Committee Report on Police, Independent Police Investigative Directorate & Civilian Secretariat for Police Budget

Meeting report

The Chairperson noted that the Committee had three Committee reports to consider and adopt. He said that with each of the reports, the Committee would firstly deal with making additions or changes to Committee recommendations and thereafter consider the reports page by page.  The Committee recommendations were considered the crux of the reports.
 
Budget Vote 20: Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID)

The Committee considered its report on the 2016/17 Budget Vote 20, annual performance plan and 2015/16 to 2019/20 strategic pan of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).
Some recommendations made by the Committee regarding the 2016/17 budget allocation of Vote 20: IPID were:

-On budget reductions, the Committee recommended that the reductions to the baseline budget allocation of Vote 20: IPID over the medium-term should be reviewed and that the budgets of essential oversight bodies should be exempt from baseline reductions.

- The Committee also recommended that the Department should review the extent and cost of the Expansion Strategy to be resubmitted to National Treasury for consideration. It further recommended that the Department should inform the Committee on the progress made in this regard and provide a comprehensive report to the Committee on the reasons forwarded by National Treasury for not approving the Expansion Strategy, or part thereof. The Chairperson suggested that an addition be made to the recommendation that the Department must within 90 days report back to the Committee on its interaction with National Treasury. 
  
Recommendations on service delivery performance indicators
-The Committee recommended that top management positions currently held by acting managers should be filled by permanent incumbents as soon as possible. These positions included the Executive Director, Chief Financial Officer and programme managers. The Committee further recommended that leadership stability should be ensured despite the large proportion of acting managers within the top structure of the Department.  
- The Committee recommended that the IPID should continuously be mindful of its legislative requirement of independence from the South African Police Services (SAPS) when conducting investigations, and that the Department should make use of independent forensic, ballistic and pathology services where possible.

Having dealt with Committee recommendations the Chairperson took the Committee through the report page by page urging Members to make inputs and changes where they deemed it necessary.
 
Mr M Redelinghuys (DA) said that there had been a failure by the South African Police Services (SAPS) to implement the recommendations of the IPID. 

Mr Irvin Kinnes, Committee Content Adviser, and Ms Nicollete Van Zyl-Gous, Committee Researcher, agreed that what Mr Redelinghuys had raised could be included in the Report.

Mr Redelinghuys suggested that it be included under Committee Observations, which spoke to the increased compliance of the SAPS.

Ms Van Zyl-Gous suggested that it should rather be included under observations which spoke to Programme 2: Investigation and Information Management.

The Committee agreed.

The Chairperson said that the Committee had been telling National Treasury to support the IPID from an oversight point of view.

The Committee adopted the report as amended.

Mr Z Mbhele (DA) said that he reserved his right to vote on the Budget Vote.

Mr J Maake (ANC) asked for clarity on what Mr Mbhele was saying.

Mr Mbhele explained that the DA did support the adoption of the report, but the Party did not know how it would vote on the Budget Vote in the House, as it did not have a position on the Budget Vote as yet.   
  
Report on Civilian Secretariat for Police (CSP)

Mr Redelinghuys asked that the CSP provide the Committee with additional information on the White Paper on Safety and Security implementation plan.

Mr Kinnes agreed to include it in the Report under “additional information requested.”

The Committee made several recommendations to the CSP during the 2016/17 budget hearings.

Committee Observations:
-The Committee noted that the advertising costs in the CSP budget had increased significantly and wanted an explanation for the increase. The Department had reported that the increase was for the purpose of the two White Papers and public comment. This had increased costs.

Mr Mbhele said that he had raised the matter of increases in allocations of contractors which could have contributed to increases in advertising costs -- those relating to public awareness campaigns. He wished for it to be included under the Committee Observations.
The Committee agreed.

Budget recommendations:
-The Committee recommended that the CSP should plan on alternative financial support with respect to the shortfall in its budget and provide a plan to the Committee for supplementing such shortfalls for the 2016/17 financial year.
-The Committee recommended that the CSP develop a financial recovery plan to cut under-spending in all programmes and report such to the Committee, with timelines.
-The Committee recommended that the Secretary, Chief Financial Officer and the Chief Director for Monitoring and Evaluation should be appointed without delay, and that the appointments should be reported to the Committee.
-The Committee also recommended that the CSP make extra efforts to be fully compliant.
 
Mr Maake felt that something was missing from the aforementioned recommendation.

Mr Kinnes suggested the addition of “with the CPS Act” after the word “compliant.” The recommendation would thus read; “The Committee also recommended that the CSP make extra efforts to be fully compliant with the CPS Act“.

The Committee agreed to the addition.

Performance recommendations:
-The Committee recommended that the Secretariat finalise its policies on the demilitarisation and professionalisation of the SAPS within the next three months and make it available to the Committee and the SAPS. The Chairperson considered the recommendation as one of the more important ones of the Committee.
 
Mr Mbhele said that the White Paper on Police contained what the aforementioned recommendation was speaking to.
  
 -The Committee recommended that the strategic plan and annual performance plan (APP) (2017/18) of the CSP should be realigned to focus on the delivery of its core mandate and should be less inward looking. Furthermore, the strategic link between the priorities of the CSP and the National Development Plan (NDP) should be set out clearly in the 2017/18 financial year.

- The Committee also recommended that performance indicators and accompanying targets should adhere to the Specific, Measurable, Accurate, Reliable and Time-bound (SMART) criteria.
 
- It recommended that the CSP should endeavour to coordinate station visits with other oversight bodies, in order to ensure greater coverage of stations being visited.
 
Ms M Molebatsi (ANC) was not sure that it had been the intention of the Committee to make the aforementioned recommendation in order to ensure greater coverage of stations being visited. She believed the proper reason for the recommendation was to avoid duplication.

Mr Kinnes said that it could be changed and corrected.

The Committee agreed.

The Chairperson took the Committee through the Report page by page. Members effected grammatical and spelling changes to it where they were needed.

The Committee adopted the Report, as amended.

Mr Mbhele said that he reserved the right to vote on the Budget Vote.

Draft Report on Department of Police (SAPS)

On additional information to be provided to the Committee by the Department, the Committee had asked the Department to provide it with a report on the progress with the gang threat around the country. 
The Chairperson, however, pointed out that the report should speak to what the Department was doing to curb the threat.

Mr A Shaik Emam (NFP) felt that the challenge of gang violence needed to be stressed more in the draft Report.

Ms Van Zyl-Gous said that the Committee could make a recommendation on the issue of gang violence.

Mr Kinnes said that the SAPS had launched Operation Combat to deal with gang violence.

The Chairperson said that perhaps the SAPS could come up with an implementation plan on its gang strategy. 

Mr P Mhlongo (EFF) asked whether the SAPS had done a thorough analysis of gangs. What was the underlying reason for gangs’ existence? It was perhaps necessary for other government departments to also come on board.  If an analysis was not done, then it would only result in a fire-fight between the SAPS and gangs. The Department on Intelligence and Interpol had a role to play.

Mr Kinnes said this was something that was being worked on.

The Chairperson said that the SAPS had briefed the Committee on gang violence in the Western Cape. Perhaps the SAPS needed to brief the Committee on gangs in SA nationally.

Budget recommendations:
-The Committee recommended that the Department motivate for additional funding for the 2017/18 financial year to enable the Committee to make a decision on supporting the motivation.
- It recommended that the Department make provision for the reduction in the budget (R2.2bn) over the outer years of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) with respect to the compensation of employees, and develop a plan to ensure optimum staffing levels in the Visible Policing Programme.
-The Committee recommended that the Department should commence discussions with National Treasury with a view to establishing the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) programme as a separate Vote to give effect to the Committee’s recommendation.

Performance recommendations:
-The Committee recommended that the Department implement all the objectives of the National Development Plan.
- It recommended that the Department review the APP targets in view of the increased budget allocation, and align it with the MTSF targets for increased performance.  
-The Committee recommended that the Department retain sector policing as an approach to building proper community policing partnerships with the communities that it policed.

The Chairperson considered the budget recommendation of the DPCI programme to have a separate Vote was an important recommendation. The status of the DPCI should be elevated.

Mr Redelinghuys said that if Members could agree on the recommendation as a House, it would be important.

Ms Molebatsi pointed out that the issue of pocket books had been a burning issue, but nothing was being said about how it was being monitored.

Mr Kinnes said that there was emphasis in the first quarter financial report on pocket books

The Chairperson said that the Committee could require that the Department report on the issue of pocket books.

Ms Van Zyl-Gous said that the Department was reporting on pocket books quarterly, but the Committee could recommend that the Department must continue to report on pocket books quarterly.

The Committee agreed.

Mr Mhlongo said that there was no recommendation about the Department reporting on under-performing police stations and also reporting on time frames for the revamp of police stations.

Mr Kinnes referred to the top of page 21 of the Draft Report under the Detectives’ Turnaround Strategy, which spoke about performance measures and that the SAPS was monitoring interventions that it had put in place. He said that it had been captured in the Draft Report but not as a firm recommendation of the Committee.

Ms Van Zyl-Gous said that the Committee could make a recommendation that the SAPS report to the Committee as and when work on the police stations was completed.

The Committee agreed to the recommendation.

The Chairperson took the Committee through the Report page by page. Members effected grammatical and spelling changes to it where these were needed.

The Committee adopted the Report as amended.

Mr Mbhele said that the DA reserved the right to vote on the Budget Vote.

The meeting was adjourned.