SAPS 2018/19 Budget: Programme 1 Administration

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Police

02 July 2019
Chairperson: Ms T Joemat-Petterssen (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

The National Commissioner of the South African Police Service (SAPS) and a team of senior officials presented the 2019/20 Annual Performance Plan and Budget.

The focus was on the Medium-Term Strategic Framework Cycle and the SAPS Strategic Plan 2014 to 2019. The presentation addressed the strategic direction of the SAPS, the Service’s response to the State of the Nation Address in June 2019 and the strategic direction given by the Minister of Police in June 2019. The presentation also included the 2019 estimates of national expenditure for the SAPS and the Performance Plans, as well as the Financial Programme, for Programme 1: Administration. Programmes 2 to 5 would be discussed at subsequent meetings with the Committee.

In response to the State of the Nation Address, the South African Police Service stated that it was linked directly to social cohesion and safety of communities but had, in fact, a direct or indirect impact on all seven of the President’s priorities. The Minister of Police had indicated his priorities but, at the same time, he had given instructions for cost-cutting wherever possible. The Committee was informed that the new structure included four Deputy National Commissioners, down from six the previous year. The heads of certain divisions, such as the Hawks, would be directly responsible to the National Commissioner.

The budget for 2019/20 was R98.17 billion, rising to R111.5 billion in 2021/22. The cost of personnel was the primary driver of costs, absorbing 78.2% of the budget. The National Commissioner noted that the current personnel was 62 000 below the required ratio. The United Nations-approved ratio for police to population was 1:220. In SA, the average ratio was 1:383 but that went up to 1:600 at some police stations. A certain amount of natural attrition during the year had allowed for the migration of resources to police stations, but additional funds were required. National Treasury had agreed there was a shortfall in funding for the police. While acknowledging there was a shortage of funds in government, the Chief Financial Officer alerted the Committee to the needs of the SAPS. Critical items were transport and capacitation of special units as well as bullet resistant vests, firearms, clothing and mobile police stations.

Members had many questions, even though they recognised there would be further opportunities to ask questions when the additional programme plans and budgets were presented. Members complained that it had been a high-level presentation and very vague. The questions focussed largely on detail and on how the identified outcomes would be achieved.

Members questioned the movement of the budget for the Integrated Justice System Modernisation Programme, which had been identified as a priority, away from the SAPS to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development - what would SAPS be doing to contribute to that particular commitment by the President?

Members could see that the report presented was an annual report and that it had been consolidated but the Committee Members wanted a report per province so that they could reflect per province when they undertook oversight visits. Members requested information about which of the top 30 stations would be prioritised for resource allocation. How did one measure the impact of the 78% spent on personnel in terms of service delivery and what would be done to get more for less? The Committee heard about the focus areas issues such as gender-based violence, which was taking its toll on the streets, but questioned the strategy for ensuring that SAPS reduced the numbers. In what sense would SAPS be increasing its footprint as only three new police stations were planned for 2019/20? What about the professionalisation of the police in the sense of the policy style and method of policing and how resources were utilised? Was SAPS going to beef up functional policing or crime prevention? Could private security companies be made a force multiplier? Was SAPS also looking at corruption in the metro police?

Members asked why a new structure was needed as SAPS had already indicated it was going to maintain the police numbers. Would the additional 7 000 members to be recruited bring about a turnaround in terms of sustaining the numbers in the Police Service? Were the 15 000 bullet resistant vests additional vests, or were they also intended to replace obsolete vests?

Members asked if SAPS would start by educating police officers as the officers in police stations did not even use the register for gender-based violence.  What about homeless people who were also vulnerable people? Did the National Commissioner know what the population was in each province and how many police officers there should be in each province, and how many cars? How many SAPS firearms had been recovered at crime scenes? What about the police officers who had lost their weapons? Had they been disciplined?

Members were concerned about the number of women in the top structure of SAPS. Was it a male dominated organisation?  Members were concerned that there was a tendency or a culture in the country where people in the country illegally committed crime with impunity and were not captured. How did the police curb such illegal movement in the country? How was SAPS going to achieve the President’s call to reduce violent crime by 50% in the next decade? What were the plans to achieve that? What were the plans to fix the central firearms registry? Was the registry considered effective and functional?

Members also addressed the issue of a single police force which should long have been resolved. The Chairperson asked the Commissioner to inform the Committee of the progress regarding the revision of the SAPS Act. The Committee’s mandate was informed by the SAPS Act, but it had never been amended and updated in terms of the Constitution of the country.

 

Meeting report

Opening remarks

The Chairperson thanked the Committee for the short session in the morning. She asked Members to introduce themselves to the delegation from the South African Police Service (SAPS).

The Chairperson asked Gen. Khehla Sitole, National Commissioner of Police, to introduce the SAPS delegation. It was a comprehensive delegation with four Deputy National Commissioners as well as various heads of divisions and components.

The Chairperson put the Committee Programme to the Committee for adoption, noting the start of the Thursday session might be delayed if party caucuses were held.

Mr P Groenewald (FF+) apologised in advance for his absence from some sessions as he had pre-arranged meetings before the Committee Programme became available.

Mr A Whitfield (DA) informed the Chairperson that the DA caucus for Thursday morning had been cancelled. If the DA had been the only party preventing the meeting, that had been resolved. The DA Members were available and at her service.

The Chairperson promised to inform everyone about the final start time for the meeting on Thursday.

Ms Z Majozi (IFP) explained that she had been at another Portfolio Committee meeting that morning and asked whether the programme had been adopted earlier.

The Chairperson indicated that it had not been adopted.

Mr T Mafanya (EFF) proposed that the Committee Programme be adopted. The proposal was seconded by Ms J Mofokeng (ANC).

South African Police Service Annual Performance Plan 2019/2020

Gen. Sitole informed the Committee the presentation would be delivered by Maj. Gen. Leon Rabie who would then hand over to the CFO for the budget section. Gen. Sitole would take strategic questions and the relevant officials would address other questions put to SAPS by Committee Members.

Maj. Gen. Leon Rabie, SAPS Component Head: Strategic Management, explained he would address the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and status of the strategic plan for 2014 – 2019 as well as implications of the State of Nation address for SAPS. The CFO would address the financial perspective.

Maj. Gen. Rabie explained SAPS had had a strategic plan for 2014 to 2019 which was terminated at the end of March 2019. The first draft of the 2019 to 2024 strategic plan had been submitted to the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) but SAPS was advised to extend the previous strategic plan so that the new strategic plan would be aligned to the goals of the new government. He would therefore be presenting an extension of the previous strategic plan.

The President had identified seven key issues in the State of the Nation Address (SONA). SAPS were linked directly to social cohesion and safety of communities, but SAPS had, in fact, a direct or indirect impact on all seven priorities. For example, SAPS was involved in the safer city strategy. Maj. Gen. Rabie presented details of the way in which SAPS was involved in all national priorities. The SAPS strategy was also linked to the Minister’s strategic direction. The Minister indicated priorities for SAPS but at the same time gave instructions for cost-cutting wherever possible, such as in overseas training. He also instructed the problem of the large number of Lieutenant-Generals on suspension should be resolved. The Minister asked for daily crime information to be provided to him and senior staff, especially for high crime areas. The Minister stated that his priority was a South Africa where all people were safe and felt safe.

The Minister had asked for a specific focus on high crime areas, specifically violent crime; the prevalence and spread of gangsterism; Trio crimes, specifically house robberies; gender-based violence; crime against vulnerable groups; expediting the firearms amnesty to reduce availability of firearms and the launch of a total onslaught on illegal firearms.

Maj. Gen. Rabie presented the new structure of SAPS. The new structure included four Deputy National Commissioners. Heads of certain divisions, such as the Hawks, were directly responsible to the National Commissioner. The structure would be implemented in 2019/20 and immediately evaluated and adapted, if necessary. The aim was to reduce the top structure and put more police personnel in police stations.

Lt Gen Puleng Dimpane, SAPS Divisional Commissioner: Financial Management and Administration (CFO), presented the three-year budget. There were adjustments and decreases as a result of financial constraints during the MTEF. No additional funding was available as a result of fiscal constraints and so reprioritisation between departments took place. The budget for the second and third year in the cycle took account of the forecast inflationary increase on second year. The budget for 2019/20 was R98.17 billion, increasing to R111.59 billion in 2021/22. In real terms, it meant the budget had decreased. 78.2% went to compensation of employees and 17% for goods and services for operational requirements.

Cost of personnel was the primary driver of costs. There was a certain amount of natural attrition during the year which allowed for migration of resources to police stations, but additional funds were required. National Treasury agreed there was a shortfall. SAPS agreed there was a shortage of funds in government, but the CFO was alerting the Committee to the needs of SAPS. Critical items were transport and capacitation of special units and bullet-resistant vests, firearms, clothing and mobile police stations. Policing the elections of 2019 and major events, such as the inauguration of the President, had placed pressure on the budget. The challenge was to sustain actual personnel numbers within the compensation budget ceiling.

Lt Gen Dimpane warned that limited reallocation of resources could be performed as moving people and money from one functional area to another was seldom appropriate as primary tasks need to be performed. Additional priorities over and above those catered for in the MTEF were:

- a requirement additional personnel,

- a request for capacitation of cyber-crime units,

 - further capacitation of Public Order Policing (POP) units as additional funding was limited to the 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 financial years,

- unforeseen compensation expenditures emanating from the latest wage agreement, especially expanding housing allowances to nearly all employees,

- increase in VAT from 14% to 15%,

- exchange rate fluctuations,

- current levels of crime and public unrest resulting in additional deployments, unfunded mandates, etc., had increased the risk of over-spending.

Maj Gen Rabie presented the strategic indicators for SAPS.

The Chairperson interjected to welcome the Secretary for Police, Mr Alvin Rapea, to the meeting.

Mr M Molekwa (ANC) informed the Chairperson that he had a hearing challenge and asked that the verbal and visual presentations be made clearer.

The Chairperson asked that Mr Molekwa’s challenge be taken into account.

Maj Gen Rabie presented the details of SAPS Programme 1: Administration which regulated the overall management of the Department and provided centralised support services. He noted that the Civilian Secretariat for Police, as a designated department, was reflected as a transfer payment on Vote 23 amounting to R147 million in 2019/20. Corporate Services consisted of Human Resource Development (R2.419 billion), Technology Management Services (R3.363 billion) and Supply Chain Management (R4.098 billion, of which R870 million was for Capital Works), Human Resource Management (R1.536 billion), Financial Services (R1.105 billion) and Corporate Support (R1.368 billion).

The target was to obtain an unqualified audit opinion for 2018/19. In 2017/18, it was quite problematic as, if the Auditor-General had expressed an opinion on information, SAPS would have been given a qualified opinion.

Maj Gen Rabie stressed that a specific effort was being made to provide all SAPS members with bullet resistant vests as requested by the previous Portfolio Committee. A bone of contention was the theft of SAPS firearms - this was being targeted.

Gen Sitole noted that the current personnel plan was 62 000 below the required ratio. The United Nations-approved ratio for police to population was 1:220. In SA, the ratio was 1: 383. When the population in SA was at 48 million, the SAPS personnel had been down by 8 000 because of fiscal constraints. The population now stood at 57.3 million. Complaints that SAPS had a top heavy structure were being addressed by currently migrating personnel down to station level. SAPS was looking for support from the Committee to increase the number of police officers. Increasing the input from 5 000 to 7 000 was but a drop in the ocean.

Gen Sitole also noted that it was difficult to meet performance indicators for the employment of people with physical disabilities.  Civil staff could have disabilities, but SAPS members had to meet the battery tests, or they would lower the standard of personnel in the Service.

He added the majority of non-devolved police stations were under the Department of Public Works (DPW). Communities wanted access to services but if DPW did not meet its targets, SAPS could not provide further access. However, SAPS was looking for a quick fix to providing services to communities. He also noted that the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) Act bound SAPS to work through SITA but SITA could not meet the requirements of SAPS, especially as SAPS had specific security requirements.

The Chairperson thanked the Commissioner for the presentation. She called for questions from Members.

Discussion

Mr Whitfield thanked SAPS for the presentation which noted the resource allocation was to the top 30 stations. Which stations were they and could Members gain access to information about which of the top 30 stations would be prioritised? He asked about the budget for the Integrated Justice System Modernisation Programme which was identified as a SONA priority. He noted the budget was re-allocated to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. What would SAPS be doing to contribute to that particular commitment by the President? Would it remain an indicator even though the budget was not following on that commitment? What would SAPS be doing without a budget?

Mr Whitfield asked about the compensation of employees which stood at 78%. The question was how one measured cost benefit. How did one measure the impact of the 78% in terms of service delivery and what could be done to get more for less? With the current budget constraints, one could not assume there would be more officers. With the 78%, what could be done to box smart to get more impact from the existing SAPS officers?

He noted the firearms reduction target was only 5% year-on-year. Would the reduction in loss of firearms be reviewed in the light of the prevalence of those weapons finding their way into the hands of gangsters and other violent criminals? How was the demand for bulletproof vests assessed or calculated? The Committee needed to understand how the allocation and distribution of those vests was prioritised. He presumed that at the rate of distribution, there might be many officers without bulletproof vests who were responding to serious and violent crimes. He presumed remotely-piloted aircraft systems were drones. How were prioritised sites for drones determined and did SAPS have the skills to operate them within the current financial year, given that targets had been set?

Ms Z Majozi (IFP) thanked SAPS for the presentation. Her questions were focused on the ‘how’ part of the specifications. The Committee heard about the focus areas issues such as gender-based violence, which was taking its toll on the streets, but Members did not know what the strategy would be going forward to ensure SAPS reduced the numbers. How was SAPS going to reduce the number of crimes and the violence that was happening on the streets? Regarding prioritisation of allocation, and availability of, cars, she noted that even if the broken ones were fixed, there were not enough cars. The presentation had not specified how many cars were needed in districts.

Ms Majozi asked, in terms of the 7 000 new employees, whether people from the local Community Policing Forums (CPFs) would be recruited.  SAPS presented the organisational structure at the high level but what about at municipal level? What structure was needed at municipal level? When Members spoke to communities, they needed to have the specifics.

Mr O Terblanche (DA) informed the Chairperson that as a veteran of the Police Service, he had a lot of questions. SAPS was a very important department and had the second largest of the departmental budgets. If he were a taxpayer out there, not exposed to policing, would he be able to follow what was presented? It had been a very vague, high-level presentation. Would people be able to understand what had been said there and how the budget to be spent would make South Africa a safer place for them?

The presentation referred to a key statement from SONA: “Creating a safe and secure crime-free environment that is conducive for social and economic stability, supporting a better life for all”. Mr Terblanche stated that could only be a dream. There would never be a crime-free state. He wanted clarity on that. The Members heard about the reduction of serious crimes by 50% and other very good intentions about what SAPS needed to, and had to do, but there was no indication of how it would be done.

Regarding high crime areas, he asked how it was going to be done. Was SAPS going to engage in better investigations, jacked-up crime intelligence, visible policing, or what? They were just statements in the air, and he was at a loss as to how SAPS was going to achieve the goals.

Mr Terblanche referred to the perception of corruption. Was the Committee satisfied that the Hawks were meeting the expectations of the public? He did not think so and that was why a new unit had been created in the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. How was that shortcoming going to be addressed? Something had to be done about it.

The Chairperson asked Mr Terblanche to hold questions on the Hawks for the following day when the Hawks would be making a presentation.

Mr Terblanche noted the need expressed for SAPS to increase its footprint. He listened very attentively but did not understand in what sense SAPS would be increasing its footprint. Under Capital Works, he noted only three new police stations were going to be created in 2019/20. Other property-related projects would not bring the police nearer to the community. So how was the footprint to be increased? Regarding re-allocation of resources, he noted that apparently the Department was waiting for additional funding to buy resources and make them available to under-resourced police stations. Mr Terblanche stated there was a long discussion on the matter in the media and the suggestion was that resources should be allocated equally. He needed clarity about the additional money and whether resources were allocated equally, or according to various criteria. He needed clarity about the additional money SAPS was expecting to receive to jack-up resources.

Mr Terblanche turned to the topic of human resource development. He understood it was about training and re-training but was it only in a specific field? What about professionalisation of the police in the sense of the policy style, method of policing and how resources were utilised? He was not convinced that best possible use was being made of resources SAPS currently had. The presentation referred to a modernised air and vehicle fleet. How was that going to happen? Was SAPS going to buy new planes, choppers and vehicles with better air conditioning? What was SAPS going to do? Resources had to be maintained. It could only be a long-term project as there was no money to buy additional resources.

Mr Terblanche referred to a slide in the presentation which spoke to stamping the authority of the state. His question was, once again, how that would be done.  Policing was a professional set-up. Was SAPS going to send people in for specific purpose projects? Was SAPS going to beef up functional policing or crime prevention? It was a very vague statement and he did not know how SAPS would achieve the goal. The uninformed would think that something was going to be done but he was asking as he did not know what SAPS was going to do,

He asked for an indication of how SAPS intended building a professional and capable SAPS. Everyone yearned for a professional and capable SAPS. The country really needed it and the DA was enthusiastic about SAPS and was prepared to support SAPS as far as it could.

Mr Terblanche turned his attention to the new organisational structure. That had to be discussed. Why was a new structure needed as SAPS already indicated it was going to maintain police numbers? The structure was already very top heavy yet SAPS wanted to build a bigger organisation at top-level and not necessarily at entry level. Was the structure the same structure on which work was being done in terms of the so-called one police service, that is, inclusive of municipal police etc? Would the 7 000 additional members start from the next financial year? The SAPS budget catered only for normal inflation; would SAPS have to reprioritise to accommodate additional people or would there be additional funding for additional members?

Mr Terblanche said the National Commissioner made a very important announcement. Existing police stations would have to be beefed up to accommodate additional people to be served by the police stations. He asked if the R2.8 billion allocated for rental and housing allowances included rentals for offices or whether it was only applicable to housing.

Mr Terblanche referred to the attrition of 1 000 personnel. He asked if the additional 7 000 would bring about a turnaround in terms of sustaining the numbers. Were the 15 000 bulletproof vests additional vests or were they also intended to replace obsolete vests? There was a rumour that some police had obsolete vests.

The Chairperson indicated that Mr Terblanche had had sufficient time.

Mr Terblanche responded that he was there to engage the Department, but he would go with her ruling and would ask his other questions later.

Ms Mofokeng thanked SAPS for the presentation. She referred to the notes on the specific focus which spoke about gender-based violence. She asked if SAPS would start by educating police officers as in police stations, officers did not even use the register for gender-based violence.  She asked the General to indicate the name of any police station that used the register. What about homeless people who were also vulnerable people? She was worried as, listening to the news, she heard of homeless people being killed in Tshwane. She was uncomfortable because the SAPS public relations officer said that no one was arrested but the media said that someone appeared in court. She asked for clarification of the matter.

Referring to the presentation, Ms Mofokeng asked about corruption at local government level. Was SAPS also looking at the metro police? Her colleague spoke about the one stop police service, but one did not see anywhere that the metro police would be monitored by the Portfolio Committee even though they had been established under the SAPS Act. Who in the organisational structure monitored the municipal police on behalf of SAPS? The provinces did not have any competency – it was a national competency. She asked for that matter to be cleared up.

Ms Mofokeng asked about the kind of corruption that SAPS employees were involved in. How was SAPS going to investigate it?  Would SAPS use biometrics and not the old-fashioned finger printing method? What was the budget for that? Did the SAPS Human Resource Unit do exit interviews to analyse problems and reasons for members resigning? She was worried about something the National Commissioner raised and that would be good for the Members to understand. The problem with crime was in Gauteng and the Western Cape. The population in Gauteng had doubled since 1994. Did the National Commissioner know what the population was in each province and how many police officers there should be in each province, and how many cars? It was not just about police but also about resources.

Ms Mofokeng was concerned about the 800 firearms that had gone missing from SAPS. How many were recovered at crime scenes? What about the police officers who lost their weapons? Had they been disciplined because if one was given a business tool, one had to be able to care for it and to use it appropriately? Finally, she asked how many women were in the top structure. Was it male dominated? There were fewer women than men sitting opposite her.

The Chairperson checked with Mr Molekwa whether he was able to hear clearly.

Mr Molekwa confirmed that he could hear the discussion.

Mr K Maphatsoe’s (ANC) question related to the presentation to be made the following week on private security firms. A plan was being presented that would be adopted the following week on Tuesday and the Committee had to go through the plan because that was what the Committee would hold SAPS accountable for.

SAPS spoke about the school safety programme and Mr Maphatsoe noted there were many deaths in school facilities. It might not be the responsibility of SAPS to be in the schools, but a safe and crime-free environment would include schools. The Commissioner spoke of the police population of 1: 383 which meant SAPS was over-stretched. The Commissioner was proposing to turn the structure upside down.

Mr Maphatsoe read an article, although he did not believe in articles, so he wanted the truth. The article stated SAPS was just shifting people from police stations and giving them an anti-gang unit jacket but no skills for dealing with gangsters. He did not want to see a situation such as the one in Brazil where one had to get permission to go into certain areas. If SAPS established a national force as indicated by the Minister, would the people be trained? They were not tackling run-of-the-mill gangsters but professional and ruthless gangsters who wanted to take over and ignore the rule of law.

Mr Maphatsoe also had a question about the private security companies treated as a threat to the police yet were better armed than the police. Could there not be a situation where it was turned around and private security companies could be made a force multiplier? Private security companies were everywhere. Where there were rich people, the crime went down because people funded the companies and the criminals went into poorer areas and so it affected the poor people. He suggested discussions be held with private security companies so that SAPS could use them as a force multiplier. They had a lot of money and the programmes could be linked to them. SAPS had to use everything in the country to deal with crime. Private security companies had a lot of money that SAPS did not. The SAPS programme should be linked to the private security companies, but it was up to the Commissioner to decide whether it would work or not. His further suggestion was that everything the country had should be used for fighting crime. He added that he was aware t the Private Security Amendment Bill still had to be signed by the President.

Lastly, Mr Maphatsoe addressed the issue of a single police force. He thought it should have been addressed by that stage. There were presentations and a structure was established under the Divisional Commissioner. It was important for a single police service to be established as soon as possible because it had been long outstanding, and a single police service would assist the Commissioner. If the Commissioner had them trained to the level of the police, the Commissioner could shift his resources to other urgencies. The gangsters were not ordinary gangsters but wanted to take over and ultimately render the police service useless. He noted that other presentations would be made over the next few days and he would have more questions then.

Ms N Peacock (ANC) referred to the slides in the presentation, specifically, compensation of employees which stood at 78.2% of the SAPS budget. What was a standard norm for personnel costs for SAPS to be operational? The Committee needed to know so that when it did oversight monitoring it would be able to find a solution to make the Department effective.

Ms Peacock could see that SAPS presented an annual report that it had been consolidated but the Committee needed a report per province so that they could reflect per province when they did oversight and looked at the specifications per province. Then they could play their oversight role. Members also had to compare provinces in order to play a corrective role. She added that although the presenter said SAPS considered the number of police according to the population, in provinces like the Northern Cape, the challenge was both distance and population. Whatever was done, SAPS had to look at the dynamics so that correct measures could be considered. When the Committee Members were playing an oversight role, they could look at the projections by SAPS and see if they were correct.

Mr T Mafanya (EFF) said that many Members had spoken but he believed the presentation lacked details. For example, it was stated that violent crimes would be halved, but what about the other half that was exposed to violent crimes? What happened to them? He was also concerned about the cross-border crime and began to question the role played by Crime Intelligence. There was a tendency or a culture in the country for many illegal people in the country to commit crime with impunity and they were not captured. How did the police curb such illegal movement in the country?

Mr Mafanya also raised the issue of the morale and well-being of the police. The presentation stated that SAPS would take care of the well-being of the police but did not explain how it was to be done. A demoralised police force would mean that money was going to waste. He noted there was a request for an increase in the vehicle fleet. What happened to the previous vehicles? How were they broken? Could they be repaired? How were police stations allowed to arrive at the point where they did not have cars when there were people who were responsible for the upkeep of cars? What happened to the cars SAPS had?

Mr Mafanya addressed the issue of effective Community Policing Forums. Those people were not trained, even though some had been there for ages. These people were just volunteers who were abused by the community, including the police. How did SAPS propose to motivate them? How were the 7 000 new police officers going to be deployed? What was the cost of training one individual? He said SAPS created a bleak future for the police because it said it needed 62 000 new members. What would happen when SAPS did not get the funds as there was not enough money available? He needed some clarity on the matter.

Mr Terblanche referred to a slide in the presentation which indicated plans to reduce the number of SAPS officials murdered on duty in the medium term: the target was a 4% reduction of SAPS members killed on duty. The presentation indicated the intention to maintain a vehicle ratio of 1: 4.51 police members. What was the average percentage of vehicles available for service at any given time? Lastly, he stated it was unacceptable to manage down the loss of state-owned firearms by only 5%. It was rather serious. The Committee should request the Commissioner indicate how he was going to attend to managing the figure down.

Mr Maphatsoe asked about the issue of the non-statuary force which should long have been resolved. It also spoke to the morale of the police. The plan started a long time ago and was led by the then Deputy Minister. He knew there had been a committee dealing with the non-statuary force, but it seemed it was dead and would no longer happen. He knew that there were court cases about it. How far was it? It demoralised people and people passed on or went on pension without the issues being dealt resolved and yet it was not in the plan.

The Chairperson asked how SAPS was going to achieve the President’s call to reduce violent crime by 50% in the next decade. What were the plans to achieve that? She also asked the Commissioner to inform the Committee of the progress made regarding revision of the SAPS Act. The Committee’s mandate was informed by the SAPS Act, but it had never been amended and updated in terms of the Constitution of the country. That was how outdated the Act was. The priority of the Committee was to look at the legislative framework and it had to commit to looking at the SAPS Act. She requested the Amendment Bill be tabled within the current financial year. She asked whether the post of the Head of Forensics had been filled and, if not, whether the Commissioner had any plans to fill the post.

The Chairperson stated the matter of firearms had been covered by Members and she was not going to repeat it, but the meeting would have noticed she was horrified by the number of firearms stolen and had even interrupted the presenter in her shock. What were the plans to fix the Central Firearms Registry? Was it not complex in terms of backlogs? Was the Registry considered effective and functional? She noted that Mr Terblanche referenced the R8.35 million transferred to DoJ&CD. Why? The Committee was owed an explanation as to why that happened.

Response by SAPS

The National Commissioner stated that his staff would take the relevant questions concerning their responsibilities and he would take the strategic questions.

In response to the question about who monitors metro police, he stated he had four Deputy National Commissioners, one of whom was the Deputy National Commissioner for Policing. It was he who monitored the metro police. The metro police were linked to the Division of Visible Policing. There were a number of questions relating to metro police. He was sure the Secretary for Police would address the matter as the Secretariat had undertaken an exercise on policy development relating to the metro police. SAPS, together with the Police Secretariat, convened a workshop to review a plan that integrated all metros in a single strategic plan. One of the key deliverables was a single police force. Mr Rapea, the Secretary for Police, would be able to talk about policy development. Gen Sitole could only say that a single police service was a priority and all metros supported it. SAPS intended to implement it through the integrated strategy that he had mentioned.

The National Commissioner informed the Committee that he issued a directive that required each station be profiled so that the ratio of police to population could be linked to the station profile. That would be escalated to regions and up to national. It was part of the re-structuring of SAPS. He agreed with Members that different areas responded differently and in some stations the ratio was 1:499 and in others the ratio was at 1:600, but in the end the ratio balanced out. The information requested by the Committee would be made available to Members.

Lt Gen Lineo Ntshiea, SAPS Divisional Commissioner: Personnel Management, stated the ratio of men to women in the force currently stood at 57% males and 43% females.

The National Commissioner confirmed there was a relationship between SAPS and the Department of Basic Education in respect of school safety. There was the ‘adopt a cop’ or ‘adopt a school’ project. All schools were linked to a police station and that ‘cop’ was the one that was responsible for a particular school. Sometimes one ‘cop’ could be assigned to more than one school. There was also an alignment with the Community Policing Forums (CPF) that was addressed through the Community Policing Strategy.  Both CPS and sector policing were aligned to a school and each school had to know in which sector it lay and which CPS was linked to it. SAPS worked with School Committees.

He responded to the questions on the Anti-Gang Units (AGUs), explaining that because SAPS had to provide a quick response because people were being killed. SAPS had not taken police from ordinary service; it had taken police from medium and high risk forces, that was the Tactical Response Team, the National Intervention Unit and the Special Task Force. Those members already received high risk training, but he already issued a directive for a dedicated training programme and the training would include even members trained outside of the country. The budget was allocated and the Human Resource Department was working on the training programme.

The National Commissioner welcomed the comment by the Member that SAPS should use private security services as a force multiplier. SAPS was currently engaging with security services in three ways. Companies carrying cash were part and parcel of SAPS in respect of the response to cash-in-transit crimes. In respect of those companies securing premises, SAPS was working with the Private Security Industry Regulation Authority (PSIRA). SAPS worked well with PSIRA, which regulated the industry. The engagement part with SAPS was being done under banner of the National Crime Strategy: Maximization of civil society participation in crime prevention.

Addressing the 78% personnel expenditure, the National Commissioner explained the norm was 75% and so the intention was to drive it down to 75% in the turnaround as SAPS was re-structured. If SAPS did not do that, it would consume the operational budget. One example he could give was that from early the previous year to the present, seven generals had exited SAPS, and had not been replaced. Their salaries had been scaled down to operational level. That was one of the approaches in the Personnel Plan to drive down that percentage. Some officials would not be replaced at all. Relating to the Personnel Plan was the issue raised by a Member that population should not be the only criteria to determine the budget. Previously, SAPS had not had a resource management plan and he gave instructions for development of an integrated resource management plan. This plan was about 98% complete and done did away with inconsistent criteria. Apart from population, there was also a crime weight and specific demographics that impacted criteria. If the Committee wanted to see some of the criteria once approved, he would bring the criteria to the Committee. He would also provide the breakdown per province, but the Committee would have to request further information if it was not sufficient for its needs.

In respect of the crime-free vision, the National Commissioner agreed it was a turnaround dream connected to the dream of the country. Regarding the reduction of crime by 50%, he could only talk to it at a high level but there was also a Visible Policing Crime-fighting Plan that would be presented by the Head of Policing, and Crime Detection would indicate the investigative approach taken by that Division. The intention to ‘stamp the authority of the state’ was related to the stabilisation and normalisation of crime by identifying hotspots in the country and in specific crimes. Over and above the hotspots intervention, SAPS established a process of modus operandi analysis which led to interventions. National and provincial police were working on several stabilisation interventions in the country. Once stabilisation took place, normalisation would take place and that would be a multi-disciplinary process that would include others outside the police. There was also a covert operation targeting the big fish. SAPS wanted to take syndicates down and succeeded in a number of big drug busts. SAPS also had the Wanted Suspects Matrix which involved hunting down criminals. The detailed plans would be presented by operatives in his team.

The National Commissioner said the National Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (DPCI) would speak about the Hawks. As National Commissioner, he was not satisfied with the DPCI. The Directorate needed more resources to fly higher.  When DPCI came in, its presence should be felt immediately. Criminals should be shaking. He was working with Lt Gen (Dr/Adv) Godfrey Lebeya, the National Head of the DPCI, to improve the Directorate and Lt General Lebeya was busy with certain interventions.

The National Commissioner stated that building a professional service began with transformation of SAPS. Secondly, it came with training and development. It was about knowing what SAPS wanted to see in the force and it was about the quality of leaders. How should the community perceive the police? The professionalism should be displayed to the community. Professionalism also goes with resourcing and with the morale of the members of SAPS.

The National Commissioner indicated he needed to give more details on the need for an organisational structure. The current structure had four Deputy National Commissioners (DNCs), which was a scaling down from six DNCs and likewise the reduction of two divisions. The structure was subject to evaluation as it was currently a pilot. There would be a review after 12 months and maybe further downscaling. As the structure was implemented, it would reviewed in terms of results in policing.

He indicated the operatives would answer the remainder of the questions.

Lt Gen Francinah Vuma, SAPS Deputy National Commissioner: Asset and Legal Management, addressed the question of police vehicles. The number of police vehicles and number of police per vehicle differed from province to province. The SAPS team had come to the Committee with the APP and the high level overview as that was what the team had understood to be the requirement. However, she would provide the detailed breakdown to the Committee.

Maj Gen Christina Sithole, SAPS Component Head: Facility Management, Division: Supply Chain Management, responded to Mr Terblanche’s question about the three police stations targeted for completion and plans to increase the footprint of SAPS. She stated the National Commissioner spoke of the Access to Policing Services strategy which aimed to increase the number of satellite police stations, especially where community members had to walk a long distance to reach a police station. Her team identified police stations where satellites and contact points needed to be established. She would provide the Committee with the details. Mobile Community Service Centres (CSCs) were distributed to the provinces and members would drive to a specific area to engage with communities and offer services such as certifying documents. Fifteen CSCs were bought and distributed in the previous financial year.

With regard to the new three police stations, Maj Gen Sithole stated those stations were part of the deep rural programme and would be completed that financial year. She could also forward details of the stations fast tracked for the following financial year as SAPS had unlocked the funding block for the construction of police stations.

Maj Gen Sithole stated the demand for bullet-resistant vests was determined by the number of members whose vests were worn out and needed replacement and by the total number of recruits. When recruits arrived at the college, the vests were ready for distribution to the recruits. In addition, the figure included the 5% buffer stock of bullet resistance vests that each station had to maintain. The 15 000 vests included in the Plan therefore included replacements

Lt Gen Ntshiea stated that when the posts for the 7 000 recruits were advertised, applicants from the CPFs could apply if they met the requirements. SAPS followed a normal open advertisement process which targeted all South Africans who met the requirements. The priority for deployment of the 7 000 recruits would be the local police stations and to new units that had been deployed. That meant all of the recruits would be deployed at local level. The 7 000 would be recruited in the current financial year and they would be going to the colleges in March 2020. There were currently 5 000 trainees at the police colleges who would be coming out in December 2019. They would also be deployed to local police stations.

Lt Gen Ntshiea informed the Committee that her Division: Personnel Management dealt with instances of corruption by police members. IPID, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, also investigated such cases. SAPS did not deal with cases of corruption involving metro police members, but IPID did investigate corruption by metro police. She added that exit interviews were conducted, and the responses were analysed by the Human Resources Committee and there were certain mitigating processes to deal with reasons why members were leaving the organisation. All losses of firearms were investigated, and where there was evidence of negligence by members who had lost their firearms, action was taken against the members. The Personnel Management Division had a component, Employee Health and Wellness, which focused on the well-being of members. The component ran a number of programmes, and she could make that information available to the Committee.

Lt Gen (Dr) Bongiwe Zulu, SAPS Divisional Commissioner: Human Resource Development, pointed out that some Human Resources and Personnel issues were cross-cutting, but she could confirm the training of the 7 000 recruits would take place in next financial year and, likewise, professionalisation of SAPS. In respect of training of the additional 7 000 members, her Division would have to look at recruitment and professionalisation of recruits in terms of the programme that the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) developed. In future, there would be two streams of training: those receiving basic training in safety and security and, secondly, those graduates who had already undergone safety and security training would undergo an accelerated training in professionalisation. Recruitment would include those who had received training and had skills in policing, and they would receive professionalisation training.

Lt Gen (Adv) S Khan, SAPS Divisional Commissioner: Legal and Policy Services, responded to the question on the Amendment of the SAPS Act. She informed the Committee the Secretariat was driving the process as it was the responsibility of the Police Secretariat, but the Secretariat was working closely with SAPS, and particularly the Legal and Policy Services Division.  A process was followed and extensive consultation had taken place. The draft document had been submitted to the State Law Advisor for certification and to ascertain the constitutionality of the provisions of the SAPS Act. Once certified, processes would be followed to bring the Bill to Parliament and to publish it in the gazette for public comments.

The Chairperson noted the information about the Amendment Bill was promising.

Lt Gen Nobesuthu Masiye, SAPS Acting Divisional Commissioner: Technology Management Services, confirmed the remote piloted system was a drone and SAPS was using it to address safety and security by using it, inter alia, in the investigation of crime by detectives and in combating crime. SAPS would adhere to all legislation relating to the flying of drones. Government departments were informed they needed to integrate IT systems, especially where there were systems that could be utilised in a way that cut costs and allowed spending where there was value. SAPS would give input in the development of IS (Information Systems) solutions that government was developing.

Lt Gen Puleng Dimpane, SAPS Divisional Commissioner: Financial Management and Administration (CFO), responded to the question about the funds for the Integrated Justice System Modernisation Programme which was shifted to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. SAPS continued to access the funds through project plans. SAPS was expected to submit project plans which it had done and the plans were approved so SAPS was able to access the funding even though it had been shifted away from SAPS. She added the R2.8 million on the wage bill was for allowances.

Maj Gen J Nelson, SAPS Component Head: Financial Management Accounting, Division: Financial Management and Administration, responded to the question by Mr Whitfield about the cost of employees and the cost benefit analysis in terms of the 78.2% spent on personnel. Due to the extensive numbers of personnel, big movement of personnel would imply re-prioritisation. If SAPS moved the bulk of members to the intervention operations that the Commissioner had referred to, there would be a cost benefit due to the extensive numbers of personnel that could be deployed and there was impact through the deployment of those numbers, and hence value for money in redeploying members.

Maj Gen Nelson informed Ms Majozi that in the previous financial year, 4 500 vehicles were replaced at a cost of R1.8 billion and in the current financial year, SAPS had a budget of R1.542 billion for replacement and expansion of the vehicle fleet in prioritised areas. The budget showed a decreased amount for the 2019/20 financial year because in the previous year, SAPS had to prepare for elections and had to equip the Public Order Policing capacity building project that allowed for re-prioritisation of funding. The funding was allocated by National Treasury for that specific purpose. In the current year, the fleet would be sustained at an appropriate level. He informed Ms Peacock that his explanation about vehicles also applied to the Northern Cape. That SAPS had an aging fleet was a given. Vehicles travelled extensive distances in a year. There was also a plan over the medium to long-term for replacing aging aircraft and capital investment. The budget would be supplemented with the money obtained from auctioning aircraft. The timeframe for delivery of aircraft was around 18 months and SAPS also had to ensure the use of local content in building the aircraft. SAPS also had to approach National Treasury to discuss how it could access funds for aircraft required for policing.

Lt Gen Sehlahle Masemola, SAPS Deputy National Commissioner: Policing, informed the Committee that SAPS would be addressing crime through the National Crime Combatting Forum and the National Joint Operations. The crimes had been prioritised as outlined, including the Five Pillar Approach: 1) crimes against women and children and gender-based violence; 2) trio crimes, murder including taxi violence; 3) the proliferation of firearms, liquor, drugs and gangsterism; 4) illegal immigrants; stock theft, illicit economy, including contraband, ferrous and non-ferrous metals; 5) corruption.

He stated SAPS categorised 30 high-crime stations in terms of priorities mentioned.  In respect of crimes against women and children in Gauteng, SAPS prioritised stations like Tembisa, Ivory Park, Kathlehong, Hillbrow, Johannesburg Central, Dobsonville, Alexandra, Driefontein and Moroka. There was also a long list of stations prioritised in the Western Cape and stations were identified in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. For all five priorities, SAPS would be establishing teams that would deal with those crimes. On the proactive side, SAPS had crime awareness, the sector crime forums and the unit that dealt with gender-based violence. It was quite a laborious programme, but it was intense and SAPS could present it to the Committee should the Committee so wish.

Lt Gen Masemola responded to the question on the issue of the 800 firearms and the proposed reduction by 4% or 5%. In the past financial year, SAPS recovered 7 141 firearms but that was an unaudited figure, out of which 362 firearms were identified to be police firearms SAPS, however, did not know how many more of the balance of firearms were police firearms as many were unidentifiable because serial numbers and markings were erased. SAPS intended to reduce the number lost to zero but noted it might be impossible to reduce it to zero.

He explained that the 10111 section worked with security companies. In Gauteng, the National Commissioner had a project in which the security companies were the eyes and ears of the police and that system was being extended to the rest of the country.

Lt Gen Masemola explained that CPFs were trained regularly and when there were new board members, they were also trained. It was unfortunate that the CPF was a voluntary service and there was no remuneration for members of the CPFs. He added that SAPS had a turnaround strategy that was being implemented at the Central Firearm Registry, which was improving the service, but he had been tasked to re-look at what could be done to improve the service via modernisation, such as doing things in an electronic way instead of relying on so many physical forms. Between 25% and 35% of the police were on duty at any one time but he did not have the detailed figures with him.

The Chairperson noted that the Committee would continue with Programme Two and Three the following day and would also meet on Thursday. She suggested that if Members were unhappy with the responses, SAPS could do follow-ups before the presentations began tomorrow. SAPS could also respond to those parts of questions that had not been responded to. SAPS could prepare in the evening for the meeting in the morning.

Concluding remarks

The Chairperson apologised that she had started a couple of minutes late, but she had rushed out at 13:55 because she had been given her office and she had to accept the office.

She thanked the team and complimented them on the presentation and their responses.

The meeting was adjourned.

 

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