Hon
Chairperson, I will use my discretion to answer the question, because, indeed we are supposed to be in an integrated platform, with home affairs, the police, NPA and the correctional services.
We now have what is called the Integrated Justice Management System which is aimed to achieve exactly what the hon member is asking. So it has achieved the first phase where the police are now able to move a statement from their own workplace to where they can communicate directly through the statement with the NPA. There is also a process to link the home affairs fingerprints or biometric that they are using, but that also needs some amendments of legislation which the Minister of Home Affairs is better placed to speak to.
However, there is indeed the process that is aimed to ensure that there is that integration. Not only for the police, but for home affairs, police, the NPA, up until to the correctional services, because the interaction of human beings have proven to have a lot of challenges where somebody could be arrested and you may not be able
to pick immediately or in real-time that the person has a conviction.
There could also be challenges at the correctional services when you transport the inmates into the courts for hearings. A wrong inmate may jump into the truck and so forth. So, it needs this integration. So, it is a programme that we are currently working with the Minister of Police, Home Affairs and the entire cluster to ensure that this integration does happen in real-time and it becomes a reality because it has proven that without this automated technology, we will not be able to deal with some of the sophisticated networks of crime in the country.
So, we will update this House as soon as we have clear dates of timelines and deliverables. [Time expired.]
Question 218: