Minister Bheki Cele: Police, IPID and Civilian Secretariat for Police Service Dept Budget Vote 2022/23

Budget Vote 28, 24 & 21 Presentation: Department of Police, IPID and the Department of the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service delivered by the Minister of Police, General Bheki Cele (MP)

Honourable Chairperson;
Honourable Ministers;
Honourable Deputy Ministers;
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police; Ms Tina Joemat -Peterson and members of the Portfolio Committee;
Honourable MECs;
Members of Parliament;
National Commissioner of the SAPS, General Fannie Masemola;
National Head of DPCI, Lt Gen Dr/Adv Godfrey Lebeya
Acting Secretary of Police, Mr Takalani Ramaru;
Executive Director of IPID, Ms Dikeledi Ntlaseng;
PSiRA CEO Mr Manabela Chauke;
DPCI Judge Kgomo;The leadership of organized labour;
Ministry of Police;

Ladies and gentlemen.

Sanibonani, Dumelang, Molweni, Ndimadegwane, Avuxeni, Good Afternoon.

Today I address this august house delivering the Budget Vote of the Police, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) and the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service (CSPS).

As the country and the world at large embraces the economic, social and political rainbow; post the devastating Covid 19 overcast in the past 2 years.

The '3 -legged pot' in the Ministry of Police, together with the supporting entities have reinforced and regrouped in support of a call to action; of taking steps to strengthen our democracy and reaffirm our commitment to a Constitution that protects us all.

Chairperson, even the strongest '3 -legged pot' cannot perform miracles in the absence of adequate collection of strong firewood.

Therefore, after constructive deliberations and progressive diagnosis; we all agreed that the strongest firewood that will make the (the 3 legged pot) Police, IPID and the Civilian Secretariat to be effective and efficient, is the COMMUNITIES we serve.

Honourable members, it is on that score we dedicate this Budget Vote to rebuilding and strengthening community relations in the fight against crime. Today we say umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, iphoyisa, iphoyisa ngesizwe - we are anchoring our police to the communities they serve.

We are advocating for progressive change.

Communities must be able to say these are our police and the police must equally embrace communities and continue to serve and protect.

His Excellency, President Cyril Ramaphosa during the State of the Nation Address said I quote. "Another area of immediate attention will be the re-establishment of community policing forums to improve relations and coordination between local police and residents of the areas they serve". Unqoute.

Chairperson, before the dawn of democracy in 1994, I attended a Safety and Security Training in Scotland Yard - London, together with Dr Johan Burger of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).

Part of the Training was to conceptualise and understand the notion of Community Policing Forums.

Hence I took particular interest in the article Dr Burger published on the 1st of November last year where he penned his views on the current state of our Community Policing Forums.

It therefore, becomes increasingly imperative that we minimise debates in this regard and meaningfully engage in a discourse that will ensure that the directives of his Excellency the President are realised.

Honourable members, you would recall that the establishment of CPFs is provided for in section 221(2) of the Constitution and section 19(1) of the South African Police Services (SAPS) Act 68 of 1995.

The CPFs and Business together with the police must establish and maintain a partnership with the community, promote communication between the police and the community.

Furthermore promote cooperation and ensure that the police fulfil the needs of the community in respect of policing, improve the service of the police to the community, improve transparency and accountability of the SAPS and promote joint problem identification and problem solving.

Therefore, the Philosophy of Community Policing is not new, in fact it has been proven that,the more involved law enforcement is with the residents they are sworn to protect, the more residents can help police achieve their goals of reducing crime.

To date, there are currently 772 functional CPFs countrywide.

The death of over 300 people during the weeklong lawlessness that befell us in July last year, will remain one of the darkest times in our democratic history.

The unrest called for clear reforms of security services and at the same time exposed the divide between the police and the communities they serve.

The Police needed the community and the community needed the Police. But it was clear Community Policing was at its weakest and there was little to no trust between the police and the communities.

The July 2021 unrests that engulfed South Africa posed a serious security threat to the country's economy and highlighted some security gaps in intelligence-driven collaboration between the private security industry and other government law enforcement agencies.

In responding decisively to the July unrests, a total of 19 instigators of violence were arrested including those who meted untold brutality to another race group, under the disguise of defending their community and property during the unrest.

To date 36 suspects have been arrested for their alleged respective roles in the murder of 35 people and 31 people have been arrested for attempted murder in Phoenix.

Meanwhile, PSiRA has conducted an analysis to determine what went wrong and what needs to be improved in terms of the private security industry's involvement as a force-multiplier in the fight against crime and the protection of the country's economy.

PSiRA believes that a concerted effort in building relations between the industry and other law enforcement agencies in terms of information gathering and sharing will go a long way in preventing similar incidents in the future.

In line with the many improvements to follow, the collaboration of PSIRA, SAPS and SSA will see the Authority launching a mandatory counter-terrorism awareness campaign in the form of 40 hours of training for the Private Security Industry in the next two quarters of this financial year.

PSiRA and SAPS will collaborate to ensure a practical working relationship between the Private Security Industry and State Security agencies in line with the established and existing partnership frameworks.

Honourable members, I deliver this Budget Vote with a clear Presidential directive in mind; for the police to be embedded in the communities they serve.

Departmental budget priorities across SAPS, IPID AND CSPS

Chairperson, I present to you the South African Police Service Budget Vote 28 for this financial year to the amount of R100,695 billion; the Independent Police Investigative Directorate Budget Vote 24 to the amount of R357 million and the Department of the Civilian Secretariat for police service Budget Vote 21 to the amount of R 150 228 million.

SAPS has allocated R10 million to support community outreach programmes. The robust and progressive community engagements through Izimbizo will continue to gain priority and momentum going forward.

Our visits to Pimville, Diepsloot, Botshabelo, Mafikeng, Lusikisiki, Delft, Khayelitsha, Loskop, Daggakraal, Phoenix, Amaoti, Malamulele, Bushbuckridge, Paballelo and many more; are evident towards achieving our goal of promoting community participation in governance.

In responding effectively to public unrests, capacitation of Public Order Policing through recruitment has been prioritised. POP will receive an additional 4000 members during this financial year.

R150 million was allocated to the Operational Response environment as part of once off allocations over a three year period for capital modernisation, including procurement of armoured vehicles and aircraft; and a further R9 million allocation has been set aside for the procurement of protective gear for POP members.

Equally, the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service as the custodians of civilian oversight have allocated R4.8 million to improve effective community partnerships in this regard.

Meanwhile, the CSPS has developed the National Policing Policy which provides the policy direction for responding to the current policing, crime and violence challenges in the country.

Chairperson, it is imperative to note a significant milestone, where, in March 2022, Cabinet approved the Integrated Crime Prevention and Violence Strategy, which is an implementing tool for the 2016 White Paper on Safety and Security with the primary objective of addressing the root causes of crime and violence through 'Whole of government and whole of societyapproach to crime and violence prevention in the country.

The balanced yet independent approach in the functioning of the SAPS, IPID and CSPS will contribute positively in the fight against crime. The three institutions will be forever be encouraged to operate independently of each other when responding to their respective legislative mandates.

While CSPS is providing policy advice and strategic oversight, the IPID is a significant watchdog, in ensuring that the SAPS constitutional mandate is realised.

In this regard, the IPID plays a critical role in contributing towards the improvement in police conduct by engaging in station lectures across all provinces. In the previous financial year 33 station lecture awareness sessions were conducted and a total of 40 station lectures will be undertaken this financial year.

Moreover, in June 2021 IPID launched Access and Awareness Rural Strategy which is aimed at improving accessibility to IPID services and strengthening relations with stakeholders in rural areas.

During this financial year IPID will continue to establish new offices in other provinces. To date 11 new offices were established in 3 provinces in the previous financial year.

This administration is working with agility to improve community relations at all levels of governance. The (3 legged pot) SAPS, IPID and CSPS is hell-bent in restoring the trust deficit that impacts on our overall fight against crime.

The organisation has taken up the challenge to REBUILD itself and at the same time, IMPROVE its image and REGAIN the TRUST in the communities' we serve.

Yes honourable members, the TRIO led by the Ministry is similar to an active construction site, as the much needed repairs, demolitions, alterations, restorations and refurbishments get underway.

All these minor to major changes are aimed at improving the overall functionality of the SAPS and supporting entities, especially at police station level.

As we roll out plans to Rebuild and strengthen community relations in the fight against crime - key to this, is to channel adequate and functional resources and manpower to police stations to ensure that the fight against crime is effective and efficient in winning public confidence in policing.

Chairperson, to qualify the above, the National Treasury allocated additional funding for the recruitment of 12 000 new Police Trainees over the MTEF with an allocation of R5.8 billion to rejuvenate and improve policing capacity.

Honourable members, for the current financial year, the biggest intake of 10 000 trainees is aimed at closing the gap of the past two years, where training was halted due to Covid-19 lockdown.

To this end over R500 million has also been reserved from the baseline for expenditure associated with trainees undergoing basic police development. A further recruitment of additional 5000 New Recruits for the next financial year will commence in June 2022. While an additional 200 Graduates (Mainly Bsc Graduates) will commence Training in August 2022.

To date, myself, Deputy Minister Mathale and SAPS management have visited and addressed the New Police Recruits stationed at SAPS Tshwane Academy and Kimberly SANDF 3 SAI military base respectively.

As the Ministry we remain confident in the ability of the SAPS and SANDF management to iron out some of the teething problems experienced at some of our training facilities.

Provinces with the highest incidence of reported crime, have been prioritised in terms of the allocation of baseline budgets.

The top 30 High Contact Crime Weight Stations have been prioritised in terms of resources which includes an additional budget allocation of R62 million, while R25 million additional allocation will be directed to safety and security at Police stations; The KwaZulu- Natal, Gauteng, Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Limpopo provinces received the biggest allocation of funds in this regard.

A further R26 million additional funding will continue to capacitate the Anti- Gang Units in this regard. The Western Cape Province has the lion share of this budget with R10 million allocated towards preventing, combating and investigating gang violence in that province.

Honourable members this budget will support continued efforts and operational plans to deal with stations that contributes high murder and attempted murder statistics including other violent crimes.

The additional budget allocations over and above the baseline budget must make a difference in Umlazi, Inanda, Plessislaer, Harare, Kraaifontein, Delft, Mfuleni, Khayelitsha, Kagiso, Thohoyandou and Lusikisiki and others.

Station Commanders and their members; including Provincial Commissioners and their management teams will have to occupy the streets more often than before and saturate these places with continuous crime prevention and multi-disciplinary operations. This budget allocation must be spent to its entirety, we will not accept any roll overs in this financial year otherwise heads will roll.

Key in achieving the ultimate goal of halving violent crimes by 2030, policing at station level must be enhanced and adequately resourced. This includes significant investment towards boosting the Morale of our members. No matter the willingness of the communities to enhance partnerships with the police; a demoralised workforce will not add value in the fight against crime.

We therefore call upon the National Commissioner and his management to prioritise the wellness of police members across the board.

I am happy to announce that the last leg of the agreement reached with organized labour during 2018 (SSSBC Agreement2/2018) will be implemented.

This agreement will see 8 607 constables and sergeants promoted to Sergeant and Warrant Officer respectively. These promotions will contribute significantly to an improvement in employee morale.

The organization seeks to renew the trust and confidence amongst the people of South Africa, through enhanced service and performance.

With every planned rebuilding project, there is a design or a plan; that must be followed. The required materials to build a credible and solid structure are being prioritised. After all, "Trust is earned when action meets words!"

There are four pillars that form the cornerstone of this rebuilding project and they include;

• Increased recruitment of more members to bolster police response times and police visibility.
• Adequate and increased funding of Gender Based Violence and Femicide investigations and programs.
• Capacitation and resourcing of critical and specialised units of the SAPS.
• Strengthening community organisations and partnerships with law enforcement to join the fight against crime.

Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI)

Chairperson, to date, Investigations of Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) cases emanating from the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act 34 of 1995 investigations are receiving priority by the DPCI which has since hired investigators, on a three-year contract basis. Of these investigators, 34 have been specifically assigned to investigate TRC recommended cases.

These contract workers started in 1 April 2021. From the 100 TRC cases on hand, six of these are currently on the court roll, with an inquest case also in court. Seventeen cases have been referred to the NPA for decision while 76 cases are under investigation.

Furthermore, the DPCI will be attending to the 22 210 cases involving National Priority Offences. Of these, more than 13 000 accused are appearing before the various court rolls in the country.

It is worth mentioning that last financial year the Directorate effected approximately 2 400 arrests and secured 1 137 convictions:

• Of these arrests, 342 were for illegal mining, 178 for damage to fuel pipelines, 146 for cash-in-transits of which 10 life sentences and 365 years imprisonment been secured.
• Ten life sentences with 215 years were secured for murder of police officials.

The DPCI is one of the key role players in the Fusion Centre. Since its establishment, about R3,39 billion from the proceeds of crime which includes Covid-19 relief corruption has been recovered and more than R613,2 million in suspected criminal funds frozen.

As at the end of the financial year, a total of 230 incidents were registered with 171 under investigation. 61 cases are in court with 129 accused. 20 court cases have been finalised with 19 convictions.

In the VBS case, the investigation team recorded more than 2000 statements. To date, 27 suspects have been arrested and are facing 188 counts of patterns of racketeering activities; money laundering; corruption; fraud, and theft in the courts of law.

Amongst the 22 000 cases handled by the DPCI, is the Steinhoff International Holdings N.V investigations.

Even though the unforeseen delays in resolving this matter are concerning - So far over 300 statements have been obtained and this highly complex investigation extends to 12 other jurisdictions.

Currently, there are 32 additional witnesses whose statements are to be obtained in South Africa and abroad.

The DPCI shall in conjunction with the Investigating Directorate of the NPA, also be focusing on the cases emanating from the State Capture Commission.

Of the various recommendations relating to law enforcement, a number of cases were already under investigation and some of these matters were already serving before court.

In the 2021/22 financial year, the DPCI contributed towards the preservation, restraint and forfeiture orders impacting on R208.9 million of criminal networks assets.

Improvements in capacitating forensic science laboratories and gender based violence and femicide

Honourable members, there is a progressive and significant down management of DNA backlog within the Forensic Science Laboratory to date.

The backlog has been reduced by 38.71% from 251 603 to 154 204. To this end, additional allocation of R50 million will support all Buccal Samples and Collection kits operations.

Meanwhile, another additional budget of R100 million will be allocated to provinces over and above baselines to support all programmes related to GBVF Action plans and FCS Unit resourcing including the Top 30 stations.

Continuous breakthrough in GBVF related crimes boosts public confidence in policing.

True to our Gender Based Violence and Sexual Offences Action Plan, R1,3 billion is allocated to baseline activities related to the GBV and resourcing of FCS Units. R 1,263 billion of this amount will go towards the units' operational expenses including human and other resources.

R30 million will be geared towards the servicing of youth, children and vulnerable groups including awareness campaigns.

Chairperson, on the 29th of April, the Police Ministry led an Imbizo hosted in Lusikisiki.

This community engagement further showed that the residents of this area, which has one of the highest rape incidents in the country, struggles with access to police services due to shortage of police vehicles.

Urgent policing interventions have since been put in place to allow for the better servicing of this community. But it is also equally crucial that victims of this dreadful crime are met with professional services at the point of reporting.

To date, GBV Desks at police stations have been established at the Top 30 National GBV Hotspots such as Lusikisiki. GBV Desks are also available at all 1153 police stations countrywide. These desks are staffed with members trained in GBVF related courses. To date 82,577 police officers have undergone such training.

Protection of critical infrastructure and extortion of private enterprises

President Cyril Ramaphosa pronounced succinctly in his State of the Nation address, that infrastructure the ongoing vandalism and theft of economic infrastructure has damaged confidence and severely constrained economic growth, investment and job creation.

He then said, "Government has established specialised multi-disciplinary units to address economic sabotage, extortion at construction sites and the vandalism of infrastructure".

These crimes will not be allowed to go an anabated, this is why Task Teams will be established in 18 identified hotspots, linked to municipalities with highest reported cases of such crimes.

These multidisciplinary Task Teams will focus on extortion at construction sites and businesses and Illegal mining. The highly-skilled teams will tackle theft of non-ferrous metals, copper cables and put in measures to combat and stop illegal mining.

Residents of Pimville, Diepkloof, Eldorado Park, Klipspruit and many more communities cannot continue to be held ransom and left in the dark due to cable theft and related crimes.

Task teams will also tackle essential Infrastructure crimes such as the tampering, damaging or destroying of infrastructure related to energy, transport, water, sanitation and communication services.

Critical Infrastructure crimes will also be on their radar which involves the attack, damage or theft of fuel pipelines and related crimes. Legislation to this effect is also underway.

The draft regulations have been published in the government gazette for public comments.

SAPS planned breakdown on planned priorities

Expenditure is expected to increase at an average annual rate of 1.3 per cent, from R100.5 billion in 2021/22 to R104.4 billion in 2024/25. Compensation of employees accounts for an estimated 78.3 per cent of the department's total expenditure over the period ahead.

This includes additional funding of R5.8 billion over the medium term to rejuvenate and improve policing capacity through the appointment of 12 000 entry level constables, of whom 10 000 will replace personnel who have left the service through natural attrition.

As such, the number of personnel is expected to increase to 178 708 over the medium term.

The department's spending focus for the year, which is mainly on goods and services as well as capital investment over the medium-term includes the following:

• Previous reductions in the compensation of employees budget baseline, requires SAPS resource allocation reprioritisation as well as investment in technology;
• The department will sustain the Forensic Services baseline allocation previously increased to allow for implementation of the amended DNA Bill;
• Human Capital Investment through skills development;
• Capacitation of functionalities pertaining to cybercrime and specialised multi-disciplinary units;
• Investing in capital assets consisting of machinery and equipment, essentially transport assets as well as mobile police stations;
• Focus of other critical items to equip members for effective policing, such as bullet resistant vests, uniform etc, will remain as these are critical tools of trade for police to successfully render their duties
• In our efforts to continue to with the implementation of the Farlam Commission recommendation tabled, funding has been set aside to continue to capacitate the existing POP units, and also with the deployment of these units in various provinces to address and stabilise crime in hotspot areas.

Departmental spending over the medium term will be in relation to the core programmes with Visible Policing more than 51% weight of the total Vote in 2022/23.

The Programme: Detective Services in terms of weight is also a significant portion of more than 20%.

Conclusion

Chairperson and honourable members, allow me to conclude this budget by affirming our commitment of rebuilding and strengthening community relations in the fight against crime; across the SAPS, IPID, CSPS and supporting entities for better community centred policing.

Police need the community and the community need the police - iphoyisa, iphoyisa ngesizwe

Lastly, may I take this opportunity to thank the Deputy Minister of Police Mr Cassel Mathale, Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police, Ms Tina Joemat Peterson and members of the Portfolio Committee, National Commissioner of the SAPS General Fanie Masemola, his management team and all SAPS members, the Ministry of Police - Chief of Staff Ms Nonkululeko Phokane and her team, Acting Secretary of Police Mr Takalani Ramaru and his team.

The Executive Director of IPID Ms Dikeledi Ntlatseng and her team, the CEO of PSIRA Mr Manabela Chauke and his team, the National Head of DPCI Dr/ Lt Gen Godfrey Lebeya and his team, The DPCI Judge Kgomo and his team, The Chairperson of the DNA Board Adv Lindiwe Thomas Nkosi SC and her team, the Chairperson of the Firearms Appeals Board Ms Lungelo Shandu and her team and most importantly my lovely wife Mrs Thembeka Cele and our family for the unwavering support in executing my duties in this portfolio.

I thank you.

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