South African Police Service: hearing

Meeting report

PUBLIC ACCOUNTS STANDING COMMITTEE
6 April 2005
SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE SERVICE: HEARING

Chairperson: Mr F Beukman (NNP)

Documents handed out:
South African Police Service (SAPS) Annual Report 2003/2004 (see SAPS website under SAPS Profile)
Institutional Strengthening Workshop Programme
Report of the Auditor-General (see Appendix 1)
Report of the Audit Committee for the year ended 31 March 2004 (see Appendix 2)

SUMMARY
The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) questioned the South African Police Service's Commissioner, Deputy National Commissioners and other SAPS representatives about matters that had been identified by the Auditor General when qualifying his audit report on the financial management of SAPS for the year 2003/04. SCOPA’s main concerns about the financial management of the South African Police Service dealt with internal controls, internal audit, personnel leave, overtime and suspensions and loss control.

MINUTES
Introductory remarks
Mr F Beukman (SCOPA, Chairperson) welcomed SAPS and congratulated the National Commissioner, Mr J Selebi, on the SAPS’ achievements. He explained the Constitution’s regulation of executive action and the responsibility this entails for the National Commissioner and other SAPS members. The 2003/04 Report of the Auditor General had been qualified with regard to leave entitlement and thus the necessity for the hearing.

Mr V Smith (ANC) noted that in previous years, the SCOPA had passed fifteen resolutions in order to overcome problems with the financial management of the Department which the Auditor General had identified in his previous Audit Reports. The Committee appreciated that SAPS took these issues seriously and had applied themselves to finding solutions (see Annexure A of the Audit Report).

Mr Smith highlighted that Rome was not built in a day, but that ten years down the line, concerns must be raised on some aspects within the SAPS, in order to get resolutions in problem areas. The Committee would interact with SAPS on four matters:
- internal control,
- internal audit,
- personnel expenditure and
- loss control.

Comm Selebi (SAPS National Commissioner and Accounting Officer) thanked SCOPA for their input and the resolutions that had been offered to the department. He emphasised that the primary role of the SAPS is to combat and prevent crime. Their strategic plans aimed at achieving these goals in order to reduce crime in South Africa. He concluded that SAPS had been working hard to address the underlying issues of crime and reassured the Committee that those areas where the Department had failed, was because of a lack of experience and not a lack of commitment.

Internal controls
Mr B Pule (UCDP) indicated concern with internal control efficiencies. Vehicle management and maintenance and the inadequate registration of vehicles had been in need of urgent attention. Concerns had been raised about inadequate document management with regard to personnel. He asked whether remedies had been put in place and what the relevant timeframes had been.

Comm J Selebi (National Commissioner: SAPS) replied that the SAPS had recruited new personnel. Changes had been made and a new recruit could not become a member of the SAPS before the training examinations had been passed. This had resulted in people without personnel numbers. Previously, recruits had been members from the start.

Div Comm M Stander (Divisional Commander: Personnel Services) said that functions had been centralised to address inefficiencies. A template had been provided that should be completed to ensure that the relevant documents would be available. A checklist had been made available to ensure that the relevant documentation would be available. The Department had been busy with the finalisation of national instructions to ensure that the relevant documentation would be available on all the relevant files. Concerns regarding the missing files would be addressed

On the lack of a complete database on official housing, Comm J Selebi said that a major problem had been that many people within SAPS did not have sufficient accommodation. National instructions had been sent out which stated that every member had to reapply for state housing accommodation. This would ensure the identification of the location of these houses, and that they would be made available to junior members which had very little housing subsidy. Growth within the organisation had lead to more junior level members that had joined the organisation at entry level and who were in need of accommodation. The process of re-application would ensure the identification of occupants in the houses.

Mr S Schutte (Divisional Commissioner) said that a significant exercise of system changes, certification, reconciliation and clearing of outstanding matters had taken place with regards to official housing in married quarters. The same process had to be followed in the single quarters. They had started with the implementation of a system which would lead to the automatic payment of licences and registration.

Mr Phule asked for clarification regarding the missing files.

Dep Nat Comm V Singh (Deputy National Commander: Human Resource Management and Legal Services) replied that it had been the identification documents on the files that had been missing.

Mr Phule said that suspended personnel had continued to receive salaries due to late reporting to Head Office. He asked what the Department had done to ensure prompt reporting, how much money had been involved and how much had been recovered.

Dep Nat Comm Singh replied that an electronic reporting process in the form of emails, as well as monitoring mechanisms, had been put in place for prompt reporting on suspensions. There were inspections at certain areas, and training sessions had taken place. The money from the seven suspension incidents reported on by the Auditor General had been recovered within two months of the suspensions. In six cases, the money had been recovered. In the final case, the suspension had been lifted and the person reinstated.

Mr Schutte said that financial services would stop and freeze the salaries until the required documentation had been received. They had tried to shorten the termination of services process. Debt had been recovered in various debt categories and debt accounts. Debts have been recovered from pensions that would have been paid out to the person, as well as other means.

The Chairperson gave Mr S Fakie, the Auditor General, a chance to comment.

Mr Fakie asked whether one would be able to see these improvements in the next audit. This would ensure a follow-up on the corrective measures that had taken place. He asked whether the problems that occurred before the implementation of the email system had been logistic, or due to human delay and negligence on the part of employees.

Comm Selebi replied that structural problems had occurred but the email system ensured that the notification of suspensions had been sent directly from the station to the national level. This would shorten the period of communication between the different levels of the organisation.

Dep Nat Comm Singh added that the problems had occurred due to the organisation's bureaucratic structure, the lengthy route undertaken and human error. Members had undertaken training in order to know what was expected of them. Regular inspections had been undertaken in areas. Sanctions would be implemented if the timeframes had not been adhered to.

Mr Schutte continued and said that they would provide the exact timeframes for corrective measures to the Auditor General. The email system intended to limit the pay-out risk of payments that should not have taken place.

Mr Phule asked about the identified deficiencies in the management of leave in all the provinces. For example there had been a backlog of about five months in the processing of leave applications at one police station. He asked for clarification on the R4 billion of leave entitlement that the Auditor General could not confirm and which had led him to issue a qualified audit opinion.

Comm Selebi replied that the management of leave within the SAPS was different to other government departments. The crime situation dictated that all members should be at work. The Department had focussed on crime prevention and crime reduction which had resulted in the cancellation of leave. Therefore it had not been easy to manage leave.

Div Comm Stander said that training on the administration of leave had been conducted in all the provinces. Seventeen workshops had been presented. Some of the stations mentioned by the Auditor General had been visited in November 2004. She indicated that 55 stations had been visited and gave the assurance that the Department would continue to see that standards had been adhered to. New national instructions had been promulgated and compliance failure would be considered a serious misconduct and could result in disciplinary action. The new electronic system allowed for the forms to be freely available and that would enhance the better management of leave.

Mr Smith asked that the interventions should be put on paper.

Mr Phule indicated that the main concern had been with the leave entitlement of R4 billion, parts of which had not been captured on the Personnel and Salary System (PERSAL) and which thus remained unaudited.

Mr Fakie said that note had been taken of the corrective measures that had taken place. People's leave had to be captured so that one could rely on the system for information. He was encouraged by the corrective measures that had been put in place.

Mr Phule said that the Annual Report of the Internal Audit Committee indicated that internal control had been in need of improvement and strengthening. The Auditor General had reported non-compliance with internal controls. The Committee had noted the extensive training programmes and asked why these programmes appeared to be ineffective.

Comm Selebi replied by questioning the testing of these programmes. Exams had been used as a measurement of the training that had been undertaken. He indicated uncertainty about the statement that their training had not been effective. More time was needed for the assessment of their training.

Mr Smith said that the Commissioner had indicated acceptance of the Auditor General’s Report during his opening remarks. Some of the breakdowns in control had been due to a lack of training. However, the Committee wanted to ascertain whether the problems had really occurred due to a lack of training, or whether it had been the result of negligence. The Committee had been informed that the Department had 79 other policies with regards to financial management. He asked whether the bureaucracy could be rationalised within the Department.

Comm Selebi commented that it seemed as if the Committee was searching for answers about the large case backlog. The existence of these cases should be considered as an indication that the SAPS had done their job. Reasons for the large case backlog had to be found elsewhere. Police and detectives had been provided with sufficient training and the case backlog had nothing to do with their training.

Mr Smith asked whether a sufficient number of employees, with sufficient financial training, had been employed within the SAPS.

Comm Selebi said that the Department had resisted hiring people without the relevant skills in order to make the Department more representative. A person without the relevant skills to perform his duties would not be placed.

Mr Schutte said that their financial environment had been highly regulated. He said that in terms of the financial environment, they had provided training as far as possible

Internal Audit
Mr E Trent (DA) highlighted the importance of an effective internal audit within the police force. He quoted from the SAPS Annual Report 2003/04 which stated that the department had out-sourced the activities of the internal audit and that this had put a limit on the extent to which work was performed. Mr Trent asked why the department had decided to out-source their internal audit.

Dep Nat Comm Eloff (Deputy National Commissioner; SAPS) replied that their department did not have people that were capable of performing the tasks of the internal audit nor had they found suitable people to employ who already had the appropriate skills. The department brought in assistance for these reasons in order to distribute these skills into the department and to build on their internal audit capacity. They were bound by police salaries and could not compete with other companies to hire skilled workers.

Mr Trent asked why there were only thirty people to whom the internal audit was out-sourced if they wanted to distribute these skills on a broad basis within SAPS.

Dep Nat Comm Eloff replied that two different skills were being transferred into the department: management risk assessment and planning and internal audit. They needed to expand their capacity and they were doing this by advertising posts to eventually recruit 250 people into internal audit. Applications had been handed in by capable applicants, but that the demand for skills would become more and that they would have to access these skills some time.

Mr Trent said that the department required a large and effective audit section. He highlighted the problem as that of limited accessibility to people with skills and even more difficult was retaining them. People would leave the department for the private sector after they had been trained. He asked how the department planned to recruit the right people and retain them.

Dep Nat Comm Eloff replied that they had about 500 people doing audits generally (that were not formally educated to do this) complementing the audit system via their reports. The out-sourcing should be seen as a support system in order to distribute and transport skills.

Dep Nat Comm V Singh (Deputy National Commissioner; SAPS) referred to the internal audit function as needing scarce skills training, and that it was difficult to train people for this within a short period. The internal audit function was just one of the many sub-departments that had to be looked after in terms of transferring skills via training programmes.

Comm Selebi emphasized that his core responsibility was to combat crime and to do this he had to keep the broad picture in mind. There were many areas of scarce skills and that when dealing with this issue, one must look at the global picture. If they only targetted one department (such as internal audit) they would be causing problems for themselves.

Mr Trent agreed that the SAPS had in fact a large number of employees with scarce skills, but said that proper financial control was crucial. It was fundamentally important for the whole department. The issue of internal auditing in the SAPS had not been mentioned in the SAPS Annual Report and that this concerned the Committee.

Comm Selebi assured the Committee that they would do the right thing, because they have committed themselves to addressing these issues in all audits, at all times. He said that he was "no watchman" but that he sought to improve matters where possible. SAPS wanted to do their job right.

Mr Trent said that he had one final concern, being that the SAPS had such a large infrastructure as well as a large number of staff and regulations. His concern was whether 250 people for internal auditing would be enough to do the job properly in the long term and whether the SAPS’s out-sourcing programme would support this.

Dep Nat Comm Eloff replied that their out-sourcing program was three-sided being a) an inspections evaluation service b) internal audit and c) co-source partners. He said that they had made comparisons with other organizations, which indicated that they have made a good start in terms of beginning with 30 people, but that they would continually monitor progress.

Personnel Expenditure
Mr S Ndou (ANC) referred the Department to Point 5.1.1 of the Report of the Auditor General on Personnel Expenditure. He asked why these problems had persisted and what efforts had been made to rectify them.

Dep Nat Comm Singh pointed out that these matters had been dealt with in the discussion on Internal Control. The problems had persisted due to the human element. Implementation gaps had been created. Training and retraining, to ensure compliance, had been undertaken to rectify the problem.

Dep Nat Comm L Eloff (Deputy National Commander: Management, Financial and Administration Services) said that proper inspections would be done at higher levels. Non-compliance should be rectified

Mr Ndou said that the Committee and SAPS had to help each other and indicated dissatisfaction with the answers that had been given. The human element should be managed and human weaknesses should be minimised.

Comm Selebi referred to the first issue of inadequate document management and missing identification documents. He explained that recruits had undergone training, after which they became members of the SAPS. Only then would they be put on the system for salary purposes. Previously, ID documents had been used to identify individuals, since they had not yet been part of the salary registry. He stated that the missing ID documents were no longer a issue.

Comm Selebi noted that an email system had been introduced to improve on the second issue of late reporting of suspensions to Head Office. A email could be sent immediately to the Head Office. This would ensure that a suspended person would not receive a salary.

Comm Selebi said that the third issue to do with overtime would remain a problem, but measures should be put in place to ensure that people who are working overtime, would get paid.

Ms T Tobias (ANC) referred to the management of overtime and asked whether managers should be paid overtime.

Mr Fakie replied that Public Service rules and regulations determined who should be paid overtime. He said that concerns had been raised about the absence of proper control measures with regards to overtime.

The Chairperson pointed out that registers had not been kept to record overtime taken as off-time and asked whether action had been taken to improve on this.

Ms Stander (Divisional Commander: Personnel Services) said that a internal agreement existed on working hours and the amount of rest days.

Mr Ndou asked whether SCOPA could make recommendations.

Comm Selebi replied in the affirmative.

Mr Ndou said that the Department and their personnel should adhere to the policies and procedures on the SAP’s 26 forms. The 47 registers should be completed by the various leave clubs and reviewers. Officers should perform regular checks and should provide explanations why the forms had not been completed correctly. Officials responsible for recruitment should adhere to their responsibilities and ensure that appointment letters had been issued to all recruits and should be filed. He said that these suggestions had been made because the same issue had been discussed previously.

Comm Selebi indicated that this had been the standard procedure within the SAPS.

Mr Gumede (ANC) said that he had not been convinced about the practical resources and services in the different stations.

Comm Selebi said that the Department had sufficient computers. As many employees as possible had received computer training. Huge inspections had been undertaken in the police. Inspection of the relevant stations had taken place and reports had been set up. He himself had received these reports and that he would ascertain whether the necessary follow-ups had been made. Complaints could not be made about the equipment of the employees that had received training.

Mr Trent (DA) referred to Point 5.3.2 on Human Resource Management and said that the Department had been considered to be on Level Two of maturity. This meant that policies and procedures had been put in place but lacked capacity. He expressed concern at the number of vacant posts. The biggest number of vacancies related to highly skilled levels, as well as at senior management. Vacancies could lead to problems in the effective implementation of policies.

Comm Selebi said that he would like to know how these classifications had been arrived at.

Mr Trent (DA) replied that he had referred to the capability model.

Comm Selebi said that they could not fill the vacancies if a person with certain skills was needed in another place.

Mr Smith referred to Note 12.2 and 12.3 of the Notes to the Annual Financial Statements which stated that salary related debt accounted for R8 million and allowance related debt was R18 million. He asked whether the staff debt of R2,5 million that was older that two years would be recuperated.

Mr Schutte replied that the bad debt, with regards to outstanding debt, only amounted to 2%. The debt environment had improved dramatically. The Department only had incidental debt where an incident had occurred and debt should be recovered. All financial indicators had indicated a good debt environment in the recouping and recovering of debt. Debt would only be written of if it could not be recovered, or if it was not economically viable, but the Department would do their utmost to recover debt.

Loss Control
Ms L Mashiane (ANC) referred to Point 5.1.3 of the Auditor General’s Report and emphasised that the loss control issue (in terms of management) had not been resolved. She asked the department to update the Committee on time frames for resolving this particularly in Gauteng. What improvements had been made and when was completion date expected?

Mr S Schutte (SAPS) replied that he and the Dep Nat Comm, Mr H Hlela (SAPS: Logistical, Evaluation, Protection and Security Services), interacted on a regular basis and the loss control system had again been revised. They had evaluated 189 police stations, but he had not said they have completed revising the efficiency of the department’s services in the broad. They will appoint dedicated personnel that will deal with loss management. He was confident that the management system would be more effective in the near future, since they would introduce checks and balances to know what had been procured. This would refine the environment in order to see what had been recovered and which matters still needed to be sorted out.

Ms Mashiane again requested a completion date in order to hold the department accountable to a larger degree and asked for it to be given in writing.

Mr Schutte said that they were currently busy with evaluation. They would prioritise Gauteng if needed and would hand in a written submission to give an update of events.

Ms Mashiane spoke about the movement of stock within the department, resulting in material differences in quantity. The department was neglecting to capture issues on administration service immediately. She asked whether the procedures had been carefully given to the managers and whether year-end stocks had been taken into account up to date.

Comm Selebi loss of fireamrs was a major problem. They would give each member firaems and they will suppply each one with a safe. This sghould have bene implemented already but the problem was that noone tendered for it. They had to find an innonvate way for getting safes said that a national instruction had been given. People in the training programme had been put into the area they were trained to work in, in order to see whether they understood what they were supposed to do. The problem of the training systems was that technology continued to develop and it was difficult to adjust to those changes in terms of capturing stock.

Ms Mashiane asked why the department did not prevent delays in the delivery of stock by holding the suppliers accountable to the original contract and date and penalising them.

Comm Selebi admitted that this was a problem within management and explained that when a person buys stock from the same supplier over a period of ten years, it sometimes happen that they have ‘koeksisters and tee’ together. By this he meant to say that sometimes managers do not have the heart to be strict and to penalise suppliers for late delivery. He accepted that this was a widespread problem and that the department had taken measures against this by means of evaluation.

General Questions
Ms T Tobias (SCOPA) referred to Table 12 of the SAPS Annual Report (2003/2004) that provided a gender breakdown of SAPS members who had received training in that year and asked what had been done in order to improve women empowerment within the SAPS.

Comm Selebi admitted that there were predominantly more men than women in the SAPS. However, out of the 11 000 posts that had been advertised and of the 900 000 applications received, 880 000 had been male applicants. South Africa’s police force was the only country in the world that had empowered proportionately more women and that this was an achievement. The department had been working on transformation, not in terms of making the police force ‘colourful’, but in terms of employing those with the necessary skills. He jokingly referred to when he first joined the police force, that he had been referred to as a ‘haas’, but now people referred to him as something else and that this indeed proved that already people’s mindsets had been changed.

At this point the hearing had to adjourn as another meeting was scheduled to take place in the venue. The Chairperson asked that any other questions be given to the SAPS to respond to in writing.

Appendix: 1
REPORT OF THE AUDITOR-GENERAL TO PARLIAMENT ON THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF VOTE 25 - DEPARTMENT OF SAFETY AND SECURITY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2004

AUDITOR - GENERAL

REPORT OF THE AUDITOR-GENERAL TO PARLIAMENT ON THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF VOTE 25 -
DEPARTMENT OF SAFETY AND SECURITY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2004

1. AUDIT ASSIGNMENT
The financial statements as set out on pages [ 1] to [29 ], for the year ended 31 March 2004, have been audited in terms of section 188 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act No. 108 of 1996), read with sections 3 and 5 of the Auditor-General Act, 1995 (Act No. 12 of 1995). These financial statements, the maintenance of effective control measures and compliance with relevant laws and regulations are the responsibility of the accounting officer. My responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements, based on the audit.

2. NATURE AND SCOPE
The audit was conducted in accordance with Statements of South African Auditing Standards. Those standards require that I plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes:
• examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statement,
• assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, and
• evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. Furthermore, an audit includes an examination, on a test basis, of evidence supporting compliance in all material respects with the relevant laws and regulations which came to my attention and are applicable to financial matters. I believe that the audit provides a reasonable basis for my opinion.

3. QUALIFICATION
Leave entitlement
Deficiencies were noted in the management and administration of leave in all the provinces. This had an impact on the calculation of the leave entitlement. Leave forms were not captured on the Personnel and Salary system (PERSAL) in every province visited. At a specific station, a backlog of five months existed in the processing of leave applications, while the manual leave register had last been updated in 2002. It was not possible to quantify the effects of these findings, nor was it possible to perform alternative audit procedures. I am therefore unable to satisfy myself as to the accuracy and completeness of the leave entitlement of R4.029 billion as disclosed in Note 23 to the financial statements.

4. QUALIFIED AUDIT OPINION
In my opinion, except for the effect on the financial statements of the matters referred to in paragraph 3, the financial statements fairly present, in all material respects, the financial position of the Department of Safety and Security at 31 March 2004, and the results of its operations and cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with prescribed accounting practice and in the manner required by the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No. 1 of 1999).

5. EMPHASIS OF MATTER
Without further qualifying the audit opinion expressed above, attention is drawn to the following matters:

5.1 Non-compliance with policies, procedures and standing instructions:

5.1.1 Personnel expenditure
• Inadequate document management resulted in missing identification documents and appointment letters on personnel files of newly appointed staff. Official procedures and guidelines governing appointments were also not consistently applied.
• Some members whose services had been terminated or who were on suspension continued to receive salaries due to late reporting to Head Office, resulting in potential irrecoverable debtors being raised.
• Control measures over the management of overtime were ineffective, as registers were not kept to record overtime taken as off-time. This resulted in an increased risk of erroneous off-time payments being made.

5.1.2 Inventories

5.1.2.1 Inventory store at National Logistics
• The receipt of building materials was recorded against "extraordinary receipts." This resulted in quantities and details of orders not being electronically matched to the goods received notes.
• Movements of stock were not captured resulting in material differences between the quantities recorded and the actual physical count at the clothing shop, ammunition store, clothing store and building store.
• Stock issued by the ammunition store to police stations remained uncollected at the transit-out of the ammunition store for extensive periods, dating from as far back as January 2001.
• Delays in deliveries from suppliers of more than six months occurred, without penalties being charged against defaulting suppliers in terms of the contract conditions.
• The needs analysis performed before the placing of orders and the control over optimal stock levels were inadequate, resulting in excess stock.

5.1.2.2 Inventories at provincial and area commissioners as well as police stations
• Segregation of duties was not clearly defined; and
• Regular stock counts were not performed.

5.1.3 Loss Management
• Incidents of damages and losses within the Logistical environment were not timeously recorded on the Polfin accounting system.
• There were serious internal control weaknesses regarding the safekeeping of firearms as information supplied by the department indicate that 935 firearms (2002/03 - 921), valued at R2 045 107, were lost by or stolen from personnel. These losses were made up as follows:

Number of firearms Rand Value
Stolen and robbed
Robbed in townships 401 551 266
Housebreaking - properly locked 88 122 067
- not locked 6 7 235
Theft out of dwelling 35 55 981
Theft out of state vehicle 10 17 141
Theft out of private vehicle 22 23 589
Theft out of offices/stores 58 547 976
Robbery - liquor involved 6 8 257
- during collisions 5 10 529
Lost
During - handing over 99 280 520
- inspections 135 315 565
Lost in bathrooms 8 23 602
Lost from person 32 46 080
Lost under influence of alcohol 1 3 200
Lost during execution of official duties 29 32 099
Total 935 R2 045 107

5.1.4 Rental of official housing - single quarters
Due to a lack of a complete database, no reconciliation was performed between the register of official housing of the Department of Safety and Security, and that of the Department of Public Works. As a result, the rental receivable from single quarters could not be determined.

5.2 Vehicle fleet management
Due to ineffective utilisation of the fleet management system the following findings were noted:
• Deficiencies in the procurement process of vehicles resulted in delays in the placement of vehicle orders, inappropriate vehicles being procured as well as lengthy lead times, of up to seven months, between the time when the order was placed and the time the vehicles were received and distributed for use;
• Vehicles not being optimally utilised resulted in an increased risk of fuel card fraud, higher maintenance costs, higher fuel costs and vehicle dormancy;
• Inadequate measurable norms and standards governing turnaround times for vehicles undergoing repairs and maintenance resulted in lengthy vehicle turnaround times; and
• The vehicle fleet management exception reports were not followed-up and appropriate action not taken.

5.3 Performance Audit
The following shortcomings pertaining to the economic, efficient and effective utilisation of the department's resources were noted:

5.3.1 Asset Management
Deficiencies in the number, condition and location of police buildings are experienced due to carryovers from prior financial years and the fact that the Department of Public Works is still responsible for the maintenance function of the Department of Safety and Security buildings.

5.3.2 Human Resource Management
• Leave (including sick leave) statistics were inadequately compiled or not compiled at all, with the result that the management and analysis of leave were not performed and its impact on service delivery was not determined;
• Management measures were not in place to ensure that funded vacancies were filled in the shortest time possible. In one province a total of 603 positions remained vacant for a period of longer than three months. As a result, the operational effectiveness of the department may be compromised; and
• The total number of administrative personnel as a percentage of the total staff complement was excessive in some provinces while shortages were experienced in others. This resulted in an uneven distribution of support staff.

5.3.3 Dockets and the Case Administration system
• The lack of trained staff, adequate support equipment and physical controls to safeguard docket-related information resulted in a backlog of cases, and an increased risk of dockets being stolen or lost.
• In a province between 100 and 150 dockets were on average assigned per police officer, compared to the department's norm of between 17 to 20 new cases, and 35 to 40 cases on hand.
• Effective record keeping was not always possible due to the lack of computers. In one province, for instance, 29 police stations did not have computer equipment.

5.3.4 Operational response services
• There was a lack of trained staff and adequate facilities at various border units with an increased risk of cross border criminal activities being undetected.

6. PROGRESS WITH MATTERS PREVIOUSLY REPORTED AND SCOPA RESOLUTIONS
The department reacted positively to the 30th report of SCOPA resolutions. However, corrective actions to resolve some of these issues may require strategic intervention. The department finalised two of the fifteen items reported on in the previous financial year and is currently in the process of addressing the others. Details of SCOPA resolutions for 2003 and previous years as well as progress thereon are reflected in annexure A.

7. APPRECIATION
The assistance rendered by the staff of the department during the audit is sincerely appreciated.


S A Fakie
Auditor-General
Pretoria
23 July 2004

Annexure A
PROGRESS WITH PREVIOUSLY REPORTED MATTERS AND SCOPA RESOLUTIONS