The Portfolio Committee on Police welcomes the general improvement in the audit report of entities within the police portfolio but raised alarm about the attainment of targets, especially those relating to the reduction of contact crime and forensic services. The committee called for South African Police Service (SAPS) management to further enhance internal controls, resolve procurement issues and strengthen consequence management and monitoring within the environment to ensure targets are met.
The committee interacted with the Office of the Auditor-General (AG), SAPS, the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service (CSPS) and labour unions on the portfolio’s annual reports. The committee welcomed the CSPS and the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID)’s clean audits and the SAPS and Private Security Industry Regulator (PSiRA)’s unqualified audits, albeit with findings. The committee called on SAPS and PSiRA to develop, implement and monitor audit action plans to remedy the findings identified by
the AG.
SAPS
Despite the improved audit opinion, the committee had concerns with the performance of various programmes, especially relating to service delivery targets as this has a direct bearing with citizens’ safety and security. The 67% targets achieved is lower compared to two previous financial years.
The attainment of 70,83% of targets within the visible policing environment is another concern, especially considering that the entire allocated budget was spent. Furthermore, contact crime increased, by 7,7% from 608 059 in 2021/22 to 654 761 in 2022/23, thereby failing to achieve the anticipated 9.21% reduction. In addition, 564 people escaped from police custody in 410 incidents. The committee called for the SAPS to investigate every incident to determine whether police members should be held accountable and to inform future prevention and control measures.
It is concerning for the committee to note that 742 firearms owned by the SAPS were confirmed as stolen or lost, which is 142 more than the targ
et of 600. The committee called for a more effective strategy to reduce the loss of SAPS-owned firearms.
In a country battling with high gender-based violence, the committee is concerned that in the period under review the reported contact crimes against women (18 years and above) increased by 8.1% from 179 208 in 2021/22 to 193 669 in 2022/23, not achieving the anticipated 9.17% reduction. The committee called for strengthened crime prevention strategies to successful reduce contact crime.
With regards to the Forensic Science Laboratories, the committee highlighted its unhappiness with the inadequate contract management in the FSL environment, which negatively impacts on the turnaround time of investigations. The committee is worried that routine case exhibits finalised within 35 calendar days was 20.10% or 55 927, from a total of 278 244 which is way below the 75% target. In addition, non-routine case exhibits finalised within 113 calendar days was 66.9% or 3 299 out of a total of 4 992, not achieving the
set target of 70%. The committee believes that cases backed by science are more likely to result in successful prosecution.
With regards to the challenges with the 10111 call centre, the committee is worried that there were significant deficiencies with the usage of the 10111 function, including dropped or abandoned calls at a rate of 26.44%, while some centres have an average response time of 8 to 35 minutes. The committee views this function as critical in the fight against crime and has called on the SAPS to urgently find lasting solutions.
Meanwhile, the committee was concerned that the SAPS is not getting value for money for investment made in the Investigate Case Docket Management System (ICDMS), which was designed to address the challenges with the management of case dockets. The concerns are based on the information that the number of case dockets scanned and uploaded on ICDMS is very low across all provinces. The committee called for prompt consequence management against officials who transgress th
e code of conduct and ignore rules and regulations.
Nonetheless, the committee welcomed the assurance that in the 2022/23 period, 99.91% of police stations had functional community police forums (out of 1 156 functional police stations, 1 155 of them had operational CPFs). This indicates engagement and collaboration between the police and the community in terms of fostering partnerships and promoting community participation in policing.
Also, 4 616 stolen/lost and illegal firearms have been recovered, which is 1 922 more than the set target of 2 694 for the year. The 4 616 firearms recovered include 2 201 firearms without serial numbers. Of those recovered, 990 were recovered in the Western Cape, 342 in Gauteng, 292 in KwaZulu-Natal and 242 in the Eastern Cape.
The committee noted that in the period under review, 37 168 identified illegal liquor outlets were closed. This indicates a successful enforcement effort in addressing the issue of illegal liquor outlets and substance abuse that contribute to incide
nts of crime.
The committee called on Cabinet to find solutions to ICT and infrastructure challenges faced by the SAPS in the State Information and Technology Agency and the Department of Public Works.
IPID
The committee welcomes the entity’s attainment of a clean audit but called for increased funding to remedy human resource challenges. The committee considers it unacceptable that the 120 IPID investigators are expected to manage about 116 cases each. Furthermore, there are over 150 000 members of the police force and only 120 IPID investigators at a ratio of 1 investigator to 1 250 officers. This resource disparity undermines IPID’s ability to carry out its mandate effectively.
CSPS
It is commendable that the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service has achieved 25 of its 28 targets. Of major importance to the committee is the continued role the CSPS plays in facilitating community participation in safety by playing a supportive role in the establishment of CSFs and through the assessment of the functi
onality of CPFs. The committee remains of the view that community participation in policing is critical in the fight against crime and this role played by CSPS is necessary.
Source: Parliament of South Africa