DRAFT REPORT OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON SAFETY AND SECURITY ON THE ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE SERVICE FOR 2005/06.

Report of the Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security on the Annual Report and Financial Statements of the South African Police Service for 2005/06.

The Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security, having considered the Annual Report and Financial Statements of the South African Police Service (SAPS) for 2005/06, reports as follows:

A. Introduction
The Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security has scrutinised the Annual Report of the SAPS for 2005/06, including the Financial Statements and the Report of the Auditor General.

The Portfolio Committee had the following meetings to discuss the 2005/06 Annual Report and Financial Statements of the SAPS:

¨ Briefing by National Treasury on the oversight role of parliamentary committees and an analysis of the expenditure trends, financial statements and performance of the SAP S in 2005/06.

¨ Briefing by the Research Unit of the Parliament of South Africa on analysis of the Annual Report of the SAPS for 2005/06.

¨ Hearings and deliberations with the SAPS on the Annual Report of the SAPS for 2005/06.

¨ Hearings and deliberations with the National Secretariat on their performance and financial expenditure in 2005/06.

B. Findings and Key Issues of Concern:
The Portfolio Committee notes the following .key issues:

Programme 1: Administration

Employment Equity and Recruitment: The employment equity targets for the SAPS are to increase employment equity beyond 75/25 in terms of race and 73/27 in terms of gender. Top management falls far short of the employment equity targets for gender as only 14.5% are women. In addition, the target for race, in terms of top management (75/25) is met but not exceeded.

In terms of the total establishment, the SAPS surpassed its targets for race and gender equity in that 80% of personnel are black and just over 29% are women. Of the 10 900 new recruits enlisted in 2005/06, 3 019 (27.69%) were female. In addition to these entry-level recruits, 1 000 Public Service Act personnel were appointed. The majority of new recruits were allocated to the provinces to increase capacity at station level, with priority given to the 14 presidential and 169 priority stations. The SAPS increased its members to 155 532 in comparison with a target of 156 060.

In response to concerns raised by Members about the gender ratio in top management, the SAPS responded that priority is given to women in promotions. However, the pool of women within the SAPS is limited. To address the problem the SAPS have introduced the Emerging Leadership Programme, and 70% of places on this programme are reserved for women managers.

In response to questions raised by Members about the fact that the SAPS did not reach its employment target for 2005/06, the SAPS stated that the shortfall of 500 members for the 2005/06 year was largely as a result of withdrawals from training for injury, pregnancy, misconduct, and offences against them or those who did not meet the training standards and thus did not get recruited.

Performance Management System, promotions and rewards: The target for compliance with the performance management system was 90%. 96% of employees complied with the performance management system.

A special dispensation based on performance was implemented for employees from 1 April 2005 which increased salary levels up to 8 notches in levels 1 to 12. In addition, members could also qualify for a 1 % pay progression based on performance, implemented on 1 July 2005. An agreement to change the current salary structure to a Broad Band Salary Structure was signed in the bargaining chamber and implemented on 1 April 2006.

A total of 77.5% of all police members received salary increases in 2005/06. Only 0.8% (5 out of 597) of senior management benefited from the salary increases. A total of 47 537 people received performance rewards out of a total of 155 532 employees. 26.07% of all functional police members received rewards.

Corruption and grievances: In 2005/06, a total of 529 members were suspended for corruption-related activities. Of these, 473 were suspended without salaries.

The target of 2005/06 was to finalise 70% of all outstanding disciplinary cases. 96% of these cases were finalised.

In response to concerns raised by Members, the SAPS stated that they have revamped the regulations which has significantly reduced the finalisation timeframes for disciplinary cases. In addition, agreement has been reached to separate criminal and disciplinary processes, which now allows for the disciplinary cases to be completed, before a criminal case is finalised. More disciplinary officials have been trained to perform hearings.
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Skills Development and Training: 16 228 members were audited during the Pilot Skills Audit at 250 police stations and 54 329 members received training in terms of the Workplace Skills Plan. The expenditure for training increased by 43% in 2005/06. The following table identifies members trained in 2005/06.

Programme	Number trained 2005/06
Station Management	47 Station Commissioners at the priority stations
Learning Programme
Operational Commander	389 Operational Commanders
Training
Detective Commander	227 Detective Commanders
Learning Programme
Detective Learning	1 138 detectives
Programme
Implementation of the FCA	1 251 Designated Firearm Officers
Basic Training Learning	9 850 entry level constables
Programme
Domestic Violence Learning	64 trainers and 1 245 SAPS members
Programme
FCS Investigators course	230 members
Drivers licenses	66 reservists
Occupationally Directed	14 members
Education Training and
Development
Internships	13 interns in permanent positions

Members raised concerns about the impact of training on performance of the police at station level. For example, while the SAPS has reported on members trained to handle domestic violence complaints and the availability of toolkits at station level, the experience of Members is that in practice, the Domestic Violence Act is poorly implemented at station level.

Construction and renovations: In the 2004/05 Annual Report it is reflected that 28 new police stations were expected to be completed in the 2005/06 financial year. The 2005/06 Report reflects that only 11 police stations were in fact completed of which 4 were reported as completed in 2004/05. Thus only 7 police stations were completed in 2005/06. Renovations were made to 4 training colleges in 2005/06.

The SAPS responded that the backlog in construction is the responsibility of the Department of Public Works for the 2005/06 financial year and that in the 2006/07 year, the SAPS will have more control over these processes. The building of stations takes at least 2-3 years to complete from the time the contractor first arrives on site. Sometimes problems related to materials and contractors delays the process further. According to the SAPS it is anticipated that 17 police stations will be completed in 2006/07. The confusion with the 4 prisons which were reported as completed in 2004/05 and in 2005/06 may be as a result of a 'retention period' in which the contractors are still on site even though the building is officially completed. In addition, there are differences in the reporting in a calendar year, in comparison with a financial year.

Vehicles and operational equipment: The total number of vehicles in the SAPS increased from 33 433 in March 2005 to 35 418 in March 2006, which is an increase of 5.93%. Head Office experienced the highest increase of 18.73% (they also received a 20% increase in 2004/05), followed by the Northern Cape (15.90%) and Mpumalanga (9.03%). A total of R1, 022 billion was spent on vehicles in 2005/06. The SAPS purchased 38 093 bullet proof vests at a value of R117 million in 2005/06. A total of R35 million was spent on purchasing 9 000 new firearms. R139, 7 million was spent on system development and implementation of the Firearms Control Act.
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In response to questions raised about the high allocation of new vehicles to Head Office, the SAPS stated that these vehicles also go to divisions that operate in the provinces such as training institutions, Protection and Security Services, the National Intervention Unit and the Criminal Record Centre and Forensic Science Laboratory. A proportion of these vehicles may be operational in the provinces. However, the concern remains that stations are not receiving new vehicles in comparison with Divisions and Head Office. The Resource Allocation Guide assists in the allocation of all operational resources including vehicles to the stations. The SAPS acknowledges that this guide should be enforced in terms of devolvement to station level.

In response to concerns raised by Members about the availability of bullet proof vests, the SAPS stated that a contract is in place to buy more vests and 13 177 were bought in 2006/07. In 2005/06, the SAPS had problems in that the manufacturer did not deliver as expected. There are still problems with the manufacturer which are hampering the provision of vests to all members. A contract has been awarded for the purchase of female vests and 17 117 have been ordered.

Programme 2: Visible Policing
Crime prevention initiatives and preventatives actions: Various crime prevention initiatives were reported as initiated at the 169 high contact crime stations in 2005/06, however, the' manner in which these are reported in the Annual Report makes it difficult for the Committee to really assess the extent and success of these initiatives. In addition 13 934 652 preventative actions were executed and 1 132 606 arrests were made of which 45% were executed at the 169 high contact crime stations.

Vehicles Recovered: The target of recovering 46% of vehicles in comparison to those stolen was not reached and only 44% of vehicles were recovered.

In response to concerns raised by Members the SAPS stated that the reason for the decrease in recovery rate is because many stolen vehicles are taken out of the country, or taken to 'chop shops' where they are dismantled. The SAPS is trying to negotiate with the manufacturers to tag vehicle parts to alleviate this problem.

Sector policing: The target for sector policing was that it be established at all 169 high contact crime stations. Sector policing was fully implemented on a 24 hour basis in 656 (52%) of the 1 249 sectors at the 169 high contact crime stations. Some provinces are experiencing problems in implementing sector policing, even in the priority stations. These include: Kwazulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Free State, Limpopo and the Northern Cape.

Members raised concerns about whether this was progress in comparison with previous years. According to the SAPS, there has been progress as in 2003/04 147 sectors were fully implemented, in 2004/05, 236 sectors were fully implemented, and in 2005/06 656 sectors were fully implemented.

Reservists: 16 740 reservists were recruited in 2005/06 in comparison with 2 610 in 2004/05 bringing the total number of reservists to 25 734.

Contact crimes: The target was to reduce contact crimes by 7-10%. All categories of contact crimes decreased in 2005/06 in comparison to the previous year1. The highest decreases were in common robbery (-18.3%), attempted murder (-16.6%) and common assault (-15.6%). A number of categories of contact crimes did not reach the annual reduction of 7-10% target set by government. These included: rape (-1,0%), murder (-2,0%), indecent assault (-3.7%), and robbery with aggravating circumstances (6,2%). Subcategories of robbery with aggravating circumstances reported on include robbery of cash in transit (which increased by 74.1 %), car jacking (increased by 3.1 %) and bank robbery (which increased by 7.4%).

Property crimes: Four out of the five categories of property crime decreased from 2004/05 with the exception of theft of motor vehicles and motor cycles which increased by 1.8%.

Attacks on and murder of police: The number of police killed during 2005/06 (95 police officers were killed) remained constant in comparison to 2004/05. However, the number of attacks of police increased dramatically from 721 in 2004/05 to 1 274 in 2005/06.

Escapes from custody: Escapes from custody decreased from 2 206 escapees in 2004/05 to 1 908 escapees in 2005/06.

Programme 3: Detective Services
Percentages of charges to court and detection rates for general crimes investigation: The SAPS met its targets of 19% of charges to court (it achieved 29% overall) and of a 31 % detection rate for priority crimes (it achieved a 40% detection rate). However, the low percentage of charges referred to court and low detection rate for murder is cause for concern. The percentage of murder cases referred to court remains constant in comparison to 2004/05 at 21.9°4». The detection rate also remains constant at 26.66%. Out of the 7 contact crimes, only robbery with aggravating circumstances achieved a lower court referral and detection rate than that for murder.

Both the percentage of charges referred to court and the detection rate for a number of property crimes decreased in 2005/06. This is problematic as the rates are already very low.
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Members questioned the low target rate of 19% for cases taken to court. In response the SAPS stated that the rates are set on achievements by the police over the last 5 years. As the success rate of the police improves in terms of more charges to courts, so the target will be increased. In addition, the targets will also be adjusted as the number of detectives increases.

Members raised serious concerns that there is no information in the report, in comparison with previous years, on the conviction rates. In many instances cases are thrown out of court because of inadequate investigations by the police. While Members acknowledge that investigation is not the only variable in ensuring a conviction, it is a vital component. According to the SAPS, one of the problems in reporting on this information is the fact that the way in which the SAPS and the Department of Justice measure convictions differs and that the Department of Justice, for example, does not differentiate between withdrawal and diversion.

Organised Crime: The SAPS surpassed its target of 20% of organised crime threats to court and achieved 35% in this regard. However, Members raised the concern that the number of syndicate leaders and runners arrested decreased in comparison to 2004/05.

Sexual and violent crimes against women and children: The total number of crimes against women and children decreased from 300 792 in 2004/05 to 290 293 in 2005/06.2 It is of concern that the percentage of charges referred to court for the murder and rape of women and children decreased slightly in comparison to the previous year. It is a positive point that most of the crime categories with the exception of rape, have higher percentages of charges to court and detection rates than for the general population.

Criminal Record Centre and Forensic Science Laboratory: Neither the Criminal Record Centre (CRC) not the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) achieved their targets for 2005/06: The target for the Criminal Record Centre was to provide reports of offenders previous convictions based on fingerprint identification within 30 days. Only 83% of these reports were generated within this time limit.

The Forensic Science Laboratory dealt with 244 254 exhibits in 2005/06 of which 190 253 (88%) were dealt with, within 35 days. The target was to deal with 92% of exhibits within this time limit. It is noted that the number of enquires received by the Laboratory increased by 34% in 2005/06.

Members raised concerns about the poor performance of the CRC and the FSL. In response, the SAPS stated that the improvements in training provided to CRC members over the last few years have meant that the number of exhibits lifted from crime scenes has increased. In many cases, however, the samples are not ideal for analysis by the FSL. The FSL works with large batches of samples at a time, which means that analysis of samples takes longer than if they were working on one sample at a time. Attempts are made to prioritise urgent cases (via a letter by the Prosecutor with regard to court dates), but sometimes communication problems hamper the process. In addition to the increase in exhibits, the FSL has also been hampered by a shortage of space. The problem is being addressed by the building of new facilities in Pretoria and the Western Cape and increasing accommodation in the Eastern Cape. The technology used by the FSL is also old. There was no replacement strategy for equipment for many years and it takes over 6 months to get the equipment needed from overseas. Extra money was received in the 2005/06 budget and in the 2006/07 budget for new equipment and the technology has been ordered. The loss of personnel in the scientific environment is a reality that cannot be ignored. Many specialists have left the SAPS for the Department of Health as the salaries were advertised at a higher level. Overseas countries also welcome these specialists. When vacancies arise they are prioritised to be filled. However, internal training can take up to 2 years to ensure adherence to quality standards which are on a par with international laboratories. The newly introduced GSPS (Genetic Sample Processing System) for automated DNA analysis will reduce the turn around times.

Programme 4: Crime Intelligence
Crime Intelligence Operations: The SAPS achieved its targets of increasing the number of operations to neutralise threats in that 12 534 operations were conducted in comparison with 9 568 in the previous year. However, it must be noted that the number of arrests resulting from these operations and the value
of goods recovered decreased.

Crime intelligence products: The SAPS achieved its target of increasing the number of crime intelligence products as 54 314 reports were produced in comparison with 50212 in the previous year.

In response to Members concerns that there did not seem to be an indication that crime intelligence had an effect in reducing heists or armed robberies, the SAPS stated that there is good cooperation between intelligence and detectives and a number of heists have been foiled because of intelligence initiatives.

Programme 5: Protection and Security Services
VIP Protection and Static and Mobile Security: The target for VIP protections (0% security breaches) was not met as 17 breaches were reported. The target of no complaints lodged against Static and Mobile Security was also not achieved as 5 complaints were lodged.

Implementation of ports of entry security projects and rail police: Progress was made in the implementation of these projects at Beit Bridge Border, OR Tambo International, and Durban Harbour and in terms of the Rail Police, progress was made in Western Cape, in particular.

Financial Statements
The SAPS total expenditure at the end of March 2006 was 100% (R750 was returned to the Revenue Fund). The lowest spending programme was Visible Policing at 96%. In a similar trend to 2004/05, an amount of R533 million was shifted from the Visible Policing Programme to other programmes. The SAPS reported to the Committee that the variance under Visible Policing was mainly as a result of lower than anticipated cost of living salary increases, lower employee contributions to the Government Employee Fund and enlistments that took place later than planned. The Department indicated that these funds were shifted to enhance capital spending which includes the construction and purchase of new facilities, upgrading of the information technology network and mainframe system, purchase of vehicles, enhances of the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) and other projects within other programmes.

The Committee is concerned that the Department underspends and shifts funds from the Visible Policing programme even though this programme constitutes the largest percentage of the total allocated budget and is considered to be key for the delivery of services by the SAPS. Treasury has alerted the Committee to this problem and has stated that they will be monitoring the trend for shifting funds from this programme very closely.

Auditor General Report
The SAPS received an unqualified audit opinion from the Auditor General for 2005/06. However, issues raised in the Emphasis of Matter and the Performance Audit of concern to the Committee include:

Monitoring in the administrative environment: Instance of shortcomings in the monitoring in the administrative environment including: shortcomings in the implementation of the Supply Chain Management Framework, problems with the inventory stores at national and provincial levels as well as control of room inventory at provincial and area commissioners offices including police stations.

Vehicle fleet management: The AG once again noted that there was inadequate monitoring and control of vehicles used after normal working hours which means that there were sometimes no vehicles available to respond to emergencies. This problem was also identified in 2004/05. Funds have been requested from Treasury for a new vehicle monitoring system and Treasury has supported this request. The system will allow vehicles to be tracked on screen and then deployed to the nearest crime scene.

In response to Member's concerns around timeframes for implementation of this project the SAPS stated that the system is already in place in Gauteng. A tender will be out soon for implementation in the other provinces. Funds have been requested in the 2007/08 MTEF. The project should thus be implemented in 2007/08. There are instructions in place with regard to vehicles that are taken home. These need to be better enforced at station level.

Lost firearms: Once again, the AG noted that firearm control registers were not properly maintained and weapons inspections were not performed at least twice a year. During 2005/06, statistics revealed that 2 297 firearms (in comparison to 735 for 2004/05) were either lost, stolen or robbed from personnel. In 2004/05, the Department had reported to the Auditor General that they were providing personnel with gun safes to minimise this problem, yet in the interim, the problem has considerably worsened.

In responses to questions by Members, the SAPS noted that firearms were lost mainly by members of the police and not stolen from the stores. Research has been done in the police with regard to whether the police should take their firearms home or leave them at the station. Unfortunately, there is no simple answer as the police are often called out when they are off duty, and if they did not nave their firearm with them, it would leave them vulnerable. 70 000 safes have been purchased for members to use at home and another 43 000 were purchased in the 2006/07 financial year. The SAPS has also embarked on a R72 million project to uniquely identify all police weapons and parts. The SAPS has also enforced Standing Instructions on frontline inspections with regard to firearms.

Forensic Science Laboratory (FCL): The AG noted that sometimes the FSL works on cases that have already been withdrawn or finalised as the Case Administration system is not timeously or accurately updated. This is a problem in terms of the fact that the FSL was not able to meet its targets for the 2005/06 financial year.

In response to problems raised by Members on this issue, the SAPS stated that they have sent out instructions to stations to update the CAS system regularly at station level. They also contact investigators and meet with prosecutors before working on a case to ensure that it is not closed.

Information Systems Management: The AG report states that the SITA was behind schedule in developing the DNA analysis system. In addition, delays are being experienced in the implementation of the Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), the feasibility of which is being evaluated by the Department in conjunction with SITA.

Buildings: The AG noted that many SAPS buildings are in a state of neglect and disrepair. Treasury has noted that the responsibility for maintenance now resides with the SAPS (since April 2006), instead of the Department of Public Works as funds have been devolved for this purpose, yet expenditure by SAPS on capital assets has been slow to date, for the 2006/07 financial year.

Dockets: The AG noted that lack of trained staff and proper management information systems has led to inefficient management and control over the progress of investigations and thus inappropriate docket allocation to investigation officers at provincial and areas level.

Investigation at Building Services Division: The AG noted the inadequate maintenance of a supplier list or database, lack of quotations from potential suppliers and that the formal tender process was followed in a number of cases. As noted by Treasury, these issues have an impact on expenditure for capital assets and thus need to be followed up and in addition, point to the possibility of room for corruption in this area.

In response to concerns raised by Members on this issue, the SAPS stated that everything will now be bought on tender and not through quotations. Tenders have been advertised for all commodities. A tender has also been put out to ensure that the database and software are in place.

Information Services: The AG noted that the disaster recovery plan did not include a network recovery plan and a disaster recovery test had not been performed. In addition, there was inadequate segregation of duties with PAS controllers responsible for access administration also functioning as ordinary users.

National Secretariat

The budget for the National Secretariat is contained within Programme 1 of the SAPS budget under Subprogramme 1.3 Management. The National Secretariat received R4, 832 million from the SAPS in 2005/06 of which R3, 123 million was for operational expenditure. The Secretariat only managed to spend R1, 117 of their allocation for operational expenditure. They had an under expenditure of R2, 004 million.

The Committee raised numerous concerns around the Secretariat, largely centred on the fact that they could not manage to spend the funds allocated to them by the SAPS. This problem is compounded by the fact that the Committee had approved an allocation to the Secretariat of R17 million of which the SAPS had only allocated them R4, 8 million. The Committee questioned how the remaining allocation to the subprogramme had been spent.

In response to these concerns, the Secretariat stated that the current Secretary was only appointed in October 2005, and faced a depleted structure particularly at senior management level. The Secretariat was not operational and all the programmes that had been budgeted for had come to a standstill. From October 2005, the Secretariat has embarked on a programme of restructuring. Four new directors were appointed in April 2006 (after the reporting year in question). The Secretariat has stated that they will be able to give a full account of their activities for the 2006/07 financial year. In addition, the SAPS stated that the remaining R13 million allocated to the subprogramme Management had been shifted to other subprogrammes in Programme 1, specifically to logistics in subprogramme Corporate Services.

Other concerns raised by Members included the fact that the Secretariat, especially in terms of its legal services to the Minister, is not dealing proactively with the problems by offering policy change advice, as it should be doing. Members were also concerned that the Secretariat had integrally altered their business plan due to capacity constraints but had not brought this to the attention of the Committee even though the Committee had approved their budget based on their plan.

C. Recommendations
Having considered the 2005/6 Annual Report and Financial Statements of the SAPS, the Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security makes the following recommendations:

- The following amendments should be incorporated into future Annual Reports (beginning with the 2006/07 Annual Report) to ensure ease of analysis:
- SAPS should clearly identify within the relevant tables, whether the particular target has been met or not met.
* The SAPS Planning Information for each year contains targets additional to those reported on the Estimates of National Expenditure (ENE) and the Annual Report. The Annual Report for each year should report on progress in meeting all targets outlined in the Planning Information document, and not only on those reported in the ENE. Information on Programme 1 should also be reported, even if this is not a Treasury requirement at this point.
* The quality control process must be improved to ensure that there are no errors in the Report.
* The SAPS should identify progress in meeting the relevant priorities for that year as identified by the President in his State of the Nation Address.

- The South African Police Service has a system in place whereby it can monitor all transactions and developments at station level in terms of expenditure. Full access should be granted to National Treasury to access this system so that it can fulfil a proactive and comprehensive oversight role over expenditure at local, provincial and national level. Once National Treasury has access to the system, they will be called by the Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security on a biannual basis to provide oversight reports on expenditure trends by the Department of Safety and Security at local, provincial and national level.

- The Department has agreed to include information on conviction rates in the next and all subsequent Annual Reports.

- The SAPS should liaise with the Department of Justice to ensure that their respective measurements for conviction rates are synchronised.
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- The Department has agreed to differentiate in the 2006/07 Annual Report and all subsequent reports between the number of new vehicles which are allocated nationally to Head Office and those that will be operational in the provinces in other facilities. The Report should differentiate between vehicles that are allocated to the divisions that operate in the provinces and those that are allocated to stations.

- The SAPS should ensure that they have a system in place to ensure the fair distribution of vehicles at station level. The SAPS must report in writing to the Committee within the first parliamentary quarter of 2007/08 on progress made to monitor the distribution of vehicles at local level.
- The Committee notes the concern raised by National Treasury in terms of the slow expenditure rate of the SAPS for capital assets in 2006/07. This is a particular concern in that the Department is now responsible for using the devolved funds from the Department of Public Works for building and maintenance. The SAPS should provide a quarterly written report to the Committee on progress made in utilising funds for capital assets and include in this report a status report on the building and maintenance projects of the SAPS for that quarter. The Portfolio Committee may call in National Treasury at any point during the year to provide further information on SAPS expenditure patterns.

- The SAPS should provide a written report to the Committee, by the first day of the first parliamentary session in 2007, on whether the stations identified in the 2005/06 Report which were meant to commence at the beginning of 2006/07 have commenced. In addition, the SAPS should identify those stations outlined in the 2005/06 Report which were expected to be completed in the 2006/07 financial year and identify those that have not reached. their target completion dates.

- The SAPS must provide the Portfolio Committee with a list of trained Designated Firearm Officers (DFOs) per province and per police station. The report must identify those police stations which do not have trained DFOs. This written report must be given to the Portfolio Committee by the first day of the first parliamentary session in 2007.

- The SAPS must provide the Portfolio Committee with a report identifying the number of women who attended the various training courses on offer during 2005/06 and the percentage of places that were filled by women on each of these courses as well as the number of women who were trained as trainers. This written report must be given to the Portfolio Committee by the first day of the first parliamentary session in 2007.

. The SAPS must 'provide feedback in writing on promotions and the gender breakdown in terms of levels at the Kagiso police station. This written report must be given to the Portfolio Committee by the first day of the first parliamentary session in 2007.

The National Secretariat
In respect to the National Secretariat, the Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security makes the following recommendations:

* In the light of the constitutional function of the Secretariat which is to provide civilian oversight capability on the governance, service delivery and resourcing of the SAPS, the Committee recommends that the National Secretariat (which is responsible to the Minister of Safety and Security) receives a separate budget vote. The Secretariat cannot effectively play a monitoring and oversight role if it receives money from the Department, and if it is up to the discretion of the Department as to how much money this body will receive. The Minister of Safety and Security must keep the Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security regularly updated on developments pertaining to this issue.

* In the interim, the Committee would like the SAPS to include a separate section in the 2006/07 and if needed in future Annual Reports pertaining to the performance and finances of the National Secretariat. This will provide the Committee and the public with the information needed to ensure effective oversight over the operational and financial performance of this structure.

* The SAPS should ensure that until the Secretariat receives its own Vote, the Secretariat must be involved in the budgeting and accounting processes of the Department.

* Until the Secretariat receives its own Vote, it its vital that the SAPS ensures that the voted allocation for the Secretariat is based on the sound identification as to how this money will be spent. The Portfolio Committee is concerned that it approved a budget which could not have realistically been spent, considering the situation of the Secretariat. The Secretariat, together with the SAPS will need to provide detailed information to the Committee during the 2007/08 budget process outlining how funds were spent in 2006/07 and how it will realistically spend these funds in the 2007/08 financial year.
* In order to ensure that the Secretariat fulfils is role as a civilian oversight structure, it should be removed from the South African Police Services Act and instead be placed under separate legislation. Members of the Secretariat should fall under the auspices of public service legislation rather than the SAPS Act. The Minister of Safety and Security must keep the Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security regularly updated on developments pertaining to this issue.

* The Secretariat must report to the Committee soon after the tabling of the 2007/08 budget in Parliament, on their revised business plan and proposed budget expenditure for 2007/06, and provide a comprehensive report of their expenditure for the 2006/07 financial year.

* The Secretariat must provide a quarterly written report to Parliament by the 1^st day of each parliamentary session, detailing their expenditure for each financial quarter, in terms of their total allocation.

* The Secretariat must ensure that it fulfils its policy advice function effectively and identifies proactive measures to address current problems, instead of reacting to individual problems as they arise.

D. Conclusion
The Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security recognises the various achievements of the SAPS during the 2005/06 financial year and supports the police in their function of providing security in the country. The Committee will monitor implementation of the recommendations contained in this report.