ATC130619: Report of the Select Committee for Security and Constitutional Development on the 2013/14 Annual Performance Plan, Strategic Plan and Budget of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, dated 19 June 2013

The Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Development having considered the Annual Performance Plan, Strategic Plan and the Budget Vote of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate reports as follows :

1. Introduction

The IPID derives its mandate from the Independent Police Investigative Directorate Act (1 of 2011) that was enacted and came into effect on 1 April 2012 to enable the IPID to shift from a complaints driven institution to one that prioritizes the investigation of serious and priority crimes allegedly committed by the South Police Service (SAPS) and the Municipal Police Services (MPS). It also has a greater focus on systemic corruption.

The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) reported that it has begun implementing a number of commitments which it has listed in the 2012/13 APP and Stratplan . It its report it listed the progress with the implementation of the following commitments:

· The development of training manual for investigators

· The development of Standard Operating Procedures

· The development of investigation guidelines for investigators

· Training of investigators

· Renaming of ICD to IPID

· The implementation of expanded mandate

· The Investigation of high profile cases (e.g. Marikana & Cato Manor)

· The MOU with SAPS

· The establishment of new components (e.g. Legal Services & Corporate Governance)

· The Alignment of Strategic Plan & APP with IPID Act

· Devolution and delegation of powers & functions to provinces

· Team building & stabilizing the Organization

· Implementation of cost saving measures

· Establishment of Pretoria Satellite Office

· Stakeholder relations (e.g. JCPS Cluster, SAPS, CS, SIU, PP)

The alignment of the Stratplan and the APP with the new Act has seen the Department become part of the Justice, Crime Prevention, Police and Security (JCPS) cluster. It has also established a satellite office in Pretoria and has started to build relationships with key stakeholders.

Strategic Outcomes

The high level Strategic Outcome of IPID is a police service that is trusted by the Community and operates in line with the spirit of the Constitution. In order to achieve that goal, the intermediate outcome is that IPID is a strong, independent oversight body. Other intermediate outcomes are that the police service is responsive to IPID recommendations, IPID is accessible to the public, the performance management system operates optimally, there is re-engineering and reorganisation, and lastly, IPID processes cases efficiently.

The IPID reported that there were environmental factors that prevented them from fully implementing all the focus areas. Some of these included an increase in service delivery protests regulations that determine that investigations must be completed in 90 days. This is not always practical as there are complex and difficult investigations which could not be completed within the stipulated time.

Challenges and risks in the environment include the persistently high staff turnover at the lower levels of the organisation, long distances that members have to travel, low skills levels of members with no or very little training for new investigators. In addition the non-reporting by SAPS at the beginning of the financial year places strain on IPID. Other areas that confronts IPID is its expanded mandate which requires IPID to the issue of investigating systemic corruption in SAPS which would be dealt with from this financial year, the need to undertake defined training and capacity building, reorganisation and re-engineering to place the organisation in a footing to implement the provisions of the new IPID Act.

2. Focus areas

The IPID has the overarching goal of ensuring a police service that is trusted by the community and operates in line with the spirit of the Constitution. It hopes to attain this goal by fighting corruption in the JCPS cluster and in the police in particular.

The strategic priorities for IPID for the 2013/14 year are as follows:

· Investigation of all S28 matters, including systemic corruption

· Strategic alignment of planning, budgeting & reporting frameworks

· Reengineering of systems, processes & structures

· Reorganisation of functions, reporting lines, roles & responsibilities

· Strengthening management & leadership capacity

· Increasing investigative capacity

· Training & capacity building

· Development of performance management systems

· Development of reporting, monitoring & evaluation systems

· Strengthening & formalising stakeholder relations (NPA, SIU, HRC & PP)

3. The IPID budget

The IPID budget allocation has increased by 7.7% to R217 million for the 2013/14 financial year and is expected to increase to R247.2 million by 2015/16. The IPID reported that the budget is aligned to the National Development Plan and the government’s 12 delivery outcomes and key service delivery goals. The budget has seen a reprioritization from goods and services to the compensation of employees which is the major budget economic classification item.

4. Programme Spending

The IPID originally had three programme areas which included Administration, Investigations and Legal services programmes. It added a fourth programme area for the 2013/14 financial year and rearranged its programme structure to include Governance & Stakeholder Management, Corporate Services, Investigations and Legal Services.

4.1 Governance and Administration (Programme 1)

The purpose of the programme is to provide the overall management of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate and support services, including strategic support to the directorate. The Administration programme has been allocated R88.4 million for the 2013/14, up from R86.5 million in the 2012/13 financial year. This amount increases to R96.3 million in 2014/15 and R101.9 million for the 2015/16 financial year. Compensation of employees shows an increase of 13.2% and increases from R37 million in 2012/13 to R 41.9 million in 2013/14. The second biggest line item is the goods and services budget with spending showing a decrease of 6% from The Annual Performance Plan (APP) includes 60 media statements from R48.3 million in 2011/12 to R45.5 million in 2013/14. This programme consists of five sub-programmes: Executive Support, Corporate, Internal Audit, Finance and Corporate Management Services.

4.2. Executive Support

This programme provides executive strategic and administrative support to the Executive Director of the IPID. Liaison between the Minister’s office, parliamentary committees and other stakeholders are co-ordinated through this programme.

4.3 Corporate Governance

This programme is responsible for performance monitoring and evaluation and reporting on the attainment of strategic objectives.

4.4 Internal Audit

The component provides internal audit services by conducting compliance and performance audits and facilitating forensic investigations.

4.5 Security Management Services

The provision of security management and development of security policy falls under this component. The component is responsible for a number of functions including access control, physical security, and monitors the implementation of information technology.

5. Corporate Services (Programme 2)

The purpose of this programme is to provide administrative and logistical support through providing corporate management services; information technology communication and marketing services; auxiliary services; human resources management and development services to the Directorate. It consists of the following sub-programmes: Information Communication Technology, Communication and Marketing Services, Auxiliary Services and Human Resource Management & Development Services. The strategic objective of this programme is the development & maintenance of performance management systems. The 2013-16 outputs and strategic objectives are directly linked to the following three strategic outcomes –oriented goals: IPID is accessible to the public, the performance management system operations optimally, and re-engineering and re-organization of the IPID.

6. Investigation and Information Management (Programme 3)

The purpose of this programme is to coordinate and facilitate the IPID’s investigative processes, and develop policy frameworks that guide investigations. It consists of the following sub-components: Investigations, Information management and Policy development & provincial coordination. The 2013-2016 output and strategic objectives are directly linked to the following strategic outcomes oriented goals 3 and 12 as identified by Cabinet in 2010. One of the strategic goals of this programme is that IPID process cases effectively.

7. Committee Observations/Findings

The Committee was concerned that the investigations strategy was not up to scratch. It was noted that the there are massive backlogs and the Committee wanted to know how they would make up the backlog. According to IPID, systemic corruption made up 20% of reported cases. The Committee was also concerned about the non implementation of the Domestic Violence Act recommendations.

Other concerns related to the performance of the IPID when the police appear not to be taking the organisation seriously. Members reported that police officers, (especially the TRT Response Team) do not wear name badges and the IPID has not been able to assist with changing this culture. Members noted that for things to change, the relationship between the IPID and SAPS must be fixed.

There was instability in the management echelon of the organisation because of the provincial directors were appointed and everyone including the executive director was in an acting capacity.

IPID was suffering from high turnover figures of lower level staff members. This has not improved since the last few years and appears to recurring for the last few years and the management have not addressed how to stop it.

One of the Members reported seven cases against members of the Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation (HAWKS) and asked that they be investigated. The overriding concern expressed by the Committee is that the levels of police brutality have increased with members of SAPS becoming involved in more and more incidents of brutality. Some Members pointed out that members of the Hawks have been removing firearms after shooting scenes, the TRT beat up anybody who disagrees with them and the Crime Intelligence component conduct operations using balaclavas to hide their faces.

The Committee was concerned about the numbers of police officers that have become involved in criminality. In this respect, the Cator Manor DPCI unit was mentioned as a case in point and the expectation of the Committee was that the IPID would chart a new direction with the new Act through its APP’s and Strategic Plan. It appeared that the report was more of the same and Members noted that they felt that it was a cut and paste job. In this sense, the IPID has set unrealistic and unattainable targets as they were not even commenting on how they will police the Metropolitan Police Services.

The Committee also questioned why IPID was not charging witnesses who refuse to co-operate with it and suggested that they should begin to charge such witnesses in order to make an impact.

Lastly, IPID’s public briefings on cases should be held at least once a month so that members of the public can have the confidence to report to the institution.

Recommendations

1. IPID must eliminate the backlog of cases it is investigating. In particular there should be more pressure exerted on SAPS to implement the Domestic Violence Act recommendations.

2. IPID should have a meeting with the SAPS management to deal with the issues of co-operation between members of SAPS and IPID.

3. The Committee is very concerned about the vacancies that exist in the IPID management structure and notes that it should be filled within a reasonable period. IPID should investigate the Directorate of Priority Crimes Investigation (DPCI) cases presented to the Committee and submit quarterly progress reports to the Committee.

4. IPID should develop a strategy that specifically addresses increasing police brutality.

5. IPID should hold media and public briefings on its investigations at least once a month to give the public an update of its progress.

Report to be considered.