Deputy Chairperson, the SA Police Service, SAPS, employees who are entitled to payment of salaries and allowances have been paid up to 29 February 2012. All correctly completed overtime claims which form a proper charge against state monies have been paid. Salary increases in the form of cost of living salary adjustments are paid across the board to all employees.
If there are for some reason officials who did not receive an increase, such exceptions are identified based on complaints received, as well as through system control processes in the form of exception, reporting and reconciliation. Such salary adjustments are effected programmatically, with defined approval processes being in place. Thank you.
Details relating to allegations of evictions of police from premises and steps taken to address the situation 25. Mr T M H Mofokeng (ANC) asked the Minister of Police:
(1) Whether he has been informed of the allegations of evictions of police from their premises as a result of failure to pay rental (a) timeously or (b) at all; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details;
(2) whether such allegations are true; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, (a) what are the reasons for the late payment or failure to pay at all and (b) what steps have been taken to (i) rectify the situation and (ii) prevent such re- occurrence? CO95E
Hon Deputy Chair, the answer to the next question, asked by the hon member Mofokeng, is yes, I have been informed, and last week I spoke about this issue in the National Assembly. I also issued a press statement on the matter.
To reiterate what I said in the National Assembly, the only leased premises from which the SA Police Service, SAPS, was evicted was the Erasmia police station. The reason for this eviction was the fact that the landlord, who is not black economic empowerment, BEE, compliant, was dissatisfied with the lease term of two years offered to him, and not because of nonpayment. The SAPS has never been evicted from its other leased premises for failure to pay rental timeously.
However, we have had lockouts. This was due to nonpayment by the Department of Public Works. I stated last week that whilst we are all aware of the problems in the Department of Public Works, this cannot absolve the management of the SA Police Service of their responsibility to effectively manage lease deals. The SAPS have acknowledged that they have not always informed the Department of Public Works timeously of lease expiries, and this must be addressed.
Over the last two months, I have been engaging with the SAPS management about how they manage their infrastructure, and I have instructed them that effective management of such infrastructure must become one of their priorities for this year. I expect to see a marked difference in how the SAPS manages this infrastructure over the next year, and I have informed management that I will hold them accountable for this. That will include both leased property and the building of new facilities, like police stations and others. Thank you.
Details relating to comprehensive audit report of all premises leased by SAPS and/or on behalf of SAPS
26. Mr T M H Mofokeng (ANC) asked the Minister of Police:
Whether the SA Police Service has a comprehensive audit report of all premises leased (a) by the SAPS and/or (b) on behalf of the SAPS, including their terms and conditions; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? CO97E
Deputy Chair, on hon Mofokeng's question as to whether the SA Police Service has a comprehensive audit report of all premises leased, the answer is yes.
The SAPS conducted its own audit of all premises leased by the Department of Public Works on behalf of the SAPS, even though this is the mandate of the Department of Public Works, which is the custodian of, and thus responsible for, the leases of all government buildings.
The SAPS captures information regarding its leased buildings on the asset register of the SAPS. This information is physically verified against the Property Management Information System of the Department of Public Works. It is also verified against the lease contracts that have been received from the Department of Public Works. However, not all the lease contracts have been received from the Department of Public Works. Amendments and additions are effected on the asset register of the SAPS as and when the outstanding and any new lease agreements are received from the Department of Public Works. Thank you.
Establishment of temporary or permanent specialised unit focusing on eliminating trafficking of young girls in South Africa and details relating thereto
29. Ms N D Ntwanambi (ANC) asked the Minister of Police:
(1) Whether the SA Police Service will establish a temporary or permanent specialised unit that will focus on eliminating the trafficking of young girls in South Africa (details furnished); if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(2) whether any of the 16 girls who have been rescued from the brothel in KwaZulu-Natal have been reunited with their families; if not, why not; if so, how many;
(3) whether he or his department will follow up on all of these cases; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details; (4) whether there has been an indication of the modus operandi regarding (a) how the girls (i) disappeared or (ii) have been lured to the brothel from their homes and (b) the areas where they came from; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details?