Annual Report 1998 of the ICD

CHAPTER 2 - COMPLAINTS RECEIVED BY THE ICD

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2.1 Overview of the complaints

1. During the period under review, one thousand nine hundred and ninety nine (1999) complaints were received by the ICD. As it was anticipated in the previous annual report, indeed the complaints received emanated from important stakeholders such as the Ministry for Safety and Security, Members of Parliament, MECs, Members of the Provincial Legislature, the general public etc. The media was particularly helpful in that it often publicized certain cases of deaths in police custody or as a result of police action, some of which were, upon further inquiry, found not to have been reported at all to the ICD.

2. Although in general the police complied with their statutory obligation of reporting instances of deaths in police custody or as a result of police action to the ICD, the reports were quite often received late and as stated above in some instances the reporting was not done at all. Even though the situation is far from being satisfactory, towards the end of the period under review a significant improvement was noted in the reporting of deaths to the ICD and this was particularly the case after a workshop was held with the SAPS management in January 1998. During this workshop the problems experienced by the ICD were discussed in depth.

3. It should be pointed out that although some of the matters agreed upon are yet to be implemented, the meeting itself was conducted in a cordial atmosphere which made it easier for the delegates on both sides to articulate their views in a candid and open manner. However the ICD will have to adopt a tough stance against the non-reporting of deaths and will in suitable cases, resort to the sanction of prosecuting the errant members.

4. While it is generally accepted that a civilian oversight body such as the ICD cannot effectively handle all complaints against the SAPS, it is nonetheless essential, in order to be effective, it should have the capacity to ensure that even complaints which are not dealt with by itself are satisfactory addressed by the SAPS. Furthermore, many civilian oversight bodies throughout the world have come to realize that by concentrating on remedying individual complaints brought to them, they are merely scratching the surface. For an oversight body to be really effective in bringing about the desired changes in police culture and practices, it is essential, that it also have the capacity to identify underlying systemic problems with a view to nipping them in the bud. This will have the effect of addressing the cause and not the symptoms. Having now been in operation for a year, experience has shown that unless the ICD also adopt the above approach, it will not be able to have a significant impact on the way the SAPS operates and the objective of transforming the SAPS into a service that enjoys the support and respect of the entire society will not be met. In line with the strategic plans and objectives, it has been decided to create within the ICD the capacity to monitor post-investigation processes, undertake mediation and research and to audit the SAPS’s complaints-handling mechanisms.
5. It seems fair to say that although the majority of members of the SAPS are now aware of the existence of the ICD, they still lack a thorough knowledge and understanding of the mandate and role of the ICD. It goes without saying that if members of the SAPS have only a superficial knowledge of the ICD, then clearly a greater proportion of members of the public must also be unaware of the existence of the ICD which is really there to serve them. The level of ignorance of the workings of such an important structure such as the ICD is obviously a worrying phenomenon and the ICD intends to take steps to address the situation. One of the greatest challenges facing the ICD is to, make itself known to the relevant stakeholders, particularly the disadvantaged communities without, at the same time creating the expectation that it is a panacea for all the problems that appear to bedevil the relationship between the SAPS and the public.

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2.2 The classification of complaints

1. In the previous annual report various classification of complaints falling within the jurisdiction of the ICD and how these complaints are being prioritized were dealt with at length. The classification was as follows:

• Class I: Complaints alleging the death of a person in police custody or as a of police action.
• Class II: Complaints referred to the ICD by the Minister or a Provincial Executive
• Class III: Complaints that allege that a member committed a serious criminal offence.
• Class IV: Complaints that alleges that a member committed a less serious offence or act of misconduct in violation of SAPS regulations.

2. During the year under review, it became necessary to create an additional category viz., Class V complaints. This category encompasses complaints which lie outside the jurisdiction of the ICD. Often a great deal of time is spent on them by the ICD personnel. It was felt that in order for us to be able to account for the time spent on them, they should be recorded. These complaints are invariably referred to other institutions, be they Governmental or NGO s, for redress.

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2.3 Complaints registered investigated and / or monitored

1. Table 1 reflects the total number of complaints received or reported to the ICD as well as the number of cases finalised during the period under review. In keeping with our classification of complaints, the breakdown of complaints received per each category is also provided. Figure 2 represents the percentage distribution of each category of complaints relative to the total number of complaints received by the ICD during the period under review. As it will be seen from a reading of both table 1 and figure 2 the number of deaths reported constitutes the highest number of complaints received per each category. This number is significantly higher than was originally anticipated and although the ICD is enjoined by the relevant provisions if the SAPS Act to investigate every instance of death in police custody or as a result of police action, it is evident that with its present compliment of only 25 field investigators, it was well-nigh impossible for the ICD to comply with the requirements of the Act. Some of these cases were, therefore, albeit reluctantly, referred to the police for investigation under the supervision of the ICD. This was particularly the case in the early days before the ICD could recruit its own investigators.

2. From the beginning the ICD was beset by a number of problems, the most daunting of which were the following: firstly, the budget was grossly inadequate to enable the ICD to, inter alia recruit timeously its own investigators and, therefore, the recruitment had to be phased in; resulting a situation where some of the investigators only came on board in September 1997. Secondly, the police reneged on the undertaking to loan to the ICD some of their investigators and the ICD had to make do with lack of investigators.

3. Figure 1 reflects the distribution per Province of the complaints received. It will be noted that of the total number of complaints received, 39% thereof emanated from Gauteng, 21% from Kwazulu-Natal,15% from Western Cape, 6% from both Eastern Cape and North West, Mpumalanga and Free State both recorded 4% respectively and the Northern Province and Northern Cape both recorded 1% respectfully. The significance of figure 1 is that it clearly shows that the highest number of complaints were recorded in Provinces in which the ICD had already established a presence. This clearly underscores the importance of the ICD having to establish some form of presence in the other regions where it does not have a offices.

4. While the majority of complaints, particularly those falling as the Class IV category, were referred to the police for investigation, a significant number of cases was also investigated by the ICD itself. Approximately 71.2% of the complaints received were referred to the police for investigation while 28.8% was investigated by the ICD. As far as the cases referred to the police for investigations are concerned, the ICD often experienced delays in obtaining information from the police as to how these cases were dealt with and the majority of these cases are still current. As it will be seen from table 1 only in 383 cases were investigations finalised during the year under review and 1 616 cases were carried forward into the new financial year. Clearly the presence state of affairs is unsatisfactory and the ICD intends to take steps to rectify this situation. One of the ways this could be done is to negotiate an agreement with the police whereby complaints referred to them for investigations should be finalised within a period agreed upon. This is already happening in other jurisdictions such as Western Australia and there appears to be no sound reasons why a similar arrangement would work in South Africa. Secondly, the ICD undertake to reduce considerably the time it takes itself to investigate cases. The number of cases finalised by the ICD represents only 23% of the total number of cases received during the period under review (see figure 3). In 91 of these cases prosecutions were recommended to the various Attorneys-General. As at the end of the financial year only one case had been finalised and the members involved were acquitted. The other matters were either still pending before the courts or various Attorneys-General. It will be seen from table 3 that of the 18 cases where disciplinary actions were recommended only in four of these have disciplinary actions been instituted. The other matters were still being considered by the SAPS management.

 

Table 1 - Summary of statistics of the period 1 April 1997 to 31 March 1998

	Cases received by the ICD						Cases finalised by the ICD
CLASS	I	II	III	IV	V	TOTAL	I	II	III	IV	V	TOTAL
Gauteng	204	17	207	280	59	767	48	4	76	79	23	230
Northern Province	38	0	15	18	0	71	1	1	1	3	0	6
North West	27	3	32	53	6	121	8	0	3	8	4	23
Mpumalanga	43	1	8	23	4	79	2	0	1	3	2	8
KwaZulu-Natal	219	10	59	118	14	420	16	0	3	15	0	34
Free State	47	0	8	27	2	84	3	0	2	3	0	8
Eastern Cape	80	0	16	30	3	129	2	0	0	0	3	5
Western Cape	67	1	66	170	3	307	30	0	13	25	0	68
Northern Cape	12	2	6	1	0	21	1	0	0	0	0	1
TOTAL	737	34	417	720	91	1999	111	5	99	136	32	383

CLASS I - Deaths in police custody or as a result of police ation
CLASS II - Referrals from the Minister or an MEC
CLASS III - Serious criminal offences
CLASS IV - Misconducts
CLASS V - Matters outside the mandate of the ICD

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Table 2 - Independent Complaints Directorate statistics for the period 1 April 1997 to 31 March 1998

CLASS I - DEATH IN POLICE CUSTODY
	GT	NP	NW	MPL	KZN	FS	EC	WC	NC	TOTAL
Natural Causes	9	2	1	2	2	3	4	2	0	25
Suicide	26	1	4	2	11	2	10	12	2	70
Injuries in custory	13	2	2	1	23	1	1	2	0	45
Injuries prior to custody	15	2	0	0	9	1	4	0	1	32
Possible negligence	6	6	3	2	9	1	10	8	2	47
TOTAL	69	13	10	7	54	8	29	24	5	219
CLASS II - DEATH AS A RESULT OF POLICE ACTION
	GT	NP	NW	MPL	KZN	FS	EC	WC	NC	TOTAL
A. SHOOTING:
During course of arrest	85	17	8	30	74	10	27	28	3	282
During course of a crime	13	0	3	2	34	6	4	1	0	63
During course of investigation	5	1	2	0	16	1	2	0	0	27
Other intentional shooting	21	4	1	3	19	10	8	4	3	73
Possible negligence	4	0	0	0	3	2	2	2	0	13
B: OTHER:	7	3	3	1	19	10	8	8	1	60
TOTAL	135	25	17	36	165	39	51	43	7	518
CLASS III - OFFENCES
	GT	NP	NW	MPL	KZN	FS	EC	WC	NC	TOTAL
Assault GBH/Attempted murder	62	6	18	3	32	3	7	23	3	157
Theft	24	0	1	1	6	1	0	7	0	40
Torture	57	0	1	1	3	0	3	3	0	68
Investigating/Failure to prevent/stop violence	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3
Abuse of power	19	4	5	2	3	1	2	12	0	48
Arson	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rape	2	1	0	0	3	0	3	1	0	10
Corruption	22	3	3	1	4	2	0	5	0	40
Harassment	3	0	1	0	2	0	1	6	0	13
Kidnapping	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	5
Robbery	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Organised crime	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	0	4
Malicious injury to property	7	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	10
Forgery	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	2
Indecent assault	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2
Fraud	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	4	2	9
Extortion	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
Breaking an entering premises	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	0	3
TOTAL	207	15	32	8	59	8	16	66	6	417
CLASS IV MISCONDUCT
	GT	NP	NW	MPL	KZN	FS	EC	WC	NC	TOTAL
Failure to perform duties and responsibilities	38	2	6	2	48	6	5	41	0	148
Neglects duty or performs duty in improper manner	162	11	35	18	29	11	15	76	1	358
Performs an act in contravention of the SAPS Act	2	1	0	0	2	0	1	1	0	7
Performs an act or fails ot perform an act which constitutes an offence	13	1	3	1	9	1	1	4	0	33
Misappropriates/withholds property under control of the state	5	0	1	0	6	3	0	0	0	15
Gross discourtesy	3	0	0	0	2	0	1	2	0	8
False accusation of crime	8	0	2	0	1	4	1	7	0	23
Conceals evidence	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	3
Sexual harassment	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	8	0	9
Assault	33	0	2	1	17	0	2	12	0	67
Intentionally/negligently allowing a prisoner to escape	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4
Crimen injuria	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	3
Unfair labour practice	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	3
Victimisation	3	1	0	0	1	2	0	2	0	9
Treats of lower ranking employee in an oppressive manner	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	3	0	6
Leaving the scene of a collision without discharging duties	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
Negligent handling of a firearm	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
Driving a motor vehicle without a registration	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2
Racial discrimination	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	8	0	10
Uses unlawful force against a prisoner	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Releases a prisoner without authority	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
Drunk driving	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	3
Reckless operation of a motor vehicle	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
Wilfully renders himself/herself unfit for work	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
TOTAL	280	18	53	23	118	27	30	170	1	720

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Table 3

PROVINCE	I	II	III	IV	V	PR*	P*	DR*	D*	CLOSED
Gauteng	48	4	76	79	23	37	0	9	1	167
Northern Province	1	1	1	3	0	1	0	1	0	6
North-West	0	0	3	8	4	2	2	2	0	18
Mpumalanga	2	0	1	3	2	0	0	0	0	8
KwaZulu-Natal	16	0	3	15	0	7	2(1A)	0	0	30
Free State	3	0	4	3	0	1	0	0	0	6
Eastern Cape	2	0	0	0	3	1	1	1	0	3
Western Cape	30	0	13	25	0	42	(0+I)2	5	3	31
Northern Cape	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
TOTAL	111	5	99	136	32	91	7	18	4	269

*LEGENDS:

• PR: Prosecution Recommended
• P: Cases still being prosecuted or where prosecution has been concluded.
• DR: Disciplinary actions recommended

• D: Disciplinary action instituted

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Figure 1

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Figure 2

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Figure 3

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Figure 4

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