Both the SAPS Act and NPA Act were in need of urgent amendment in order to address not only corruption but serious decline in the operation of the country’s criminal justice system, Dullah Omar Institute’s Dr Jean Redpath said on Thursday.
In her presentation to the Ad Hoc Committee, Redpath said the problems with the SAPS Act were largely historical as it was originally enacted in 1995.
“We have a great deal of confusion as the provision of the interim Constitution is still referred to in SAPS Act and the current Constitution. It is confusing and unclear for the ordinary person and it does not meet the requirements of today,” she said.
Redpath also said there was a failure to provide for Crime Intelligence, which was not mentioned in the SAPS act.
The mandate for the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation was so broad that that there was very little focus on corruption in practice.
Redpath said there were six Preca convictions in the most recent years.
“It is woefully insufficient. The Hawks mandate is so broad that they barely look at corruption at all, which is really where police killings come from,” she said.
The Ad Hoc Committee heard that there was a problem of discipline within SAPS.
“Those who should be disciplined are not while the disciplinary system is frequently abused. This requires legislative attention and most likely intervention.”
She noted that top-heavy consumption of resources left police station human resources almost certainly around 65% of their designated resourcing, with the visible and detective services most affected.
Redpath painted a picture of the criminal justice system and policing that has deteriorated over last 20 years, in particular the last 10 years.
“We managed to halve our murder rate to reach a level 29 murder per 100,000 in 2011, and the most recent years that doubled to 46 per 100,000. We regressed from all the gains we made in terms of the murder rate.”
She noted that the police are absolutely crucial to the operation of the criminal justice system, but there were now far fewer detectives.
In 2014, there were 27,000 but this had dropped to 16,000.
Although the Department of Correctional Services has stopped providing data on admission of sentenced offenders, in 2001, there were 234,000 and the National Prosecuting Authority’s figures recorded massive drop to 52,000.
“What we see is deterioration on all sides,” said Redpath.
She said there was wasteful state expenditure of police resources in various ways, and urged the Ad Hoc Committee to look at the value for money for the investment made at the SAPS and drew its attention to the budget of the department.
National Commissioner Fannie Masemola detailed the expenditure on the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT), which came to R8.6 billion over the six or seven years, she said.
“This is over and above the salaries of those people, yet the annual report of SAPS repeatedly makes mention about strain that the detectives services have been under…”
Redpath said the expenditure on the PKTT must be established as it was not accounted for anywhere and how the money was spent.
Referring to the performance of the PKTT, Redpath said there have been blanket claims of its “excellent” performance.
“It is true due to poor performance in ordinary murders, it is somewhat better than in ordinary murders. We have to look at it in a context, if you look at intervention of this nature, where phenomenon of high violence was addressed.”
She said in around 2010 and 2011, the Gauteng Aggravated Robbery Strategy was a success and its conviction rate had impact in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
“Murder and robbery dropped. The impact was not confined to aggravated robbery. With the PKTT, we see the impact has been confined to political killings, and murders accelerate at the time of its existence.”
Redpath’s assessment of the performance of the PKTT drew ire of MK Party MP Sibonelo Nomvalo, who insisted that she was using wrong figures.
“This evidence won’t help us. it is not truthful. You are giving us wrong numbers,” he said.
In response, Redpath said: “I take exception to being told that I am being not truthful.”
Ad Committee Chairperson Soviet Lekganyane asked that decorum of the House be upheld.
“The intention is not to impugn integrity of anybody. This is the practice we must uphold all of us,” he said.
DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach thanked Redpath for her insightful presentation, and stated that it maybe the view of some members that the PKKT has unsurpassed success.
“It does not mean it is the opinion of all the members,” she said.
ANC Chief Whip Dumisani Ntuli said it was quite important to understand how the budget has been handled with regards to the working of the PKTT.
