The Committee is not satisfied with the explanation provided by the National Office with regard to the high travel expenditure of the National Offices and discrepancies in travel expenditure between provinces. The Portfolio Committee has also noted that this high travel expenditure of the National Office may correlate with the complaints by the provincial heads that National Office centralises decision-making and fulfils some of the functions, which should be undertaken by the provincial offices.

The Committee recommends that the travel expenditure by specifically the national Office is investigated by the Office of the Auditor General to determine the relevancy of the expenditure in relation to the mandate of the ICD.

Submission of reports

All research reports and recommendations made to the SAPS management must be submitted to the Portfolio Committee within 1 month after completion, as a matter of procedure. In addition, these reports should all be tabled before Parliament within this same time period

Provision of information

The Portfolio Committee is dismayed that it seems as if the ICD is only providing information to the Committee that depicts it in a positive light and is withholding certain information and problems from the Committee. This is not in the best interests of the ICD in the achievement of its mandate. In addition, it undermines the effective functioning of the Portfolio Committee in executing its oversight responsibility. In order to assist in ensuring effective oversight of the Portfolio Committee over the ICD, the ICD must ensure that all reports to the Committee contain sufficient information and detail and are received by the Committee at least one week prior to the scheduled briefing.

Presentation of ICD statistics

The Portfolio Committee will monitor the implementation of the agreement by the Executive Director to ensure that all reports will present statistics in a manner that provide sufficient detail in order to reduce the possibility of misinterpretation of the information. This new approach as agreed by the Executive Director should be reflected in the 2004/05 Annual Report of the ICD.

Decentralisation of some powers

Provincial Heads should be entrusted to deal with operational matters without the constant intervention of National Office. It is therefore recommended that: Overtime: Provincial heads should be empowered to approve overtime for staff. Media: A person responsible for communication should be identified in each province.

Recruitment: Provincial offices should be able to recruit and appoint entry-level staff and interns.

Policies

Provincial offices and operational employees should be consulted in the development of policies that affect the work that they do on a day-to-day basis. This would assist in ensuring that policies correctly reflect the concerns of the people who are affected by them. Policies should be reviewed regularly to ensure relevance to current practice. Policies that are a cause of discontent among staff (such as the overtime policy) should be reviewed and negotiated to assist in improving staff morale. If policies are a result of public service regulations rather than ICD policies then this should be explained properly to staff.

Attraction and retention of staff

A retention policy should be developed which is fairly applied to both national and provincial levels. The possible upgrading of posts to ensure the ability of the ICD to attract skilled staff should be explored. The focus should be on reviewing entry-level salaries particularly for Investigation and Complaints Registry and Monitoring.

Training opportunities

Newly appointed staff must participate in induction training within the first 3 months of appointment. In addition, the training policy should specify that staff members should attend identified training courses annually. Some training should be decentralised to provincial level to ensure that provincial managers are able to identify training needs amongst staff and provide the required training.

Policing powers

Delays in obtaining policing powers must be urgently addressed by the National Office. It is unacceptable to the Committee that in the light of severe staff shortages steps are not taken by National Office to ensure that existing staff can function effectively.

Budgetary concerns

The Portfolio Committee recommends that a performance audit be conducted by h3 office of the Auditor General to determine to what extend the spending and distribution of the budget of the ICD contributes towards the ICD optimally executing its mandate. During this audit special attention should be given to:

• The distribution of budget between national and provincial offices
• The high travel budget especially for national office.
• The disparities in provincial office accounts for travel.
• The budget reporting in general.

Annual meeting with Provincial Heads and quarterly reports

The briefing with the Provincial Heads have brought a number of serious problems to the attention of the Portfolio Committee that were not brought to its attention by the National Office in its numerous prior interactions with this Committee over the years. The Portfolio Committee will schedule annual meetings with the Provincial Heads to provide an opportunity to discuss problems and identify resolutions to these problems, at least until such time that some of the more serious problems with the National Office have been resolved. In addition, the Portfolio Committee will request quarterly written reports from each ' the provincial heads highlighting problems, progress in rectifying these problems and status in terms of reaching their operational targets.

Monitoring implementation of recommendations

The Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security will monitor the implementation the recommendations made in this report, by the National Office and the provinces, in order to ensure that the identified problems are promptly resolved. e Portfolio Committee expects a progress report on steps taken by the National Office to address these concerns within 3 months of tabling of this report in Parliament.

Restructuring of the ICD

The Portfolio Committee recommends that the Minister of Safety and Security takes the following issues into consideration when considering the restructuring of the ICD and the Secretariat. In addition, the Minister should ensure that in his view, due consideration is given to the proper empowerment of the ICD to fulfil mandated responsibilities effectively. In this restructuring, the Minister should k at the feasibility of developing separate legislation to govern the functioning of the ICD, instead of retaining this in the SAPS Act.

• Review or capacitate the ICD to effectively fulfil its mandate in terms of the Domestic Violence Act (DVA). The ICD is not fulfilling its mandate in this regard, largely because of lack of cooperation from the SAPS. This is an important issue to the Committee and the effective monitoring of police action in this regard is essential.

• Remove the monitoring of station audits from the responsibility of the ICD and ensure that the Secretariat is capacitated to fulfil this function.

• Review the necessity for the newly established Research Unit.

• Review the placement and function of the Anti-Corruption Command in terms of national and provincial distribution of resources.

• Review or capacitate the ICD to fulfil its role in terms of cell inspections.

In order to ensure the more effective functioning of the ICD, ICD staff should be allowed access to the CAS system. In addition, the Provincial Commissioners should be held accountable for the implementation of solutions recommended by the ICD, to ensure that these solutions are actually implemented by the police.

While it is understood that the ICD is functioning within budgetary constraints, it is recommended that a feasibility assessment is done on the establishment of satellite/district offices in the provinces to ensure access to rural areas. In addition, the study should look at creative solutions, including the allocation of areas to the ICD offices based on geographical proximity rather than clear borderlines and the use of district offices of the Secretariat by ICD staff.

Conclusion

The Portfolio Committee recommits itself to the necessity of the work of the ICD. The Committee believes that the very existence of the ICD is an important tool in the monitoring of SAPS into a truly democratic police service, providing equal service to all of South Africa's people. It is our believe in SAPS as a democratic service that motivates us to present this report to Parliament and to make these recommendations.

In order to make sure that the recommendations made in this report is implemented, the Committee expects a progress report by the ICD, three months from the date of this report being debated in Parliament. Further progress reports will be submitted to the Committee as determined by the Portfolio Committee.

DA Recommendation for ICD report

1. That an official enquiry takes place into complaints of provincial heads of the ICD against their head office.




2. That an immediate audit takes place to ensure that funds allocated to the IDC are effectively spent in line with the ICD mandate.
3. That an audit takes place to determine what resources are required to improve the operational capacity of the ICD.
4. That the mandate of the ICD be reviewed to ensure that the SAPS are accountable for all their actions.

IFP RECOMMENDATIONS on LC.D» » REPORT

1. TRAVEL EXPENDITURE:

The travel expenditure figures has been inflated therefore there is no way the Portfolio Committee will accept these figures unexplained by a competent person.

2. SUBMISSION OF REPORTS:

The management of the I.C.D. has failed the Portfolio Committee and the Government; therefore they have faltered their mandate. Management needs restructuring as soon as possible.

3. LCD. -STATISTICS:

The Executive Director did not fulfill her promises therefore there is no way statistics will be correct. Head office needs a specialized person to deal with statistics in co-ordination with provinces. Provinces must confirm the statistic from Head office therefore consultation and co-ordination should be maintained.

4. DETAIL REPORTS:

Restructuring of management and need to understand what the Portfolio Committee needs will be ananswer. Same applies to the data of 2004 - 2005. "T Reports must be submitted timeously and by due dates to relevant officers.

5. DISTRIBUTION OF BUDGET:

Functions handled by Head office should be limited. The bulk of the budget should go to Provinces in order for them to fulfill their constitutional mandate. Head office must be lean and Provinces must be big.

6. PROVINCIAL PROBLEMS:

Because all offices seem to have the same problems, the management should be restructured and Provinces called to lay their problems together with solutions at strategic workshops and resolve to open the channel of communication between Head office and Provinces.

MR VELAPHI BETHUEL NDLOVU – MP

MEMBER OF SEFETY AND SECURITY P.C