Chairperson, I am asking today why it is that as a member of the Portfolio Committee on Police I am convinced that the SA Police Service has begun a slow, but relentless, meltdown. Now, certainly, the world watched as Parliament voted to shut down one of the best crime- fighting units - probably the best crime-fighting unit this country has ever experienced. The decision was implemented in complete defiance of public opinion and marked a dark day in our democracy.
The court has ruled that the disbandment of the Scorpions was unconstitutional. At the time, every legal firm, NGO, individual citizen, every Member of Parliament who spoke against the closure of the unit, said that they believed it would be. Yet, hon members Maggie Sotyu and Yunus Carrim said the decision had been taken in Polokwane in 2007, and therefore would be implemented no matter what. The tens of thousands of petitions, the marches and the editorials were all ignored and today these two sit in deputy ministerial positions. Citizen Hugh Glenister should receive a presidential award for his effort to drive this matter through courts, but I somehow doubt the current government will proffer one.
Full independence means exactly that: a unit that will service this country without fear or favour. I asked then and I ask now: Who will police the police? This question leads me to exactly the conundrum of who we have left to police the police.
Today we sit with a National Police Commissioner who has, according to the Public Protector, committed an act that is illegal. I quote from Adv Madonsela's findings: "Cele's conduct was improper, unlawful and amounted to maladministration."
The Minister asked me in the House a fortnight ago to wait until the results of the carbon-copy investigation into the dodgy Durban property deal were ready. But that begs the question: Why Minister? Why must we wait? Is one damning accusation of illegality insufficient to have the National Police Commissioner suspended? Must we wait for two such accusations or 3 or 10? How illegal does illegal have to be?
The DA has called on the President to dismiss the commissioner, yet he sits amongst us still. So now this matter will go to the National Prosecuting Authority, NPA. Perhaps someone should explain to our National Police Commissioners that appearing before a judge is not part of their job description.
There can no question that Commissioner Cele's position is no longer tenable. The DA objected to his appointment; we said he was unfit for the position. The Public Protector now says that he is not fit for office. We have already seen the indignity caused to our justice system by a police commissioner who disobeys the law. The President repeatedly states his commitment to rooting out corruption and his drive to curb maladministration. He must turn his words into action.
It is not only the National Police Commissioner's lack of administrative ability or his inability to balance budget, leading, for example, to transfers from capital to pay salaries in contravention of the Public Finance Management Act. The SAPS were also hauled before the Standing Committee on Appropriations to explain themselves, something that has never happened before.
Their annual performance plan was late and not in line with Treasury guidelines. They gave the committee a tatty cut-and-paste job wherein there were such substantial errors as entering R1,1 million where R1,1 billion should have been. This was the worst budget briefing I've attended to date. The targets are a mess or missing entirely, the management is bloated, the budget overspent, there is one administrator for every three operational members, and there is no infrastructure plan.
For the first time ever, we are seeing the entire budget spent before the end of the fiscal year on things like huge national parties, with thousands of SAPS members flown, railed and driven in to attend, to the tune of R36 million. Meanwhile, SA Police Service bills are going unpaid in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.
Last year it was R29 million. It has taken me a year and a half to get those figures and it appears the Ministry imagines it has the right to do exactly as it wishes with taxpayer money and that the checks and balances of Parliament are merely a minor irritation on any day.
I will continue digging, and I will find out how much was spent where and regarding the tenders for the thousands of units of free clothing, bags, caps and the like that were put on the SAPS intranet, and then only some 11 days before the event swiftly removed and then granted to a hastily formed company, headed by relatives of members of the top structure. The Commissioner said that anyone who had a problem with that day must go die. This shows contempt for Parliament, contempt for the oversight role of Members of Parliament and contempt for the taxpayers who fund the party. I have no intention of dying to suit the Police Commissioner, and every intention of digging.
The R66 million that has been wasted on these parties could, for example, have paid for the CCTV coverage for the forensic laboratories, with a substantial amount left over to aid some of the crumbling stations.
Another area where we are seeing dodgy deals is in the area of personnel. I have written to both the President and the chairperson of the Public Service Commission, raising concerns about how the National Police Commissioner has violated both the public service and police regulations, bouncing appointees up the ranks by as much as five levels overnight into his bloated top structure.
In that the claims are also that he is guilty of fast-tracking the careers of others related to people around him, such as that of the father of his very good friend, the Provincial Commissioner of KwaZulu-Natal, it seems that cronyism has become acceptable in the SA Police Service. Few can actually imagine why the President actually appointed Bheki Cele. He is the man who infamously said, and I quote: "A monkey came all the way from London to have his wife murdered here." That was a reference to murder accused Shrien Dewani.
The National Police Commissioner made that and many other comments in what seemed to be an all-out attempt, in terms of prejudging the issue, to destroy the extradition application. This is the same man who lives in a R4 million house, a purchase approved by the accounting officer according to the Minister - and, of course, the National Police Commissioner is the accounting officer. It just so happens that I received a letter yesterday from the Public Service Commission on this very matter. Their investigation, at my behest, has revealed that the offer to purchase the property was dodgy, thanks to Public Works. On the SAPS' side, only one quote was obtained, time and time again for half a million rand's worth of furniture; illegal and dodgy.
Last year, this same commissioner denounced Mzilikazi wa Afrika, after that reporter from the Sunday Times revealed the commissioner's involvement in the irregular property deals. Within a matter of days, he was arrested by the SAPS on flimsy charges that were later dropped. Certainly, this was just one of dozens of attacks on journalists, but there are more.
It was Commissioner Cele who chastised the Public Protector for her criticism of his conduct in the selfsame Roux Shabangu property deal. It was on Bheki Cele's watch that the Public Protector's office was raided. Again, the Minister said just wait. But that's not all. Under this particular National Police Commissioner, the investigations by SA Police Service members are so unprofessional that there has been a 74% increase in referrals back to the lower courts. We are talking 370 000 of them in the past year.
This is not good news for the victims of crime, speaking of whom, under this National Police Commissioner, the contact and trio crime reduction targets have been quietly dropped to a miserly 4% to 7% - 4% in exchange for a R58 billion budget.
Then there is the target to reduce serious crimes by 2%. These targets are so low that the performance agreement contract signed by the Minister could be met by a private security firm, so at least we know that his job is safe. The target for detection of crimes against children has also been dropped, and there is no target at all for organised crime.
Only now is the SA Police Service developing a manual, telling Police Service members how not to destroy a crime scene. But that's not all. Looking at the bloated top structure of the SA Police Service today, we see the current Police Commissioner has gathered some most interesting characters. The previous head of the VIP protection unit received a final written warning from the SAPS in December last year, after his drunken driving escapade, and was simply shifted sideways. The Public Protector had to pressure the National Police Commissioner to look into allegations that Richard Mdluli chose not to investigate certain matters in Gauteng and yet he was hired anyway, and now he is in a cell.
I'm currently awaiting an answer from the President on whether he did or did not ask Richard Mdluli to compile a dossier on the National Police Commissioner. If he did, well, that would explain a great deal, wouldn't it?
The head of legal services, Ms Mtimkulu, all but destroyed the SAPS' legal services, but was allowed to stay on to reach her 10 years so she went off on a fat pension. Legal services has now evaporated from the organogram, but that's not all. With regard to supply chain management, Police Service members mislay or lose or sell their firearms with impunity and the repercussions are zero.
Last year, the Police Commissioner told the Portfolio Committee on Police that three and a half thousand Police Service firearms had been lost or stolen. This is a 17% increase on the previous year; a 240% increase since 2001. We're talking thirteen and a half thousand Police Service firearms now being used against both the police and the rest of us. Yet, in less than 1% of the cases are any charges brought.
Add that to the fact that the Police Service spent R16 million last year on purchasing 4 000 new pistols, which should just about replace the ones lost, and that the SA Police Service is today the leading source of the illegal arms trade in South Africa. The Auditor-General is investigating that at my behest.
Reservists who have given year after year of free service to the Police Service have now been told by the Police Commissioner that they use their uniforms to pretend to be police members, to do criminal acts and, if they are unemployed, to demand jobs. In a single sentence he insulted every one of those people who did as the Minister asked and proffered their time to help fight crime.
In closing, I must thank the members of the Portfolio Committee on Police and our chairperson who, certainly, is a stunning individual, and I thank the vast majority of Police Service members who are honest and honourable and do help us in the fight against crime. They do a spectacular job. Thank you. [Applause.]