South African Police Service Annual Performance Plan 2022/23; with Deputy Minister

NCOP Security and Justice

11 May 2022
Chairperson: Ms S Shaikh (ANC, Limpopo)
Share this page:

Meeting Summary

Police

In a virtual meeting, the South African Police Service presented its Annual Performance Plan and budget allocations for 2022/23. The SAPS also presented on resourcing of provinces and police stations nation-wide.

The SAPS had a Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) budget of approximately R99 billion. This represents 2.7% increase in its budget. The SAPS showed Members a detailed breakdown of the budget. SAPS also told the Committee that National Treasury allocated R5.8 billion in additional funds over the MTEF to rejuvenate and improve policing capacity through the appointment of police trainees and absorption of those who had concluded their training to become constables. The SAPS had also allocated approximately R1.3 billion on baseline activities related to the GBV and the resourcing of FCS Units.

Members asked about how long it takes to repair vehicles. The rise in illegal mining activity in North West was also brought to the attention of the SAPS. Members thought the situation had been left unattended and had caused an increase in murders on mines. Members also raised the issue around gangsterism and how it had gone on unabated. Members also asked about how budget allocations were made per province, and requested that the SAPS break it down for the Committee.
 

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed everyone and thanked the Deputy Minister and all SA Police Service (SAPS) staff for being present in todays meeting. She said the Committee should not waste time and that the presentations could start immediately if the SAPS were ready.

Deputy Minister of Police, Cassel Mathale, thanked the Committee for this opportunity. He said the Minister was currently in a Cabinet meeting and the Head of Hawks would join the meeting late as he was held up in a panel discussion. Lieutenant-General Francinah Vuma, Acting National Commissioner, would lead the presentation on behalf of SAPS.

SAPS Annual Performance Plan 2022/23

SONA priorities impacting on the SAPS in respect of:
• Serious Corruption.
• Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP)
• Protection of Critical Infrastructure
• Internal Stability

Upcoming legislation for 2022/23
• In terms of section 8(3)(d) of the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service Act, 2011 (Act No. 2 of 2011), the Civilian Secretariat for the Police Services (CSPS) is responsible for the presentation of legislation in Parliament, as determined by the Minister of Police.

• The Division: Legal Services works closely with the CSPS on the identification of legislative priorities, the strengthening of effective policing by proposing legislative amendments and the consideration of the practical implications of legislative proposals.

Legislation for introduction during 2022/2023
• The South African Police Service Amendment Bill - It is envisaged that the Bill will be introduced in Parliament during the 2022 parliamentary programme.

• The Bill aims to revise the South African Police Service Act, 1995 by including, inter alia, provisions.

Legislative Priorities for 2022/2023
• The Firearms Control Amendment Bill - The CSPS and SAPS are currently engaging with various stakeholders on the proposed amendments to the Act.

• The Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorists and Related Matters Amendment Bill - The inter-departmental and sectoral discussions within the JCPS cluster are ongoing.

Key considerations impacting the 2022/23 APP
• Two addendums to the APP were developed by the SAPS, which influenced target setting for 2019/20. The Addendum revised the crime targets, in line with the 2019 State of the Nation pronouncement that violent crime would be halved in a decade (2019/20 to 2028/29).

• The Presidency (DPSA) required that all departments review their APPs, based on the anticipated impact of Special Adjustment Budget -  SAPS revised certain targets based on the anticipated impact of COVID-19 and audited actual performance, which was available at the time of the development of the Addendum.

• National Treasury and the DPME have requested that departments maintain consistency in their performance measurement over the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) period.

• The DPME, NT and the DWYPD assessed the SAPS APP through two submissions: 31 October 2021 and 4 February 2022 - The recommendations emanating from the assessments were included in the final version of the SAPS 2022/23 APP.

Resourcing of provinces and police stations that have been prioritised in 2022/23 and over the MTSF
• Provinces with the highest incidence of reported crime have been prioritised in terms of the allocation of baseline budgets.

• As a result of previous Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) baseline decreases in the vote, reprioritisation was performed specifically targeting national competencies in order to allow for an increase in provincial baseline budget allocations.

• The top 30 high contact crime weight stations in the country have been prioritised in terms of resources, which includes budget allocation. Each province also identifies high crime stations and prioritises these stations.

Specific budget allocations for 2022/23
• See presentation attached for breakdown of budget to provinces and specific budget allocations

Recruitment and filling of key vacancies
• Additional funding allocated over the MTEF will allow additional enlistments in 2022/23 and 2023/24 and carry through to the 2024/25 financial year.

• It is expected of the SAPS to manage personnel numbers and to plan human resource processes within the compensation of employees ceiling and budget limits over the MTEF.

• The filling of key vacancies and recruitment processes are being prioritised within the boundaries of discretionary funding, also taking into account the affordability thereof over the MTEF.

• Recruitment in the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) and forensic environments are in process.

The Department has allocated approximately R1.3 billion on baseline activities related to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and the resourcing of FCS Units.

• Approximately R1.3 billion on FCS unitshuman and other resources, which includes operational expenses.

• R30 million on youth, children and vulnerable groups including awareness campaigns.

• In addition to the above, an additional R70 million will be allocated to provinces for prioritisation of GBV response and the strengthening of FCS unit.

Implementation of the Community Policing Strategy
• The Department is estimated to spend R5 million on strategies, imbizos and summits, that will include the implementation of the Community Policing Strategy.

Budget for the implementation of the Firearms Control Act
• An amount of R30 million is estimated to be spent, in addition to baseline allocations, on firearms licencing, destruction and amnesty processes.

SAPS litigation in respect of civil claims and court action brought by SAPS members
• It is estimated that claims to the value of R300 million will be received from the State Attorneys office for litigation action, on behalf of SAPS, for both civil claims and court action brought by SAPS members challenging dismissal/disciplinary action or charges.

MTEF funding analysis
• Personnel is the primary cost driver in the vote: Police and also drive direct operational expenditures.
• Compensation expenditure (78% of the vote) is therefore annually determined from zero, taking into account existing personnel and new personnel where after they are apportioned between programmes.
• Operational expenditures are predominantly goods, services and machinery/equipment in order to perform services.
• Essentially, three budget types exist namely: The compensation budget, the operational budget, and the capital budget.

Spending focus 2022/23
The spending focus (goods, services and capital investment), over the medium-term includes
• Previous reductions in the compensation of employees budget baseline, requires SAPS resource allocation reprioritisation as well as investment in technology;
• Gender-based violence focus and additional emphasis on FCS units;
• Sustain forensic services baseline allocation previously increased to allow for implementation of the amended DNA Bill;
• Sustain the DPCI baseline allocation, as recently increased;
• Professionalising the police service through skills development;
• Capacitation of functionalities pertaining to cybercrime and specialised multi-disciplinary units;
• Investing in capital assets consisting of machinery and equipment, essentially transport assets as well as mobile police stations;
• Focus on other critical items to equip members for effective policing, such as bullet-resistant vests, uniform, etc.; and
• Capacitation of existing Public Order Policing (POPs) units and interventions through deployments.

Departmental spending over the medium term would be in relation to the core programmes with Visible Policing more than 51% weight of the total vote in 2022/23. The Detective Service programme in terms of weight was also a significant portion at more than 20%. Compensation of employees would remain the largest driver of spending, constituting more than 78% of the total budget for 2022/23 providing for remuneration costs and personnel numbers over a period.

Operational expenditures, including goods and services, transfer payments and payments for capital assets, comprise less than 22% of the total budget in 2022/23. The growth rate for the vote from 2021/22 to 2024/25 is 2.7% (with no real growth if inflation is discounted). The average growth rate is affected by substantial budget reductions in the previous MTEF, especially on compensation of employees, but additional funding allocated over the MTEF will eliminate estimated reduced numbers and allow recovery to some extent.

Discussion
Mr G Michalakis (DA, Free State) thanked SAPS for the presentation. There was a serious problem in all provinces regarding police vehicles, a recent response received from the Minister of Police, Mr Bheki Cele, on the time it takes to fix vehicles, indicated that they waited for 130 days in Springfontein, Free State, for a car battery to be replaced, this was meant to take a few hours at most. Minister Cele mentioned that steps were being taken to rectify this problem. He asked what steps were taken, how far SAPS was in taking those steps, and why it took that long for vehicles to be fixed.

This is a serious problem; some police stations in the Free State have half of their vehicles in for repair. Another problem is that police officers do not have driver's licences. Sometimes when vehicles are available, not all of them can be used because not all officers have licenses or there are too few police officers with licenses. He asked what was being done to ensure all SAPS members have driving licenses.

He said there is a real problem of staff shortages. All police stations where the Member has done oversight at have indicated operational staff shortages. He said SAPS needed to find some excess fat to cut and reprioritise to help with operational staff shortages on the ground.

He asked how budget allocations happen per province. The Western Cape is placed fourth on the list although it is a much larger province by population compared to other provinces. The Free State for example has a bigger population than Limpopo but received less. He asked for this to be explained.

The cybercrime unit at the HAWKS has done a great job so far but the Committee knows they are seriously short staffed and some additional expertise could help. He asked how, over the next two or three years, would capacity grow for this unit. He said cybercrimes had become a serious crime and has cost South Africas economy billions. If this problem is to be addressed, then SAPS need to financially capacitate the cybercrimes unit.

Although each province has a priority crimes unit, the Committee was yet to see that these units are tailor-made for each province. This could help solve local issues experienced by communities. He asked if SAPS was open to this idea and why SAPS had not done this yet. He said he knows of police stations in the Free State where police officers must use their own phones because station lines were not working. He asked if the Minister was engaging with Public Works on this matter and what was being done on the state of police stations whose buildings are derelict.

Mr T Dodovu (ANC, North West) thanked the Chairperson and said he has come down with flu and hoped his voice was audible. Crime is a serious problem in this country and has devastating effects on many industries and communities. He said when the white paper on safety and security was adopted in 2016, there was a serious omission about violent extremism or terrorism, there is nothing on how SAPS would deal with terrorism and the white paper itself makes no mention of it. He said terrorism has already arrived in South Africa and fears SAPS was not prepared, there was no action plan in place; even in this presentation, nothing was mentioned. He asked SAPS to look into this as terrorism is a big concern.

He said there is a problem of gangsterism in the North West and this is not the first time he has mentioned this issue to SAPS. The Minister was in North West to speak on the issue, but this is continuing unabated. Gangsters have become so brazen that gangsters attack police at police stations and it seems SAPS was not doing anything to combat this. Linked to this is the problem of zama-zamas, who are reportedly involved with illegal mining and killings on mines. He asked SAPS and the Deputy Minister to give this matter urgent attention as it was unacceptable for communities to live in fear.

The SAPS and DPCI are sitting with 95 cases and most of these cases relate to when the provincial government in North West collapsed. These cases are on maladministration, fraud, and corruption. These are still pending and there is no movement every time SAPS gets asked about this, they have the same response. This has serious implications and SAPS should tell the Committee whether these cases are continuing or are they in the process of being closed. He said there are a lot of cases that should stem from the Zondo Commission, he asked if SAPS and the Hawks have the necessary capacity to not only further investigate these cases but ensure people get arrested.  The SAPS must not come with stories that they do not have budget or capacity to ensure allegations from the Zondo Commission are investigated.

Ms N Nkosi (ANC, Mpumalanga) thanked SAPS for the presentation. Slide 33 addressed the number of firearms stolen and lost. This wont be the first time the Committee asked this question but what measures is SAPS putting in place to reduce this and what consequence management steps are being taken against officers who have lost or reported a stolen firearm. Slide 35 addressed GBV and how SAPS learners are improving their skills and knowledge of GBV, she asked how this was being done: Was it through theory in the curriculum or does SAPS have GBV training strategies, she asked.  She asked if SAPS had a strategy to contain illegal mining.

What programmes or measures were put in place provincially to ensure a decrease in contact crimes and what monitoring and evaluation tools were being utilised? The functionality of police forums was over-emphasised in the SONA address. Does SAPS have specific measures to ensure police forums are functional and what are some of the challenges relating to forums? The SAPS safer cities initiative is in the process of being implemented, SAPS should indicate what success has been achieved. In light of the July unrest, public order policing had been identified as a problem area for SAPS, what measures are being put in place to strengthen public order policing.

Mr E Mthethwa (ANC, KZN) said the Committee did oversight in KZN last month and discovered that there were many issues: There was an issue of stolen vehicles that had been recovered but will stand and take up space at the police station. What measures were in place to take them back to their owners or dispose of them? He said that SAPS’s performance on its targets reduced and asked why this was the case.

On the issue of vehicles lies with procurement and that is the reason it takes so long to fix vehicles, he asked what is being done to solve procurement bottlenecks at SAPS. He said this had caused vehicles with minor issues to sit idle. He asked if there was a budget shortfall for recruitment.

Ms C Visser (DA, North West) supported what the Committee had said so far and did not want to repeat points. Some areas in the North West cases were being thrown out of court even though they were fully investigated and asked why this was the case.

Mr K Motsamai (EFF, Gauteng) said he would not repeat issues but wanted to emphasise that there was a rise in illegal mining in North West, and nothing was being done by SAPS. These activities were happening in broad daylight and SAPS seemed not to care about it.

Mr S Zandamela (EFF, Mpumalanga) said he was covered by colleagues but wanted to ask if SAPS would do more roadblocks, one could drive from Johannesburg to Durban and there would be no roadblocks; even travelling from Nelspruit to Johannesburg. He asked how officers in training were allocated to provinces.

Mr I Sileku (DA, Western Cape) asked how SAPS defined a functional CPF, and what was being done to capacitate CPFs. He said at some police stations officers were not safe and gangsters would actually assault officers at police stations.  He asked what resources were required at its most violent stations. He asked what the current state was of training at SAPS academies.

The Chairperson said the APP indicated there are 21 police stations under construction and there was R422 million budgeted for these police stations. The Moheswhe (sp) police station in Limpopo as well as another station in North West was still to be completed and there was a clear indication that these stations would not be completed as they are not budgeted or mentioned in this APP. She asked for progress and challenges on these stations that still need to be completed and asked for new completion dates. The IPID raised the issue that SAPS did not implement its recommendations. She also asked if the process to include IPID on SAPS disciplinary committee was completed.

There was a 103% increase in irregular expenditure, what was being done to mitigate this. There was a decrease in performance targets and asked why this was the case. What was the current capacity of all forensic units in the country and asked what were the challenges in upgrading stations?

On DPCI the presentation did not do a good job of informing the Committee of its challenges. What were some of the challenges faced by DPCI, what capacity issues did they have and what might be hindering them in executing their mandate? Does DPCI have the budget and staff to perform its functions fully?

Response
Lt. Gen.  Vuma said her colleagues would answer some of the questions she does not cover. There have been groups delegated to the provinces to deal with procurement issues especially around vehicle maintenance, and National Treasury had also given provinces additional expertise and resources. She said it was standard procedure for SAPS garages to acquire more batteries than the number of cars in the province and why this matter took so long would be looked into. National Treasury had put a contract in place where all batteries and other spare parts were supposed to be acquired through.

90% of employees at SAPS have driving licenses and only 10% are accommodated without licenses, however Members are prioritised to get their licenses through SAPS academies. The two police stations were delayed because of challenges with the contractor, SAPS took the contractor to court and that held the completion up, these matters had been resolved and the stations were in the process of being completed.

Lt Gen Puleng Dimpane, CFO,  said there were a number of variables that were considered when budget allocations per province occurs. Firstly, budget allocation received from Treasury was considered and limits imposed on that amount by National Treasury to be transferred to provinces. There were also specific and special allocations for provinces and SAPS considered the annual performance plan of each province and their baseline, staff components in each province, unplanned events are also considered and also ask for proposals from provinces, but the budget is mostly shared through equitable share to all provinces.

The SAPS was currently in a process to recover some of its fruitless and wasteful expenditure caused by negligence.  There were verifications and controls being put in place based on the advice of the Auditor-General. The SAPS was doing a lot of work in this space, cleaning up and making sure risk controls were in place and when these controls are breached measures are in place to immediately flag payments. She said irregular expenditure has actually gone done and it can be attributed to the start of this process being implemented. Once all risk controls and verification has been done, irregular expenditure would be hard to occur within SAPS and there would be measures to mitigate it.

Maj Gen Senobia Hankins, Divisional Commissioner Supply Chain Management, said the unfinished police stations in Limpopo and North West, these stations were in the process of being completed as indicated, there was very little work to be done on these stations hence cost is quite low and was part of last years budget and there was no need to include these stations in the new budget. There was just a little bit of work that needed to be done.

On lost and stolen firearms, SAPS does regular parade inspections to physically check and verify firearms and there was a process of signing out firearms. All members also receive holsters and a retention cord which is attached to their firearms. SAPS are issuing members with safes and helps install these at their homes. These safes were inspected on a yearly basis and there was a bi-annual certification being done, meaning all firearms in SAPS were checked and verified with the national office. As soon as a firearm is reported lost there is immediately a liability investigation, and this would confirm whether it was negligence or not, and in that case disciplinary actions are immediately taken. 

Lt Gen Evelyn Ntshinga, Deputy National Commissione: Crime Detection, said that through the NAT-Joints structure, a anti-terrorism strategy was adopted. The NAT-Joints would also monitor the issue of terrorism and the structure would give directive on the matter. Provincial Joints are also monitoring the situation for any outbreaks or instances of terrorism. The SAPS was currently having gangsterism destabilisation operations underway in North West and these included multi-disciplinary operations to combat gangsterism which were being conducted by specialised units.

 Through provincial-joints, the SAPS had identified hotspots for illegal mining and zama-zamas. Operations were currently underway to foil and destabilise these group and activities. The SAPS was not only targeting the runners but was targeting high flyers. There had been numerous arrests and confiscation of specialised equipment used in illegal mining.

On safer cities, SAPS had identified six cities which this programme will be implemented, and SAPS have scheduled meeting with mayors and councils to get by in from municipalities.

Public Order Policing was being strengthened, and the national commissioner had approved an additional 4 000 officers to this unit which would be a much-needed boost for effective public order police, and this would assist in unrest and riots. These officers were specially trained and need special equipment. There was a team in place to handle recovered vehicles either returning them to finding the owner or disposing of them which in itself was a lengthy process. 

The SAPS does random road blocks and vehicles checks at certain points. This was being monitored by SAPSs crime combatting forum. These roadblocks were identified through intelligence operations and were carefully planned. The SAPS cannot disclose the information of where roadblocks would be. The CPFs were functional and receive support from the SAPS in various manners. She said each station had a CPF board which ensures community CPFs are functional. Each of the nine provinces also has CPF boards and these boards were monitored by the national CPF board.

Lt Gen Michael Motlhala, Divisional Commissioner: Visible Policing and Operations, added that police safety had become a concern, but this issue was being addressed. There was budget available for better security and safety measures at police stations and SAPS had identified hotspot areas where these attacks occur most frequently.

He said Nat-joints had learned from the July unrest and better measures were being put in place to not only deal with riots and unrest better but also to foresee them and deal with these situations before they get out of hand. It had been agreed that public order police needed to be capacitated better and, as mentioned before, 4 000 members would be trained to be part of this unit and this number would be increased every financial year. The action plan on GBV had various training methods and activities. Each police station would also have a GBV desk which would deal directly with such cases, these desks would be manned by highly skilled officers.

Lt Gen Vuma said that the SAPS had received budget for compensation of new officers however there was no budget for training. The SAPS will use its baseline to provide for training needs and equipment.

On the SAPS academies, these academies were being managed by the South African National Defence Force, but SAPS had intervened, and the academy was handed over to SAPS. 

Vehicle purchases were solely handled by provinces as they know what their needs are. This might present the case that different stations use different garages to fix their vehicles which might cause delays in getting vehicles fixed because different supply change processes need to be followed for each vehicle that needs repairs.

The Chairperson thanked the SAPS for their presentation and responses.

The meeting was adjourned.
 

Download as PDF

You can download this page as a PDF using your browser's print functionality. Click on the "Print" button below and select the "PDF" option under destinations/printers.

See detailed instructions for your browser here.

Share this page: