the employee health and wellness programme. However, the CSPS has acquired the services of Independent Counselling and Advisory Services (ICAS), which assisted the CSPS staff with psychological issues, work-related challenges and the overall welfare of employees.

Mr Golding remarked that if the CSPS had submitted a constitutionally non-compliant piece of legislation to the Minister and Cabinet, then it would have put both the Minister and the Cabinet at risk, and that was problematic. He believed that going forward, the CSPS would ensure that any legislation sent to the Minister and Cabinet was constitutionally compliant. The CSPS should have a look at its indicators because it had claimed praise for something that was not true.

Committee Matters

The Committee considered and adopted the minutes of 20 September 2023.

The Chairperson said he did not recall receiving feedback from the Ministry on whether SAPS was able to negotiate with the DPWI to use some abandoned buildings to house police officers, as per the resolutions made in the meeting held on 20 September 2023. Additionally, the Committee had requested the SAPS to provide reasons behind its low expenditure in some areas which ultimately led to the redirection of funds.

Minister Cele said he would make the necessary enquiries on the matter because he had signed the related reports which should have been forwarded to the Committee.

The Chairperson recalled that at the meeting held on 20 September 2023, Deputy Minister Mathale SAPS Acting National Commissioner Lt Gen T Mosikili had made commitments to submit written responses on certain matters by 22 September 2023 but those had not been received. He asked Minister Cele to follow up on the outstanding written responses and advise the Committee on the matter before the meeting adjourned.

Mr M Shaik Emam (NFP) said he had raised a concern at the 20 September 2023 meeting around police officers whose lives were at risk as they lived in informal settlements. The number of police officers who had been killed was at an all-time high. How was the Minister addressing the matter? There were several abandoned and hijacked buildings. Was the Minister in communication with the DPWI and other relevant role players to accommodate, thus assisting police officers to reside closer to their place of work?

The Chairperson said SAPS should submit its responses in writing by the next Committee meeting. He asked the Committee Secretary to note the resolution.

Mr Shaik Emam recalled that he had requested SAPS to compile a comprehensive report of everything they needed and the constraints they faced in tackling crime. SAPS had promised to submit the report but had not done so as yet. How much time did the SAPS require to compile the report so the Committee could tackle the matter when it dealt with the BRRRs and budgets?

The Chairperson asked Minister Cele to submit the two outstanding reports in writing.

Minister Cele said he had not attended the meeting on 20 September 2023, where the two outstanding reports were discussed. However, he had received and signed the requested reports on the previous day around 19:30. The reports were still in his office and would be forwarded to the Committee shortly. SAPS would compile a report on police officer killings. Additionally, SAPS would also compile a report on how the Committee could assist it with its budget even though he was unsure how much assistance the Committee could provide, as there were more budget cuts than increases. SAPS was nowhere near having a budget that could transform it.

The Chairperson said that SAPS should submit its budget report and the Committee would determine how it could assist. As mentioned in the opening remarks, if the Committee needed to make recommendations to the Minister of Finance, the Committee would proceed accordingly. The Committee would wait for SAPS’s response and the standing practice was that a requested report should be submitted to the Committee by the next meeting. If SAPS was unable to provide a full submission by the next meeting, it should at least respond when the report would be provided to the Committee.

The Chairperson acknowledged the Provincial Commissioners who attended the meeting and remained even after the National Commissioner had left the meeting. He reminded SAPS that General Masemola had promised that SAPS would submit a written report on the police stations. The police station in Ga-Kgapane, Limpopo, was still being built after about five years and was still not nearly completed. It was uncertain if the Limpopo Provincial Commissioner had visited the site.

Lt Gen MT Hadebe, Provincial Commissioner: Limpopo, SAPS, said she had visited the site and the station was nowhere near being completed. The project manager was said to be in Pretoria and the police station should have been completed in October. She had requested her supply chain team to communicate with the national office and advise the project manager to attend meetings with the contractors. The project was taking too long to complete as the project manager was not properly monitoring it.

The Chairperson said he did not intend to put Lt Gen Hadebe on the spot. He requested a comprehensive report on the police station as the matter could be escalated if the need arose. Otherwise, the police station would continue to be under construction for the next ten years. He apologised for seemingly putting Lt Gen Hadebe on the spot. He was merely making an example that the Limpopo province had planned to build and complete three police stations which still needed to be completed to date. There was also a police station in the Northern Cape that had been incomplete for some time.

The portfolio as a whole was congratulated on the progress made as indicated in the audit report. The CSPS and IPID obtained clean audits and SAPS and PSiRA obtained unqualified audits with material findings. All entities and departments were working towards a clean audit. The Committee was comfortable with the progress made even though there were still some issues to resolve.

The Committee received an invite to the Minister’s event in Khayelitsha on 13 October 2023 but the Committee had a meeting on the same day to consider the annual reports of IPID and PSiRA. Thus, the Committee would unfortunately not be able to attend the event. SAPS should focus on addressing detective-related issues. SAPS should compile a report on how donated vehicles were accounted for. SAPS should obtain feedback on the kidnapping cases in the Eastern Cape and brief the Committee on the progress made. SAPS should also inform the Committee about any structural changes to SAPS for the Committee to be able to advise the relevant individuals. The Committee would meet on 13 October 2023 to consider the IPID and PSiRA annual reports.

The meeting was adjourned.