ATC201125: Budget Review and Recommendation Report of the Portfolio Committee on Police on the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) performance for the 2019/2020 financial year dated 25 November 2020

Police

Budget Review and Recommendation Report of the Portfolio Committee on Police on the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) performance for the 2019/2020 financial year dated 25 November 2020.

 

1.         Introduction

The Money Bills Procedures and Related Matters Amendment Act, (Act 9 of 2009) requires that a Budget Review and Recommendation Report (BRRR) be tabled in October every year. This year has been different because the Minister of Finance agreed to exemptions to allow departments to hand in their Annual Reports in the middle of November 2020. This was primarily because of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the business of Parliament and government. The Portfolio Committee held a preliminary annual report assessment hearing on 14 October 2020 and the BRRR hearings on 18 November 2020.  The Portfolio Committee on Police, having considered the 2019/20 Annual Report of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) reports as follows:   

 

1.1        Mandate of the Committee

The mandate of the Committee therefore is to fulfil its constitutional function to:

• Pass legislation;
• Scrutinise and oversee executive action and the organs of state including the South African Police Service (SAPS), the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service (CSPS), the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) and the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA);
• Facilitate public participation and involvement in the legislative and other processes; and
• Engage, participate and oversee international treaties and protocols.

 

1.2        Purpose of the Budget Review and Recommendation Report

In terms of Section 5 of the Money Bills Amendment Procedures and Related Matters Act, No.

9 of 2009 the National Assembly, through its Committees, must annually compile Budgetary

Review and Recommendations reports (BRRR) that assess service delivery and financial

performance of departments and may make recommendations on forward use of resources. The

BRRR is also a source document for the Committees on Appropriations when considering and

making recommendations on the Medium Term.

The Money Bills Amendment Procedures and Related Matters Act, section 5 (3) highlights

focus areas on the budgetary review and recommendation report as:

• Providing an assessment of the department’s service delivery performance given available resources;
• Providing an assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency of the departments use and forward allocation of available resources; and
• Including recommendations on the forward use of resources.

 

This report is structured as follows:

Section 1: Mandate of the Committee. This sections sets out the mandate of the Committee, the purpose of this report (Budgetary Review and Recommendation Report) and the process to develop this report.

 

Section 2: Overview of key policy focus areas. This section includes the policy determinations of the National Development Plan (NDP), Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF), Annual Performance Plan (APP) and Strategic Plan (2020 -2024) priorities stated by the President during his State of the Nation Address (SONA), the Medium Term Strategic Framework and key departmental policy areas and key priorities of the Portfolio Committee on Police for the 2019/20 financial year. 

 

Section 3: Report of the Auditor-General of SA (AGSA). This section provides an explanation for the non-inclusion of the AGSA Report. 

 

Section 4: Performance overview. This section provides an overview of Departmental performance on predetermined key performance indicators and targets.

 

Section 5: Committee observations: This section provides a summary of the observations made by the Committee during the 2019/20 Quarterly Report hearings.

 

Section 6: Committee recommendations

 

2.         OVERVIEW OF KEY FOCUS AREAS

 

2.1        The National Development Plan (NDP)

The National Development Plan sets out the policy for policing and the country’s development agenda until 2030. Amongst the key themes for policing, the NDP is clear on the type of policing changes that are needed for policing to be effective and professional.

The NDP lists five priorities for policing in its Vision 2030 scenario:

 

1) Strengthen the Criminal Justice System

2) Make the Police Service Professional

3) Demilitarise the Police

4) Build Safety Using an Integrated Approach

5) Increase Community Participation in Safety 

 

Strengthening the criminal justice system is an imperative requirement for the public to have confidence in the police and ensure greater safety and it speaks to the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) Outcome 3: “All people are and feel safe.”  Given that 2020 was the start of the MTSF for 2020-2024, the performance and delivery of the target outcomes have been adjusted. The CJS must provide swift, equitable and fair justice in criminal matters and effectively deter crime on a sustainable basis is also closely linked to the NDP and forms one of the five focus areas of the NDP.

 

2.2        Medium Term Strategic Framework (2019-2024)

The MTSF (2019-2024) is the implementation and monitoring framework for the NDP and is premised on three foundational pillars: a strong and inclusive economy, capable South Africans and a capable developmental state.

 

The MTSF proposes that the focus should be on implementation through getting all three spheres of government to work collaboratively. A district development model will be implemented to coordinate implementation at local level. The new model bridges the gap between the three spheres of government to ensure better coordination, coherence and integration of government planning and interventions.

There are seven priorities laid out in the MTSF as follows:

• Priority 1: Capable, Ethical and Developmental State
• Priority 2: Economic Transformation and Job Creation
• Priority 3: Education, Skills and Health
• Priority 4: Consolidating the Social Wage through Reliable and Quality Basic Services
• Priority 5: Spatial Integration, Human Settlements and Local Government
• Priority 6: Social Cohesion and Safer Communities
• Priority 7: A Better Africa and World

 

The seven priorities are further linked to 81 outcomes, 337 interventions and 561 indicators.

The IPID contributes to Priority 1 and Priority 6.

 

Priority 6 proposes the important deliverables of fighting corruption through holding officials of government to account; Effectively defended, protected, safeguarded and secured communities through strengthening measures to protect borders and ports of entry; Reducing organised crime through reducing drug syndicates through the implementation of the Narcotics Intervention Strategy and the revised National Drug Master Plan;Reducing the levels of serious organised crime through the successful closure of serious organised crime project investigations and the reduction of  organised criminal groups and gangs (including the implementation of the National Anti-Gang Strategy); Reducing levels of contact crime through a reduction of crimes against women and children, implementing the draft integrated crime and violence prevention strategy after consultation, strengthened community partnerships, increased police visibility and increased trust in the police.  

 

2.3        State of the Nation priorities

The President, in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) has developed seven priorities for the new administration during the MTSF period:

 

1.         Economic transformation and job creation;

2.         Education, skills and health;

3.         Consolidating the social wage through reliable and quality basic services;

4.         Spatial integration, human settlements and local government;

5.         Social cohesion and safe communities;

6.         A capable, ethical and developmental state; and

7.         A better Africa and World.

 

During the SONA speech, the President outlined the following priorities with respect to policing:

• Violent crime is at least halved over the next decade;
• Increase police visibility by employing more policewomen and men, and to create a more active role for citizens through effective community policing forums;
• End gender-based violence and femicide through working towards the establishment of the Gender Based Violence and Femicide Council and a National Strategic Plan;
• Improve success rates in investigating and prosecuting crimes, and to ensure better training and professionalisation throughout the criminal justice system.
• Capacitating and equipping the police and court system to support survivors of gender-based violence; and
• Implementation of the National Anti-Gang Strategy and the revised National Drug Master Plan;

 

2.4        Ministerial Priorities

The Minister of Police, Hon Bheki Cele highlighted the following policing priorities for 2019/20:

1. The IPID must continue to execute its mandate and ensure professionalisation of police service to restore the public confidence in the police service.
2. The IPID must expedite and prioritise the investigations of rape and death by police officers within a reasonable time frame.
3. The IPID is rooting out any form of transgression of the law in the ranks of SAPS and Municipal Police Services.
4. The IPID must speed up its investigations to ensure that those who are under investigation are brought before the courts speedily and expeditiously.
5. The IPID should implement its legislative mandate of its investigation of any alleged police misconduct and corruption independently so, without fear, without favour nor prejudice.

 

2.5        IPID Priorities

The IPID have tabled the following priorities for the 2019/20 financial year:

1. Finalise the challenges when it comes to accommodation for its National Office.
2. Commitment to conduct independent and impartial investigations.
3. Continue to investigate high impact cases such as corruption, systemic corruption, death in custody, death as a result of police action, rape by police officer whether on or off duty and rape in police custody, and bring errant police officers to book.
4. The IPID should developed its own capacity to fully investigate cases, including the technical, forensic and ballistic side of its investigations
5. The full implementation of Section 23 of the IPID Act, which would bring the salaries and benefits of our investigators on par with those of SAPS detectives.
6. Prioritise the ICT Infrastructure Plan, which includes Network Upgrade, Information Security Upgrade and procurement of End User equipment
7. Align the IPID programmes with the various strategic frameworks that guide IPID’s policy positions.
8. The prioritisation of the IPID Amendment Bill will among others ensure the expansion of IPID oversight role over the police services by including other law enforcement agencies such as Provincial Traffic, Road Traffic ManagementCorporation (RTMC), Western Cape Law enforcement and Regional/Local Municipal Police.

 

 

3.         REPORT OF THE AUDITOR –GENERAL OF SOUTH AFRICA (AGSA)

The IPID received an unqualified audit opinion. The AG did not make any material findings on performance, but made material finding in compliance to legislation.

The AG raised one emphasis on matters in the 2019/20 financial year, this was:

• Payables not recognised: Payables not recognised of R4 902 000 exceeded the payment terms of 30 days, as required in Treasury regulation 8.2.3. This amount in turn exceeds the R43 000 of voted funds to be surrendered by R4 902 000 as per the statement of financial performance. The amount of R4 902 000 would therefore have constituted unauthorised expenditure had the amounts been paid in time.

 

3.1        Material findings on compliance with legislation

            Expenditure Management

• Effective steps were not taken to prevent irregular expenditure as required by section 38(1)(c)(ii) of the PFMA and Treasury Regulation 9.1.1. The majority of the irregular expenditure disclosed in the financial statements was caused by non-compliance with procurement processes.

 

• Effective steps were not taken to prevent the overspending on cost of employees to the amount of R19.4 million as required by section 3 of the Appropriation Act, 2019 and TR 6.3.1(a) & (d), resulting in irregular expenditure. The overspending is as a result of the provisions of section 23 of the IPID Act, which requires IPID investigators to be paid the same as SAPS detectives. The overspending on compensation of employees did not result in the overspending on the vote or main division of the vote because the Department reduced planned spending in goods and services and capital expenditure line items.

 

• Some payments were not made within 30 days or an agreed period after receipt of an invoice, as required by Treasury Regulation 8.2.3. This was mainly due to delayed internal processes; and budgetary constraints experienced by the Department during the last quarter.

 

3.2        Internal control deficiencies

• Management did not implement adequate record keeping controls to ensure that accurate, complete and relevant information is available and retrievable on a timely manner to support compliance with key legislation.
• Management did not implement adequate controls to review and monitor compliance with the applicable laws and regulations, resulting in irregular expenditure being incurred, and payments not made within 30 days.

 

 

4.         SERVICE DELIVERY AND PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW 2019/20

 

4.1        FINANCIAL OVERVIEW

4.1.1 Overall expenditure and performance

Overall, the performance of the Department declined during the 2019/20 financial year. The Department achieved 72% on predetermined targets compared to 82.8% in the previous financial year. The decline was most noticeable in the Administration Programme that recorded a significant decline from 86% in 2018/19 to 33% in 2019/20. The performance ofthe Compliance and Stakeholder Management Programme remained at 100% in 2019/20 and 2018/19. The IPID introduced a new (separate) programme in 2019/20, namely the Legal and Investigation Advisory Services Programme that achieved 71% of its performance targets.

 

Graph 1: Overall performance in 2017/18 to 2019/20

                                                                                   

At the end of the 2019/20 financial year, the Directorate had spent R336.6 million or 99.9 per cent of its Adjusted Appropriation budget of R336.7 million. As such, the Directorate recorded underspending of R43 000 or 0.1 per cent of its budget at the end of the financial year. At year-end, the IPID overspent on its Compensation of Employees budget with R19.3 million, which is recorded as irregular expenditure.

 

The underspending on goods and services was mainly on minor assets (R7.3 million) while the underspending on payments for capital assets was mainly on machinery and equipment (R4.6 million). For both items, the underspending was due to delays in the Directorate relocating to new office accommodation which was planned for 2019/20 but did not realise due to a legal dispute between the Directorate (and the Department of Public Works) and the owner of the Directorate’s current office accommodation about its current lease agreement (City Forum building). As a result, costs associated with the relocation such as the procurement of new office furniture and computer equipment did not materialise thus explaining the preliminary underspending recorded on minor assets and machinery and equipment.

 

The underspending on transfers and subsidies was mainly recorded on transfers to departmental agencies and accounts (non-business entities) (R86 000) due to delayed invoices from the service provider for the renewal of TV licence fees for the two-way radios that are used by investigators.

 

4.1.2     Irregular expenditure

The Department incurred irregular expenditure amounting to R32.8 million during the 2019/20 financial year, R35.9 million was carried over from the previous financial year, and R30 million from previous financial years. The closing balance for irregular expenditure was R98.8 million at the end of 2019/20.

The Department recorded the following irregular expenditure in the last two financial years (amongst others):

• The North Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) declared the lease contract for the head office building (City Forum) unlawful in 2015, but was still paid by the Department (R32.82 million).
• Overspending on compensation of employees (R19.3 million).
• Appointment of Legal Services without following Supply Chain Management (SCM) processes (R15.2 million). These funds were spent on the legal action by the previous Executive Director (Mr McBride) against the Minister of Police.

 

4.1.3     Unauthorised expenditure

The Department did not incur any unauthorised expenditure in the 2019/20 financial year. The reported amount of R891 000 reflecting in the 2019/20 financial statements consists of prior over-expenditure by the then Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) in Programme 3 and 2 for the financial year 2005/06 and 2008/09 respectively. The Department made a submissionwith the supporting documents requesting the authorisation of the disclosed amount since been submitted to SCOPA through National Treasury.

 

4.1.4     Fruitless and wasteful expenditure

During the year under review, the IPID incurred R93 000 in fruitless and wasteful expenditure, of which R3 000 was written off. The Department has historic fruitless and wasteful expenditure of R3.236 million that emanated from previous financial years. In 2019/20, the bulk of the historic thereof was written off (R3.202 million from R3.236 million). At year-end, the IPID had a closing balance of R125 000.

 

4.1.5     Claims against the Department

In 2017/18, the Department had a contingent liability of R87.9 million allowed for civil claims against the Department. During the 2018/19 financial year, the Department incurred liabilities of R9.250 million and paid R41.018 million in liabilities. This resulted in a reduction in the contingent liability to R56.200 million at year-end. The Department further reduced its contingent liability to R49.8 million in 2019/20. During the year, the Department incurred R2.8 million in new claims against the Department.

 

4.2        EXPENDITURE AT PROGRAMME LEVEL

4.2.1     Programme 1: Administration

At the end of the 2019/20 financial year, the Administration Programme had spent 99.99 per cent of its available budget of R87.1 million, thus recording preliminary underspending of R9000.

At economic classification level, the Programme recorded underspending on:

• Transfers and subsidies (R6 000), of which about half (R3000) was recorded on transfers to municipal bank accounts. Planned expenditure associated with the registration of vehicle licences for the Directorate’s new fleet did not materialise as the vehicles were only procured in March 2020 thus delaying registration thereof until the first month (April) of the new financial year (2020/21).

 

4.2.2     Programme 2: Investigation and Information Management.

At the end of the 2019/20 financial year, the Investigation and Information Management Programme had spent 100 per cent of its available budget of R233.4 million.

 

According to National Treasury, although no under or over spending was recorded at programme level; analysis of spending at economic classification level suggests that this programme recorded preliminary overspending of R19.4 million on compensation of employees. This overspending was due to the implementation of section 23 of the IPID Act (2011).

 

The overspending on compensation of employees was offset by preliminary underspending of R14.7 million on goods and services and R4.6 million on machinery and equipment. This underspending was because of delays in the Directorate relocating to new office accommodation due to an ongoing legal dispute with the landlord of its current office accommodation (City Forum building). Note: This dispute was not resolved in the first quarter of the 2020/21 financial year. The Directorate and the DPW are working to resolve the dispute with the landlord as soon as possible.

 

4.2.3     Programme 3: Legal and Investigation Advisory Services.

At the end of the 2019/20 financial year, the Legal and Investigation Advisory Services Programme hadspent R5.3 million or 99.4 per cent of its available budget, thus recording preliminary underspending of R33 000.

 

At economic classification level, preliminary underspending was recorded on goods and services (R33 000), mainly on travel and subsistence (R18 000) due to savings realised against the travel budget which had been set aside for the office of a vacant Director post. As the Director post was only filled in the last quarter of the financial year, the Directorate realised savings against this budget.

 

4.2.4     Programme 4: Compliance Monitoring and Stakeholder Management

At the end of the 2019/20 financial year, the Compliance Monitoring and Stakeholder Management Programme recorded preliminary underspending of R4000. The underspending was mainly recorded on goods and services (R3 000), specifically on travel and subsistence due to savings realised as a result of a senior management post being vacant for longer than anticipated. At the end of 2019/20, the Programme recorded total expenditure of R10.8 million.

 

4.3        SERVICE DELIVERY PERFORMANCE

The Department’s performance regressed in 2019/20 compared to the previous financial year. In 2018/19, the Department achieved 82.8% of its performance targets, which was the best performance since the Department came into operation in 2012. In 2019/20, the Department achieved 70% of its performance targets. Despite the low performance rate over the past seven financial years, the Department continuously spent its annual budgets.

 

 

4.3.1     Administration programme:

The Administration Programme achieved two from six performance indicator targets, which represents 33.3% of targets achieved, which a significant decline in performance from the previous financial year in which 85.7% of targets were achieved.

The Department identified the following strategies to overcome underperformance:

• Review the Technical Indicator Description (TID) to cover the audit process methodology in respect of late submission of management responses.
• Review mitigation plans in the new strategic risk register for 2020/21 to be realistic and within the Department’s control.
• Establish and ICT Steering Committee to play an oversight role at an operational level to assist the Department in addressing ICT operational challenges and monitor progress.

 

At the end of the 2019/20 financial year, the Administration Programme had spent 99.99 per cent of its available budget of R87.1 million, thus recording preliminary underspending of R9000. The main cost drivers for the financial year were payments made on fleet services, property payments, audit costs, operating leases and legal costs. In addition, the bulk of budget was also spent on Information Communication Technology (ICT) related activities such as renewal of various licenses, data lines, mainframe services, internet services and upgrading of ICT infrastructure.

 

4.3.2     Investigations and Information Management:

The Programme achieved 12 from 16 performance targets in the 2019/20 financial year, which represents an achievement rate of 75%.

During 2019/20, 5 640 cases were reported to the IPID, which is a decrease of 3% compared to the previous financial year (189 cases fewer). The figure below shows that the largest numerical decrease was in complaints of the discharge of official firearm(s) (86 fewer cases) and cases of other criminal matters recorded the largest percentage decrease (-49%).

IPID has experienced an overall decrease of 189 (3%) compared to the 2019/2020 financial year intake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 1: IPID Intake case comparison

 

Source: IPID 2019/20 Annual Report

 

The majority of the cases reported were within Section 28(1) (a) to (h). Of this figure, 3 820 were assault cases, 684 were cases of complaints of discharge of an official firearm(s), 392 were cases of deaths as a result of police action followed by 237 cases of death in policecustody. The province that received the highest number of cases was the Western Cape with 1 197 cases, followed by Gauteng with 993 cases and KwaZulu-Natal with 729 cases.

 

Of the 237 cases of death in police custody, most were because of suicide (hanging). In 2019/20, 71 persons in police custody committed suicide by hanging themselves. Due to the scope of the problem, the IPID conducted a comparative analysis of suicide by hanging. The analysis found that most provinces experienced a decrease in the number of suicide victims in police custody, except Northern Cape, Mpumalanga and Limpopo that experienced an increase. Items such as clothing and blankets were the main instruments used to commit suicide. The IPID noted with concern that suicide victims used other prohibited items such as rope, shoelaces and belts.

 

According to IPID, it finalised 2 269 cases (decision-ready) of the total case intake of 5 640 cases, which is a 40% completion rate. This should be of serious concern to the Committee. Furthermore, the IPID reports that it has a total workload of 13 255 cases (backlog and current), of which 3 889 cases were decision-ready. Thus, only 29% of all cases were decision-ready by the end of 2019/20.

The IPID made 2 443 criminal recommendations to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for decision, of which 1 594 of referrals are still waiting for response, prosecution declined for 785 cases, 55 cases to be prosecuted and 9 cases were withdrawn.

The IPID made 2 616 recommendations to SAPS during the period under review, which comprised of 870 recommendations where the IPID recommended to SAPS to discipline its member(s) and 1 746 recommendations where the IPID recommended no disciplinary action to SAPS member(s).

 

The IPID made 106 recommendations to MPS during the period under review, which comprises of 33 recommendations where the IPID recommended to MPS to discipline its member(s) and 73 recommended no disciplinary action to MPS member(s). The majority of negative recommendations were to the Tshwane Metro Police Department (19 recommendations) followed by Johannesburg Metro Police (6 recommendations) and Ekurhuleni Metro Police (4 recommendations).

During a recent Committee meeting (14 October 2020), the Executive Director indicated that the NPA declined to prosecute in some cases due to the quality of investigations.

 

The table below shows performance on the mandatory cases for investigation that are decision-ready (finalised) against predetermined cases, but also the number of case intakes for the 2019/20 financial year.

 

Table 2: Performance on selected performance indicators

Section of IPID Act	Investigated	2019/20 Target	2019/20 Achieved	Deviation	2018/19 Comments on reported achievements
28(1)(a)	Number of deaths in police custody cases that are decision-ready	150	174	24	Target exceeded
28(1)(b)	Number of deaths as a result of police action cases that are decision-ready	130	141	11	Target exceeded
28(1)(c)	Number of complaint of the discharge of official firearms(s) cases that are decision-ready	150	257	107	Target exceeded
28(1)(d)	Number of rape by police officer (on or off duty) cases that are decision-ready	69	90	21	Target exceeded
28(1)(e)	Number of rape in police custody cases that are decision-ready	10	8	-2	Target not achieved.
28(1)(f)	Number of torture cases that are decision-ready	45	62	17	Target exceeded
28(1)(f)	Number of assault cases that are decision-ready	2000	1 461	-539	Target not achieved
28(1)(g)	Number of corruption cases that are decision-ready	60	35	-25	Target not achieved
28(1)(h)	Number of other criminal matter(s) and misconduct cases that are decision-ready	40	10	-30	Target not achieved
28(2)	Number of systemic corruption cases that are decision-ready	3	4	1	Target exceeded

Source: IPID 2019/2020 Annual Report

 

The Department identified the following strategy to overcome areas of underperformance:

• The training interventions will be prioritised in the 2020/2021 financial year.
• The investigation of outstanding cases is ongoing and will be finalised in the 2020/21 financial year.

At the end of the 2019/20 financial year, the Investigation and Information Management Programme had spent 100 per cent of its available budget of R233.4 million. Although the Programme did not record overall over expenditure, Compensation of employees overspent by R19.367 million. This budget allocation was R164 million and the Department spent R183.3 million at year-end, which is recorded as irregular expenditure. The Department offset the overspending by underspending of R14.7 million on goods and services and R4.6 million on machinery and equipment. This underspending was because of delays in the Directorate relocating to new office accommodation due to legal dispute with the property owner of its current office accommodation (City Forum building). In October 2020, the IPID indicated that the new property owner confirmed that, by 04 December 2020, the new building will be fit for occupation.

 

4.3.3     Programme 3: Legal and Investigation Advisory Services

At the end of the 2019/20 financial year, the Legal and Investigation Advisory Services Programme achieved five from seven performance targets, giving the Programme an achievement rate of 71.4 per cent.

At the end of the 2019/20 financial year, the Legal and Investigation Advisory Services Programme had spent R5.3 million or 99.4 per cent of its available budget, thus recording preliminary underspending of R33 000. Travel and Subsistence remained the cost driver of the Programme.

At economic classification level, preliminary underspending was recorded on goods and services (R33 000), mainly on travel and subsistence (R18 000) due to savings realised against the travel budget which had been set aside for the office of a vacant Director post. Asthe Director post was only filled in the last quarter of the financial year, the Directorate realised savings against this budget.

 

4.3.4     Compliance Monitoring and Stakeholder Management:

The Programme achieved a second consecutive achievement rate of 100% on performance targets. In 2019/20, the Programme achieved seven from seven performance targets. Furthermore, the Programme exceeded the performance targets by a wide margin.

 

At the end of the 2019/20 financial year, the Compliance Monitoring and Stakeholder Management Programme recorded underspending of R4000. The underspending was mainly recorded on goods and services (R3 000), specifically on travel and subsistence due to savings realised as a result of a senior management post being vacant for longer than anticipated. At the end of 2019/20, the Programme reported overall actual expenditure of R10.831 million (99.95% of available budget).

 

4.4        HumanResource Management

At the end of the 2019/20 financial year, the Directorate had 360 filled posts against the approved Human Resource Budget Plan (HRBP) annual target of 428 posts. This resulted in 68 vacant funded posts. The Administration and Investigation and Information Management programmes recorded the highest number of vacant posts, showing vacancies of 20 and 40 posts, respectively.

According to National Treasury, some of the vacant posts were as a result of the Directorate’s decision to delay the creation of new posts in line with its planned new structure in order to be able to reprioritise the funds set aside for this purpose towards the implementation of section 23 of the IPID Act (2011).

During 2019/20, the Department appointed a consulting firm with a project team of 17 persons to conduct ‘Internal Audit Review Services for ICT’ to a total contract value of R442 428.

 

5.         COMMITTEE OBSERVATIONS

The Portfolio Committee on Police made the following observations on the IPID performance:

Under-performance and under-funding

The Committee noted that the IPID was under-performing and it was under-funded. It simply did not have sufficient investigators to complete the investigations that was required and there are significant backlogs. Members pointed out that IPID cannot get to all the cases in a particular timeframe to ensure accountability. The rising number of cases is indicative of police impunity and the inability of the IPID to hold the police to account. Committee Members also noted that there were 2608 cases and only 728 decision-ready cases. The Committee wanted to know what measures the Executive Director (ED) was going to take to ensure the IPID gets more funding in order to ensure that the IPID holds the SAPS to account.

There was also a serious under-performance in the Administration Programme attaining only 33% of its targets. This was concerning and the Committee wanted to know what the IPID would be doing about it. 

National Prosecutions Authority (NPA) decisions

The Committee raised concern as to the reasons for the great number of decisions of the NPA to decline to prosecute IPID cases. The breakdown of cases does not reflect the reasons for the high number and IPID’s reasons are insufficient. The Committee required answers and wanted to know if the IPID can appeal when the NPA declines to prosecute. It was surprising to see convictions for rape of less than ten years for police officers. Members stated that convictions rates for police officers involved in crimes such as rape should be stiffer and harsher as there are minimum sentences, as society expects much more from police officers.

Members also questions whether the IPID would be taking steps to reopen and re-investigate cases declined for prosecution by the NPA.     

Under-Performance: Administration programme

The Committee flagged the under-performance in the Administration programme as the IPID only managed to achieve three out of seven targets and wanted to know what the reasons were. Members questioned the manner in which IPID was setting targets and whether they were aware that they are setting the targets too low. This was possibly the reason why they were exceeding some targets. In addition, there was over-spending in the Compensation of Employees programme and Members wanted information on who received bonuses.

Irregular Expenditure

Members noted that the Irregular Expenditure amounted to R32.8 million during the 2019/20 financial year, and wanted to know if the Department had met with the National Treasury commence negotiations on condonation.

Under-performance:  Investigations and management programme

The Committee noted that that the Investigations and management programme under-performed and questioned whether the Department implemented Section 23 for investigators. Members wanted clarity on whether the implementation of Section 23 has attracted and retained investigators. In addition, there was a backlog of cases and Members questioned what the plan was to deal with it. It was pointed out that the IPID investigators have been killed and Members wanted answers on what measures IPID has in place to protect investigators.

The Committee also pointed out that over the years, the Department has managed to send its budget, but there has been continuous under-performance. Some of the targets that have not been achieved including investigators receiving specialised training, and they should be trained properly. Members wanted the IPID to explain why investigators were not trained.

Committee members also pointed out that the IPID indicated what the plan was for hiring retired detectives was. Members pointed out that Executive Director reported the IPID planned to hire retired detectives and they wanted to know what progress was made.

Disbandment of the Special Investigations Unit

The Committee pointed out that there were disturbing reports that the IPID had disbanded the Special Investigations Unit after an expose by a television programme. Members noted that there were allegations by the Helen Suzman Foundation and the Public Servants Association that it appeared as if the IPID did not want the Unit because it was doing good work. 

 

Implementation of Section 23

The Portfolio Committee questioned whether the IPID has fully implemented section 23 of the IPID Act for investigators and whether all pension fund liabilities were settled in full.

Prioritisation of cases

Members questioned how the IPID was prioritising cases and how they decided which cases to prioritise. There were many cases during the lockdown and the Committee questioned what progress was made with the backlog of investigations. It was concerning that under Programme 4 it was reported that a death in police custody saw a police officer receive a R2000 fine. Members found that this was unacceptable as there could not be separate justice for police officers.

IPID Office Accommodation

The Committee questioned the fact that the IPID office accommodation has not been resolved after litigation spanning a number of years. Members wanted information who was litigating and who was paying the expenses and whether the Department of Public Works was involved.

IPID Toll-Free reporting line

The Committee welcomed the launch of the IPID Toll-Free reporting line and urged the public to use the line to report police brutality. The IPID management was applauded for the innovation.

IPID Amendment Bill

The Committee questioned whether the IPID Amendment Bill will include all Metro Police and Law Enforcement officers.

ICT Plan

Members questioned the fact the fact that the ICT plan target was not achieved and the IPID was asked to provide reasons for the non-attainment of the target.  

IPID responses

The Executive Director of the IPID indicated that an improvement in performance will only be shown in Q3 of the 2020/21 financial year. There were areas, which the management of IPID has identified which requires improvement. The IPID management has decided to recruit retired SAPS Detectives to assist with the information and evidence provided in the cases. However, the Chief Financial Officer reported that in view of the National treasury’s recommendations on budget cuts, it did not appear as if the IPID would be getting new vacancies in the short term as it has to reprioritise the budget.

The ED has met with the NPA to discuss the many decisions by the NPA to decline prosecutions and was informed by the National Director of Public Prosecutions that the quality of IPID investigations was a problem. In order to respond to the problem, the IPID will be introducing a team of retired SAPS Detectives to manage the backlog of investigations. These detectives will scrutinise the cases for evidence prior to cases being submitted to the NPA to quality assure investigations. In addition, the IPID wanted to close all loopholes and therefore utilise people in different loopholes.

The IPID has already had several engagements with the civil society organisation, African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum (APCOF) and are exploring the issue of a barometer in the screening in cases to allow for prioritisation of cases. This will assist the IPID and it will be a long-term arrangement.

The IPID reported that it will hire legal quality assurers to prevent the declining of cases by the NPA. It intends to flights adverts for legal people to apply. The plan is to reopen old cases which have been declined and a monthly performance plan has been developed with targets.

The IPID reported that Section 23 which allows for parity in remuneration with SAPS detectives has been partially implemented, including for members who have exited IPID and this payment amounted to R9 million. The pension liabilities have been paid.

As far as backlog cases are concerned, the IPID is receiving a high intake of cases and there is a total of 9112 active cases for 2020.  There are an additional 21 284 cases which are regarded as decision-ready.  Many of the cases are in court, there are sentences that the IPID were able to secure and there were cases sent to the SAPS for internal disciplinary sanction.

In order to deal with the capacity in Department and under-resources in staffing, the IPID will engage the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) to engage law and forensics students to join IPID.  The IPID will use the backlog cases as a training ground for the students and it will improve the backlogs.  Where police officers have received low sentences, the IPID will go back and approach the NPA to ask them to review the cases.

The ED informed that it will try and improve performance through the training of members. During the 3rd Quarter, the IPID had planned to do training on the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA) and Prevention of Corrupt Activities Act (PRECCA), but the Justice College did not have space and it was deferred.

During 4th Quarter of 2019/20, the management committee took a decision that it would not be ideal during the Festive Season and there were many cases that needed to be dealt with. A decision was taken to do so during Q1 (2020/21), but prior commencement of new financial year, the COVID-19 pandemic overtook the plans.

Given the IPIDs acute shortage of personnel, a decision was taken that there were more serious cases such as murder; discharge of official firearms; rape; corruption; torture; and a high intake of assault cases which are regarded as serious, and should take priority. The IPID however did highlight delays in DNA and forensic analysis. 

As far as the IPIDs accommodation problems were concerned, the Department spent 100% of the budget, but it was not linked to performance. The office accommodation has been resolved and the new building will be ready for occupation by December. The IPID normally start each new financial year with accruals because of under-funding and the budget is then already reduced.

The IPID reported that the overspending of the budget was because of the implementation of Section 23 and not because of bonuses.  The Deputy Minister informed the Committee that there was excitement and a new energy amongst investigators because of the payment of the Section 23 court order. 

Further Committee Concerns

After the Department responses, the Committee wanted answers on the under-spending in the Investigations and Information Management programme and the compliance monitoring sub-programme.

Vacant Posts

The Committee noted that there were 38 vacancies in the IPID staff establishment and urged the IPID to fill all vacant posts. While the Committee understood that the Executive Director was new in the post and that she has to be given a chance to rectify things, the IPID must finalise the vacancies.

Over-spending in Legal and Investigation Advisory Services Programme

The Members of the Committee questioned the IPID about the reasons for the overspending in the Legal and Advisory Services programme. Members noted that R15,2 million was overspent for the appointment of legal services and was withdrawn after the finalisation of the audit and what the reason for it was. Members wanted to know if it included the legal fees for the previous Executive Director and what the plan was for recovery. 

Community outreach

The IPID was asked to explain whether they have achieved their targets and ultimate objectives in the Community Outreach programme. 

Inspection of case dockets

The Committee requested information on the inspection of case dockets by the IPID. Members wanted to know how often the dockets are inspected and it was crucial for the executive to make sure that it happens regularly. The Committee wanted to know what measures would be put in place to make it happen.

Record keeping

Members implored the IPID to keep proper records

IPID further responses

The IPID Executive Director reported that the Department incurred underspending in the vacancy rate due to the lockdown period. The Department could not send out adverts but it will do so by Quarter 3.  The ED has visited all the provinces to identify gaps and have found that the Department needs administrative clerks and the entire system is being reviewed. In view of the fact that the IPID wants a case management system that is user-friendly, the Department will advertise posts that will add value.

The under-performance provides an opportunity to change the posts and the Department has invested in having a Lekgothla and are preparing for handing cases over to the NPA and will review the Standard Operating Procedures.  The IPID has managed to secure the services of a panel of pathologists from Department of Health. It has also started to engage the universities to explore the opportunity to do ballistics testing.

The IPID reported that as far as appointment of legal services costs was concerned, they have to submit requests to State attorney. The IPID appointed the attorneys and these costs were carried by office of state attorney, which disclosed that irregular disclosure. There would be an internal investigation into irregular expenditure and they pursuing it internally.

The Community outreach programme did not happen because of the lockdown period, but the IPID has started to use community radio stations and do media briefs.  Litigation costs is high because the population has become aware of their rights and this has led to an increase in cases. The Department as a result are inundated with legal claims. The ED stated that there is a perception that the state has a bottomless bag of money.  The Contingent Liabilities are soaring and amounts to R72.1 million.

The IPID indicated that it does not have control to how people react to their investigators, and they mitigate their losses by training investigators and SAPS to ensure they are at their best behaviours.

The IPID will advertise for the services of retired detectives (under 65 years of age) and using their services in five provinces: Gauteng, Western Cape, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. The funds will come from savings on the vacancy rates.

The Executive Director requested the Committee to indulgence and allow her to put measures in place to deliver by the end of the 3rd Quarter.

 

6.         COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS

 

1.         The Committee recommends that the Minister and Department fast-tracks the IPID           Amendment Bill by the end of the financial year.

2.         The Committee recommends that the IPID develops an Audit Action-Plan to turn around theunder-performance in the Administration and Investigations and    Management     programmes and make a report available to the Portfolio Committee             before the end of Quarter 3, 2020/21 (31 December 2020).         

3.         The Committee recommends that the IPID implement the decision to improve the             quality of investigations and evidence presented to the NPA in order to prevent the high         rate of decisions to decline prosecutions. The Committee further recommends that the      IPID consider prosecutor-led investigations into police criminality.

4.         The Committee recommends that the IPID finalises criteria for the prioritisation of            cases and seek assistance with the development of such criteria.

5.         The Committee recommends that the IPID finalises its accommodation and moves to      its new offices by the end of 2020. A report should be provided the to the Portfolio    Committee on the new premises, costs and accommodation for all staff.

6.         The Committee recommends that all vacant posts be filled before the end of the             financial year.

7.         The Committee recommends that the IPID management implements the ICT plan before the end of the 2020/21 financial year.

8.         The Committee recommends that the IPID management put in place a docket inspection system with appropriate timeframes for regular inspections of all dockets prior to            finalisation of such dockets.

9.         The Committee recommends the IPID put measures in place to curb overspending in       the Legal and Advisory Services Programme. 

10.        The Committee recommends that it supports the initiative of the Executive Director for    a turnaround of the IPID and will reassess the implementation of plans at the end of the          3rd Quarter of 2020/21.

11.        The Committee recommends that the IPID investigators are sent for training before the    end of the financial year.  

12.        The Committee congratulates the IPID for receiving anunqualified audit with        emphasis of matters and requests that the IPID develops an Audit Response Plan which must be closely managed by the Executive Director and quarterly progress           reports copied to the Committee.

13         The Committee recommends that the IPID develops a comprehensive report on fruitless and wasteful expenditure and make it available to the Committee by the end of January     2021.

The Democratic Alliance and the Economic Freedom Front reserves its rights with respect to adoption of the Report. 

Report to be considered.