We are going to proceed with them in the order that they are read, but I want to insist that this will not be allowed. I will communicate it to the rest of the presiding officers. If it is not presented to us as a single declaration opportunity, we will deal with it one after the other. Sir, we are ...
Deputy Speaker, sorry, these are matters of great substance. Now we have two minutes for the total. Can we not allow an extra minute just to cover all these issues ...
No, sir. Thank you. With the greatest respect, the answer is no. Proceed, hon member. [Interjections.] Order; order. Proceed, sir.
Declarations of vote:
Deputy Speaker, South Africa is plagued by very levels of crime like murder and robbery, crimes against women and children, xenophobia, etc. At the moment, our SA National Defence Force members are still deployed in the Western Cape to strengthen the police in the effort to stop the ongoing slaughtering,
especially of young men in the never-ending gang wars. The women of this country were also driven to a point where they took a united stand to make their voice heard. Enough is enough, they say.
This sparked the new general stance amongst all South Africans who are also now saying, enough is really now enough. In fact, the huge amount of money totaling R97,3 billion spent annually on safety without achieving desired outcomes make it obvious that something will have to be done differently in future. The police will have to develop and implement a revised policy approach that will address the co-mandate of fighting crime. The President, in his state of the nation address, also indicated that we need to address these serious issues. The other institutions like the Civilian Secretariat, Independent Police Investigative Directorate, Ipid, the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority, Psira, must be funded appropriately to enable them to fulfil their role in the country's fight against crime. Today the DA also echoes the nation's stance, enough is enough! The report that we have represents all the views and on that basis -
and that basis only, the DA support this report. I thank you.
Deputy Speaker, the EFF rejects the Budget Review and Recommendation Report, BRRR, on the SA Police Service, Ipid, the Hawks, the Civilian Secretariat for Police and the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority. We have observed a rapid rise in the levels of crime in this country for the past couple of decades - an indication on the fact that the SAPS and the Hawks are completely out of debts and cannot fight crime and protect our society from the scourge of crime.
There is little capacity to investigate and ensure sufficient evidence for prosecution of sexual violence against women and children. As a result, many cases of rape and sexual assault go unreported. Equally, we have known for years that the Cape Flats is a den for drug lords and gang leaders, leading to daily murders of innocent people. The recent deployment of soldiers has done very little to protect the people of Cape Flats from these criminals. The drug lords are known and the gang leaders are also known. It is the investigative capacity
of the SAPS and the Hawks that is lacking. There is a result of many things, principal amongst which is the gross incompetence of those leading the SAPS. For example, the Auditor-General reported irregular expenditure of over R1,8 billion.
There was also material underspending of R1,2 billion on detective services. For these, there have been no one who was held accountable and the Minister has not exercised his oversight responsibility regarding financial and performance reporting. We must therefore call for a complete overhaul and resource all these institutions with capable leaders who can ensure us that our society is safe. We reject the BRRR. Thank you, sir. [Applause.]
Hon Deputy Speaker, hon members and hon Minister, I would like to applaud the introduction of the SA Police Service and the Vodacom crime- fighting App. The IFP welcomes the first effort to embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution in this regard. From the outset we saw these obvious advantages to link technology to public participation models of crime. We hope that upon its success, this App is swiftly rolled out to the larger
citizenry but remain mindful of its potential to be hacked where sensitive information may be kept.
Minister, we call on you to ensure that adequate measures are put in place in case this App is hacked and people who report crime anonymously are not exposed. One way to protect the identity of people would be not to require any particularity from a person which may expose their identity or location. While we applaud your efforts with regards to the App, however, we want to draw your attention to the Budget Review and Recommendation Report. Some of the findings have been unacceptable regarding the Auditor- General's report. We note that the SAPS has not sufficiently implemented a plan to address the qualified audit opinion to turn around the huge amounts of irregular expenditure.
Furthermore, the R1 billion and more irregular expenditure figures could not be properly accounted for by the Auditor-General as the SAPS seemingly did not make a full disclosure to the Auditor-General. If this is the case, we feel that this is a gross violation and undermines the intended need for checks and balances
within our state. Minister, you need to ensure that the SA Revenue Service, Sars, makes a full and unechoed disclosure of its irregular expenditure. Finally, we call on you, hon Minister, to spearhead the drive to ensure those who were involved in unauthorised irregular expenditure to face appropriate consequences for the allocations. I support the report.
Deputy Speaker, according to the Auditor-General's report, the SAPS received a third qualified audit for the 2018-19 financial year. This is deeply disappointing. The Auditor-General was reportedly unable to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence that all irregular expenditure incurred for the current and previous years had been properly accounted for.
The Auditor-General has for many years raised concerns about payments made in contravention of the supply chain management requirement and this still continues. The underspending of R1,13 billion in the Detective Services Programme is embarrassing, to say the least. How can the department win the fight against crime when the detectives are not using their full allocation to
investigate and to be trained? Murderers and rapists are frequently let off the hook because of insufficient evidence and poor investigation being done by our detectives.
Relatives of the victims of crime are turning to AfriForum to help solve their cases because the police have failed them. It is unfortunate that the National Prosecuting Authority was quick to warn the family of the late Orlando Pirates and Bafana Bafana skipper Senzo Meyiwa against sharing the details of the police investigation into his death. Sifiso, Senzo's brother is on record as saying and I quote: "We know that AfriForum does not take bribes, they are going to solve this case."
What does this mean? The impression that the SAPS is giving to our people is that they are corrupt and they are being bribed. The ACDP therefore calls on the police Minister to ensure that there are consequences in the department for all transgressors of legislature, particularly those related to supply chain management, and that money allocated to fight crime is used wisely and effectively. Thank you.
The NFP welcomes and supports the BRRR tabled here today. Now, the responsibility of this department is to ensure the safety of our citizen and visitors at large. The question is, Is this the case? The response is unfortunately and emphatically, no. It is not always the SA Police Service that must take the responsibility for the failure of ensuring the safety of our people. Contributing factors include high unemployment, lack of housing or proper housing, lack of electricity, lack of water and sanitation, lack of street lights, lack of roads, high substance abuse, including teenage pregnancy. Unless all the relevant departments like Basic Education, Higher Education, Social Development, Water and Sanitation, and all the others, including Home Affairs come together in a concerted effort to work together, the future is very bleak - particularly for a safe South Africa.
Minister, whilst you are here, I want to draw your attention to another great challenge that you are going to be experiencing shortly, particularly in the Western Cape, and that is the violence that is brewing in the towing industry. Already there has been damage to
property; there has been shooting; there has been loss of life in this, already in the Western Cape - particularly in Cape Town. Unless you start addressing these things, we are going to run into trouble.
The NFP is calling for the professionalisation of the SAPS by introducing policing into the curriculum in schools so that it can attract those with the passion for policing, but very little or nothing has happened about it. I will give an example of when people or victims who are refusing to go out and report to police station because of the ineffective detective work.
I have case number 333 of August 2019 from Mfuleni Police Station, and another one is case number 320 of September 2019 from Milnerton Police Station. To date, the victims have heard absolutely nothing from SA Police Service. Gang violence continues; drug trade continues; drive-by shooting continues; rape continues; murder continues. Independent Police Investigative Directorate does not even have the efficacy to deal with this. [Time expired.] The NFP supports this report.
Hon Deputy Speaker, hon members, the ANC welcomes and supports the Budget Review and Recommendation Report of the Portfolio Committee on Police. The report acknowledges the commitment by the department to implement the priorities outlined by the President in the state of the nation address on the fight against gender-based violence, corruption and community oriented policing. This include the finalisation of the strategic plan on gender-based violence by the department, the strengthening of the capacity and record keeping of family violence, child protection and sexual offences units. The portfolio committee welcomes the establishment of the Investigating Directorate in the Office of the National Director for Public Prosecutions to deal with and prosecute serious corruption and associated offences.
The portfolio committee is concerned about the irregular expenditure by the department. The committee has resolved to ensure that the department must turn things around on irregular expenditure. This includes the implementation of the audit action plan which will be monitored by the portfolio committee on a quarterly basis and the
appointment of the new audit committee not later than 1 November 2019 and an enforcement of consequence management for any irregular expenditure.
We welcome the undertaking by the department to recruit more reservists to assist in the fight against crime and the inclusion of community policing in all departmental outreach and awareness events. We urge the department to ensure that all police stations have DNA rape kits to fast track cases of rape. The department is also urging to meet the target for employment of people with disabilities. The ANC supports the BRRR on Police.
Deputy Speaker, the DA never said no.
That is fine, we will take it. You must advice your members not to scream, no. [Interjections.]
Deputy Speaker, can we advise you to make sure what you hear ...
No, no. Hon Julius, you like debating unnecessary issues. I have heard you, take your seat and cool your heels a little bit. [Interjections.]
Motion agreed to.
Report on Independent Police Investigative Directorate accordingly adopted (Economic Freedom Fighters dissenting).
Report on Civilian Secretariat for Police Service 2018/19 Annual Report accordingly adopted (Economic Freedom Fighters dissenting).
Report on 2018/19 Annual Report of South African Police Service accordingly adopted (Economic Freedom Fighters dissenting).