Briefing by SAPS on Budget and Strategic Plan

Meeting report

SECURITY AND CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS SELECT COMMITTEE
14 May 2002
BRIEFING BY SAPS ON BUDGET AND STRATEGIC PLAN

Chairperson: Kgosi Moekona (ANC)

Documents handed out
Strategic Plan for SAPS 2002-5

SUMMARY
The strategic management team of the South African Police Services made a joint presentation on their budget for 2002-5. The four member team consisted of the National Commissioner and four deputies, two of whom were representing Finance and Human Resources respectively. Members commended the Department for its achievements to date and wished them well for the tasks that lies ahead.

MINUTES
Strategic Plan
Deputy Commissioner Pruis presented the overview of the Strategic Plan 2002-2005.With respect to Budget Vote 24 he would deal with the review of the previous financial year, MTEF allocations and other issues.

He said it was necessary to keep in mind that the Strategic Plan still fitted in with the National Crime Prevention Strategy launched in 1996. Moral values and norms are now kicking in with the current moral regeneration plan.

There are five programmes in the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster strategy:
-The development and transformation of cluster Departments.
-Crime Prevention and combating crime.
-Security.
-Prosecution and judiciary.
-Detention.

SAPS has engaed a four intercluster approach to deal with the causes of crime, which SAPS is unable to deal with. These may be social problems, poverty and so forth.

There are two phases to the strategy: between 2002-3 the objective is to stabilise crime and thereafter they will focus on the prevention of crime.

He outlined a number of important initiatives for this first phase. These include the Court process project and AFIS, which will be fully operational by 24 July. Previously it took the Police almost six weeks to get a fingerprint match but now it takes them only 48 hours to get the match and partial fingerprints can be used to get a match. The DNA criminal database can be used to test DNA samples.

In order to move from the stabilisation phase they will introduce sector policing and will employ additional personnel. He said they would like to recruit 30 000 reservists and 10 000 has already been recruited. They have a measure of success with the volunteer programme. Other initiatives include the use of air supported reaction units, in the use of hijacking cases. Social crime prevention is linked to the urban renewal strategy and rural development.

With respect to their organised crime approach; they have broken about 200 syndicates and 212 syndicates have been identified this year, 85 being drug related. The trial of the Chinese Bamboo is showing the international involvement in such syndicates.
They are linking border control to the crime prevention strategy. They have an excellent co-operation in the region since last year. About 212 arrests have been made and about 750 vehicles have been confiscated.

In order to combat corruption they have also linked corruption to the organised crime approach. About 490 arrests have been made for corruption. There corruption prevention awareness programme has taken off, including the use of hotlines and the implementation of the Public Finance Management Act.

Targeted operations include Operation Slasher, Operation Greed and the Firearm Plan.

With respect to crimes against women and children, they have focussed primarily on rape and sexual offences and have established victim empowerment units at police stations.

In terms of security he referred to Act of Lancer and focussed on the spate of bomb attacks in the Western Cape.

With respect to the prosecution and the judiciary, the case backlogs have been reduced through the use of additional courts and Saturday courts and the police have also been involved here.

He outlined what these initiatives have done in respect of the crime figures. Between January and September 2001, murder has decreased but robbery with aggravated circumstances have increased. The theft of cell phones has had an impact on robbery statistics. The SAPS undertook a docket analysis in Gauteng and found that cell phones are mostly involved. They have now launched a project to investigate how many reported cases are incidents of insurance fraud.

With respect to other crimes, there are twenty priority crimes. These include commercial crime, violence aimed at property and crimes dependent on the police for detection.

The crimes of theft, robbery and robbery aggravated are shown to be on the increase. However, the majority of the crimes have stabilised. They now want to reduce crimes. There are about 100 station areas in which crime have stabilised and 45 areas in which crime has not yet stabilised. They now want to focus on areas which have not yet stabilised. Their interventions in the criminal justice systems focus on functions which have been affected by rapid stabilisation.

They aim to focus on station areas, about 107, which are responsible for 50% of all murder cases. Their docket analysis has shown that the majority of murders are socially related. Since 1994 murders in SA have been reduced by 34,1%. But their analysis shows that victims and offenders are known to each other and also drug and alcohol plays a role. There is a misperception that taxi violence and farm murders contribute to the figures because they contribute only 0,8% and 0,3% to the figures, respectively.

In rape cases the victim and offender are very often known to each other and this shows again that the crimes are linked to social factors. He noted that since victim and offender are known to each other this leads to the withdrawal of cases and the withdrawal also affects conviction rates.

With respect to operational actions, SAPS will focus on the 125 station areas contributing to 50% of rape cases, as well as the 94 station areas contributing to 50% of rape and murder cases. They will be focussing on the 28 stations which contribute to cell phone theft. They will use AFIS speed up their tracing of wanteds, identified persons and suspects. They will launch organised crime disruption operations; chop-shops, drug outlets and thereby remove the strong point of the syndicates.

Their normalisation initiatives will focus on the 50 stabilised station areas, social crime prevention. Cluster Department development plans. They are linking metropolitan police services, such as in Pretoria, Cape Town, for the purpose of sector policing.

The current situation since February 2002 indicates that crims dependent on police detection have increased, but this is expected. The crimes of theft, robbery and robbery aggravated have stabilised. Illegal possession of firearms and driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs is on the increase.

Presentation on Funding Priorities and Strategies
Commissioner Kramer from Finance dealt with funding priorities and strategies with the review of the past financial year which reveals the extent of financial activity within SAPS.
The total amount allocated the for the previous financial year was R17680 372 000 (billion).
The Expenditure was R17670 435 252 and left them with a roll-over of R9 936 748 which they have ringfenced for other activities such as the implementation of the Arms Control Act. That leaves them with a roll-over of R 1157.00 which they are going to surrender to Treasury.

Breakdown of the Expenditure

ITEMS AMOUNT

Personnel R13.6 Billion

Travel R140 million

Telecommunication R379 844 million

Purchasing of Vehicles R466 462 million ( increased over 3 years)

Maintenance of Awaiting trial prisoners
including medical expenses R216 000 million

Capital Works
not included in the budget of (PWD) R195 000 (no roll-over)

Within the structure of the vote there are a number of priorities that are emphasised in the funding context. Under Administration there is a general increase of 8.86%, Crime Prevention 10-19% and Dectetive Service 8.34%. National Logistics has received a general increase of 13.7% the reason being that procurement of uniforms, weapons and other logistical material are done at the national level. An increase of 7.15% went to visible policing, staff and medical support got an increase of 9.35%.

Discussion
The Chairperson congratulated the SAPS for the outstanding work and said maybe that is the confirmation of the dedication of the late minister Steve Tshwete. He asked for a breakdown of vehicle allocations per province and in the black areas. In these areas there is generally no vehicles available.

MrT Ralane (ANC) also congratulated the Department and quoted a comment from a weekend newspaper that says South Africa is the safest destination after September 11. During the recess he sent a letter to the Department stating that they need to see some improvement in the general crime scenario.
Another Member added that looking at the presentation on rape and murder he concluded that the Department and relevant stakeholders need to be engaged in some form of public education.

Mr LG Lever (DP) said that there is a possible recruitment of approximately 8000 people from the SANDF and wanted to know why are they are not recruiting from the army. Under medical support he wanted to know whether the amount reflected also involve counseling of policemen.

Mr BJ Mkhaliphi (ANC) wanted to know whether overcrowding has anything to do with the case backlog and added that there is a noticeable increase in the rate of withdrawal of rape cases and needed an explanation. With respect to border control he enquired whether SAPS consults with Home Affairs for instance in immigration cases. He said it is interesting to note that the service is going to get more personnel but what worries him is that there is no comparison with other countries with serious crime from an international perspective.

Commissioner Selebi said on the question of comparison they do not move in that direction because people do not care how many house breakings there are in Australia, for instance. Who cares that elections in France were run on crime? Selebi added that there is a difference in crime that is committed in South Africa and they have the comparative statistics from Interpol. Other countries such as Brazil have refused to give their statistics. He said the real measure is when South Africans are saying that they are safe. On the allocation of personnel, there are reasons for the allocations. Gauteng has been allocated more because of crime in the area followed by KZN and the Western Cape.

On vehicle allocation, the provinces inform them of the type of vehicles they need. A decision on how many vehicles to buy is their prerogative. If a province seems to be spending more money on panel beating the funds are deducted from their budget because on the last financial year they have spent R54 million on panel beating alone. The visibility of metro police is found only in the CBD areas unlike SAPS which is found everywhere and metro police are basically Traffic Officers they do not do investigations.

The biggest problem in the transformation process is that the problem is not with the senior management or lower levels but the middle management where most are white. More importantly is that in the police stations more constables are black than white. Selebi said in the police service they need more constables than superintendents and nobody wins a war with generals but with foot soldiers. The approach they are taking is that they need to ensure that people spend more time in one rank level. The army has worked on a new defence doctrine which places them in a position to reduce the number of people by 7000. What does one do with such a high number of retrenchments. They are going to set up a government security division which is going to be on passenger trains and guarding national key points. All the Police Officers who have been doing these duties will be relieved and thrown back into the streets.

Commissioner Eloff said there is a relationship between the court backlogs which stands at 51 000. At some police stations those already sentenced are still being held. In some of the escapes they have hardened criminals who have been sentenced being kept at police stations. The Commissioner said they have arrested 215 000 people for serious crimes but these are given bail and people start accusing the police of being corrupt and this creates a crisis of the justice system. Transformation of the justice system becomes important in these circumstances.

Commissioner Ster said on the withdrawal of cases, 52% is done by the complainants themselves and the police are not responsible for withdrawing cases.

Commissioner Selebi said they need a better payment system for the police and made an example of the late Provincial Commissioner of Police in Gauteng who retired and was offered a job by the metro police at 20% more than his previous salary.

With respect to border control they have a working relationship with all the Departments that have an interest in the matter.

Ms EN Lubidla (ANC) said it was a pity that they did not see the work that is being done by SAPS and it was a pity that they tend to blow issues out of proportion. It was a pity that some police members are also involved in organized crime because of the low salaries that they are getting. She also wanted to know whether they have any system in place for victim empowerment and if is there any woman in charge. On the roll over she said it does not put them in awkward position. Are the police are allowed to keep convicts at the police stations and is it safe? Do they budget to pay police informers?

Mr PA Mathee (NNP) congratulated the police on the stabilisation that has been achieved so far. The issue of salaries is not a problem for the police only but there is something wrong with the system. For instance the CEO of the City of Cape Town is paid more than the State President. He wanted SAPS to explain what they meant by normalization. They should ask the captains of industry what they really want South Africa to achieve because in terms of the presentations it far better than other countries.

What is required of SAPS in order for them to say that they are in top gear? He added that white collar crime was costing the country R36 Billion in 1996, what is it costing the country now?

Mr PDN Maloyi (ANC) said she visited one of the prisons and a certain Mr Mokgalele has been on trial for almost two years. What was the problem and what was the Department doing to accommodate those living far from where they must report cases?

Comm Selebi said the sort of budget they have presented is no reason to complain but that does not mean they will not need a computer or a scanner in the near future. He thought it was unlikely that a police department would ever say they have enough vehicles. But he assured Members that they are treated well although there are competing needs that the government must address.

He said they have also appointed two women to the level of Divisional Commissioners. He said people who are trial for along time is not for the police to blame after an investigation they give the docket to the Prosecution who decide to prosecute or not and there is nothing they can do about it. He made an example of a woman who has been raped by three men and after been given R300 by the accused she went to the police to withdraw the case. He said its about time that the police service become our service not their service. He said they need to train more people on DNA analysis and its not xenophobic to arrest people without proper South African documents and some groups who happen to know little about human rights will say that is xenophobic.

Commissioner Ster said if they introduce sector policing then that is normalisation.

Commissioner Selebi said that their aim of reaching normalisation in 2009 will be realised when the police from Khayelitsha are coping with crime without outside intervention. They want to strengthen the police stations and normalise the place of power for the police stations. He thinks that they are going to reach that before 2009. They need to educate the people about community service but communities must accept this.

Lastly, he said that remarked that informer rewards are absolutely necessary.

Mr Ralane asked whether the new training institution for the police has been costed for.

The Chairperson said he has some information that in the Presidential Police Unit only males have been promoted.

Comm Selebi said there is no discrimination in terms of sex but the issue of the PPU has to do with the levels of education and client's preferences.

On the distance people travel to report cases, once they establish the levels of crime in an area where there is no police station they will put up a satellite police station. They do also have mobile police stations.

Mr Ralane said SAPS have made great strides with less money. Their budget presentation was fairly simple and the Commissioner is right when he said they need to do public education on how to relate with the police.

The meeting was adjourned.