Thank you, Chairperson and hon members. The special performance audit undertaken by the Auditor-General rightly chooses to limit the scope to those areas directly affecting members of the public.
Our committee deals with numbers and technical details not for its own sake, but to better serve the interests of our people. This is important to remember, particularly as the performance audit was focused on a government body, the SA Police Service, entrusted with the immense responsibility of protecting the lives of all citizens.
This is a responsibility and a justified expectation on the part of all our people. That is one of the values encapsulated in the Constitution of the democratic, nonracial and nonsexist South Africa.
I have chosen to focus on the following areas covered in the audit: training, domestic violence, community service centres and 10111 call centres. Before I elaborate on the shortcomings identified by the Auditor- General on each of these, I must first point out that the audit was carried out in five police stations and one 10111 call centre per province. This gives us a sample of 45 police stations and nine 10111 call centres. I must also commend the management of the SAPS for a speedy response to some of these issues raised not only in the audit, but also in the committee's hearings. I shall refer to some of those as I continue in the detailed report.
On training, the Auditor-General found that in the vital area of training, information available was not accurately updated to reflect all training courses attended by members, thereby compromising the accuracy of management information. More troubling were the instances where there was nonattendance and noncompletion of certain courses. Since 2004, the SAPS has developed 20 outcomes-based programmes which focus on specific needs within the organisation.
The feedback from the department is that in the 2008-09 financial year, a total of 105 670 individual members were trained and there were 208 754 training interventions.
In light of these figures, the committee is of the view that appropriate training should be available to all members within reasonable timeframes, and the training database should be rectified and recorded correctly. More importantly, the training budget must be properly utilised; failing which appropriate disciplinary measures must be instituted against those responsible.
On domestic violence, I don't need to remind members of this House what a blight this is on our country. The SAPS is involved in various activities relating to social crime prevention, especially the Domestic Violence Act of 1998 that imposes certain obligations on the SAPS members who receive complaints of domestic violence.
National Instruction No 7 of 1999 introduced prescribed recording of incidents reported to the police. Sadly, according to the Auditor-General's audit, citizens reporting domestic violence are still being let down, notwithstanding the existence of measures intended to alleviate their plight.
The committee therefore recommends that a progress report on domestic violence, regarding the number and particulars of matters reported, should be submitted to the National Assembly after the adoption of this report by the House.
On community service centres, I think most of us will agree that, in essence, the community centres are the front lines of police stations. It is the first interface that the public has when reporting complaints to the police. It is imperative therefore that I mention briefly some of the Auditor-General's findings. The layout of community service centres did not cater for persons with disabilities; basic infrastructure such water, electricity, telephones and computers in some centres was not in good working condition; proper identification parade rooms did not exist and service charters in relation to the public were not prominently displayed; and some holding cells could not be used due to dilapidation.
Whilst the committee notes that police stations built since 2003 have incorporated access and ablution facilities for people living with disabilities, we strongly recommend, as a matter of urgency, the prioritisation of upgrades for all centres with deficiencies, be it ramps for access, telephones, computers, etc.
With regard to the 10111 call centres, if community centres are the front line for the public, a telephone call to the police is the second most widely used way to communicate with the police. We all have experience of being put on hold by call centres. Well, with the SAPS it should never happen as it could literally be a matter of life and death.
It came as a shock therefore when the Auditor-General reported that Mpumalanga does not have a fully functional 10111 call centre. The flagship Gauteng call centre, identified as a model for other provinces, has seven reaction talk groups which had not been activated despite the centre being equipped with both equipment and systems necessary for its activation. These are crucial as they facilitate communication between call centres and policing units outside the ambit of the call centre. The minimum service level of 90% was not adhered to at six of the nine call centres audited nationally.
The committee, fully cognisant of the role that 10111 call centres play, calls upon the SAPS management to ensure that reliable information and statistics are generated to permit proper management and monitoring of call centre performance. Appropriate training should be provided to members at centres so that the public can get a return on this investment. Further, we recommend that the accounting officer submit a report on all the recommendations in this report within 60 days after its adoption. Thank you. [Applause.]