7 March 2001

Contents

INVESTIGATIONS

INVESTIGATIVE PRIORITIES

The ICD’s investigative priorities for the year 2000/2001 were:

1. Deaths in police custody or as a result of police action;
2. Police corruption, focussing specifically on:

• Alleged sale, theft and/or destruction of police dockets;
• Alleged sale, theft and/or disposal of exhibits;
• Escapes from police custody;
• Abuse of informers fees;
• Issuing of fraudulent vehicle clearance certificates;

3. Crimes against children;
4. Acts of racism allegedly committed by members of the SAPS;
5. The use of excessive force in terms of section 49 of the Criminal Procedure Act;
6. Crimes against women, especially spousal abuse and femicide.

BUDGET ALLOCATION

The adjusted annual budget for Programme 2 was R10,784,000.

The above-mentioned allocation can be broken down per standard item as follows:

1. Personnel expenditure                  8,062,000
2. Administrative expenditure           1,817,000
3. Inventories                                      201 000
4. Equipment                                      580 000
5. Professional and special services
6. Miscellaneous expenditure               124 000

As from 1 April 2000 until 31 January 2001 we actively investigated approximately 800 cases in terms of our investigative priorities. In the course of such investigations, ICD investigative staff, which number 66 in total (including managerial and support staff to the investigators), have travelled a total of 428 397 kms at a cost of R506,764. A total of 558 Class I cases (deaths in police custody or as a result of police action) were reported to the ICD during the period 1 April 2000 to 31 January 2001.

Preliminary investigations were conducted in almost each and every case. Where prima facie evidence of police involvement in a cover up or in criminal conduct was detected during such preliminary investigation, the matter was actively investigated to completion. Cases which revealed no foul play on the part of the SAPS, were referred back to the SAPS for completion. The progress of such investigations was then closely monitored by our Monitoring component.

ICD investigators also actively investigated numerous other cases falling within the ambit of the stated investigative priorities, the most noteworthy of which were the following (listed per priority and per SAPS station where the incident occurred):

1. Deaths in custody or as a result of police action

Public Order Policing Unit, Alexandra

We completed our investigations into circumstances surrounding the death of Abel Phetla (17) a learner from Realogile High School in Alexandra.

The incident occurred in Alexandra in Gauteng on 30 May 2000 when police responded to a call that learners were on the rampage to avenge the death of another learner, Andrew Radebe, who was allegedly shot and killed the previous day by a relative of a local shop owner. Mr Phetla subsequently died after a bullet that was allegedly fired by police officers on the scene, killed him.

The ICD took charge of the investigation and after finalization thereof handed over the case docket to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) with a recommendation that suspects be indicted for murder and attempted murder.

The DPP accepted our recommendation and decided to charge Sergeant Buhlebenkosi Ndlovu with murder and attempted murder. His first appearance was on 23 January 2001. The trial has been set down for 28 - 29 May 2001 in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court.

SAPS Belfast

We are investigating circumstances surrounding the death of Mulondi Mavin Mashinini.

The incident occurred in Belfast in Mpumalanga on 16 January 2001 where the deceased’s mother contacted the police for assistance as her son, the deceased, was aggressive and insulting. The failure of the police to effect his arrest resulted in the deceased’s mother asking for assistance from an officer who resided nearby and was at his home at that time. The officer, accompanied by a colleague attended the scene. It is alleged that these two officers assaulted Mr Mashinini with a knob-kierie. It is also alleged that they dragged him on the ground from the house to the police vehicle by pulling him by his trousers. As a result he bled through the nose, mouth and ears while his face and head were covered with blood. The brain scans confirmed that he suffered severe head injuries.

The ICD took charge of the investigation and arrested the implicated police officers on 24 January 2001.They have been charged with murder. They applied for and were granted bail of R1000 each by the Belfast Magistrate’s Court. We recommended to the Provincial Commissioner that the suspects be suspended without pay. No response to this recommendation has yet been received from the Commissioner.

Their first appearance was on 02 March 2001 while the second will be on 06 April 2001 in the Belfast Magistrate’s Court.

SAPS Marion Hill

We are investigating circumstances surrounding the death of Sgt S Ndimande of Marion Hill Police Station in Kwazulu Natal.

The incident occurred in Marion Hill on 14 February 2001 where Capt C M Duma shot dead the deceased after suspecting him of being in love with his fiancée. It is alleged that the owner of the house where the incident occurred then disarmed Capt Duma who attempted to commit suicide. Capt Duma was arrested and detained at Pinetown Police Station. The latter’s first appearance was on 19 February 2001 while the second was on 27 February 2001 in the Pinetown Regional Court.

The ICD took over the investigation and after finalization thereof will hand over the case docket with recommendations to the DPP for a decision.

Public Order Policing Unit, Ulundi

The three police officers implicated in the murder of Mr Bheki Mkhize, who was a Member of Parliament, will appear at the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Tuesday, 17 April 2001.

The incident occurred at Mr Mkhize’s homestead at Mahlabathini in the Kwazulu-Natal Province on 30 July 2000 where police officers were conducting a search for illegal firearms on particular homesteads in that area. Mr Mkhize died after police allegedly shot him with a single shot from an R5 rifle.

The ICD took charge of the investigation immediately after the killing on Sunday, 30 July 2000. Suspects appeared at Empangeni Magistrate’s Court and they currently are out on bail. After finalization of the investigations the ICD handed over the case docket to the DPP with a recommendation that four (4) suspects be indicted for murder, attempted murder and defeating the ends of justice.

The DPP accepted the recommendation of the ICD and their first appearance was on 13 November 2000.

SAPS Leboeng

We investigated a case alleging police complicity in the death of Pollen Sekgobela in Leboeng in the Northern Province.

The incident took place on Wednesday 14 February 2001 when police on patrol found four boys stripping an abandoned car. When the boys saw the police they fled the scene and upon regrouping later, they discovered that one of them was missing. A complaint about the missing boy was filed by members of his family and the complainants believed that the police had shot the missing boy.

On Monday, 26 February 2001, the decomposed body of the boy was found with a severed head lying near the body. We attended a post-mortem at Medunsa in Pretoria on 02 March 2001 and the results revealed no bullet wounds. Police complicity in the case could thus not be established and the ICD closed this case.

SAPS Fraserburg

The late Gert Baartman was arrested while collecting firewood with his younger brother, Andries, in the afternoon of 15 July 2000. He was arrested on charges of trespassing, stock theft and resisting arrest.

The ICD was notified of the death of Gert Baartman at SAPS Fraserburg on 18 July 2000. Gert Baartman died in the Fraserburg police cell on 16 July 2000. The Fraserburg Police alleged that the deceased committed suicide by hanging himself. The District Surgeon conducted the post-mortem on 21 July 2000 in Kimberley. The body was returned to Fraserburg on the same day for the burial the following day.

Subsequent to the post-mortem on 21 July 2000, new allegations surrounding the circumstances regarding his death surfaced. It came to light that in fact the cell, which was shown to the ICD investigator for inspection, was the wrong one. It also came to light that the deceased died in a different cell from the one in which he was originally placed. He had been detained alone.

It was on this basis that a second opinion was sought from a forensic pathologist. The ICD arranged for an exhumation of the body for this purpose. On 08 August 2000, the body of Gert Baartman was exhumed to conduct a second post-mortem. The result of the second post-mortem is not yet known. The forensic pathologist has requested that a further examination be done on the rope allegedly used for the suicide as well as on certain clothes of the deceased. Photographs were also taken of the body of the deceased.

Once the aforesaid tests have been concluded, the report will be handed to the forensic pathologist to enable him to form an opinion on the cause of death. Hereafter we will forward our recommendations to the DPP. We have recommended that two members, including the Station Commissioner, be charged departmentally.

2. Police brutality and the use of excessive force in terms of Section 49 of the Criminal Procedure      Act

SAPS Burgersfort

The six suspects implicated in the murder of Benjamin Mabelane and the assault on Lucky Phasha appeared at the Lydenburg Magistrate’s Court, Mpumalanga on 21-22 September 2000.

The incident occurred at Steelpoort Diesel Garage, Burgersfort in Mpumalanga on 02 July 1999 where Insp. Willem Joubert and five civilians, Hendrik Viljoen, Louis Zeeman, Petrus Viljoen and Theodore James reacted to a complaint that Mr. Mabelane was implicated in the loss of an amount of R200, 00 belonging to a Stephen Hlongwe. Mr Mabelane was allegedly handcuffed to the steel door in the workshop, tortured with a welding machine on his private parts until he subsequently died and one Mr Lucky Phasha was allegedly tortured and assaulted by the suspects.

We took charge of the investigation on 14 July 1999 and after finalization thereof, handed over the case docket to the DPP with a recommendation that three of the suspects be charged with murder and attempted murder. The other two suspects and the complainant, Mr Stephen Hlongwe, were charged with defeating the ends of justice. The DPP accepted the recommendation of the ICD and decided to prosecute all six suspects with murder and attempted murder. The case was first heard on 05 May 2000, the second appearance was on 20-21 July 2000.

Inspector J. Joubert and three civilians were acquitted while Mr Steven Hlongwane was sentenced to four years imprisonment with one year suspended for five years for murder, while 12 months’ imprisonment was suspended for five years, for attempted murder. Mr S. Viljoen was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment with two years suspended for five years for murder and one year imprisonment for attempted murder .

North-East Rand Dog Unit

The six police officers from the North East Rand Dog Unit who used illegal immigrants as bait during a training exercise will appear in the Pretoria Regional Court on 10 April 2001.

The incident occurred between Springs and Benoni in Gauteng in January 1998 where six North East Rand Dog Unit members filmed themselves in an incident where dogs were set upon three illegal immigrants as part of a training exercise.

The ICD and the SAPS have set up a joint investigation team. Suspects were arrested on 07 November 2000 and appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on 09 November 2000 for a bail application which was postponed to 17 November 2000. They were all granted bail of

R 2 000, 00 each.

After finalization of investigations the case docket was handed over to the DPP for a decision. The DPP decided to charge Inspectors Lodewyk Christian Koch and Eugene Truter; Sergeants Jacobus Petrus Smith, Nicolaas Loubser, Dino Guiotto and Robert Benjamin Henzen with assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm. Their first appearance was on 22 January, the second on 01 March 2001, while the third will be on 10 April 2001 in the Pretoria Regional Court.

Newcastle Dog Unit

The two police officers from the Newcastle Dog Unit implicated in the death of Thokozani Nhlapho will appear on 22 March 2001 in the Newcastle Regional Court.

The incident occurred in Newcastle on 24 January 2001 after two members of the Newcastle Dog Unit had arrested a man for urinating in public at the Newcastle taxi rank. The police alleged that the crowd at the scene became unruly and began throwing stones and bottles at the police. It was also alleged that Mr Nhlapho, who had allegedly been part of the unruly group, produced a firearm and fired at the police.

Our investigation has revealed that a police dog was set upon Mr Nhlapho and he was fatally shot by members of the Newcastle Dog Unit. Our investigation has also revealed that there were neither stones nor bottles thrown by members of the public. Mr Nhlapho was not armed. We arrested police officers implicated on Friday, 09 February 2001 and they are facing a charge of murder. They applied for and were granted bail of R1000 each by the Newcastle Regional Court.

Port Alfred Dog Unit

We are investigating allegations that members of the Port Alfred Dog Unit set dogs on Xolani Bawuli.

The incident occurred in Port Alfred on 26 January 2001 after Mr Bawuli was arrested for drinking liquor in public in Msweli Street. It is alleged that the complainant resisted arrest and as a result he was assaulted and dogs were set on him. He was taken to the police station and detained for allegedly assaulting a police officer.

The ICD took over the investigation and after finalisation thereof will hand over the case docket to the DPP for a decision.

SAPS Olifantshoek

We are investigating circumstances surrounding the shooting of protesters in Olifantshoek in the Northern Cape:

The incident occurred on 01 March 2001 where the Station Commissioner at the Olifantshoek police station allegedly fired live rounds of ammunition using an R1 rifle into a group of protesters. Eight protesters were wounded during the shooting when people demonstrated against the local council in Olifantshoek.

The ICD took charge of the investigation and arrested the Station Commissioner implicated. He applied for and was granted bail of R500 by the Postmasburg Magistrate’s Court. After finalisation of the investigation, the ICD will hand over the case docket to the DPP for a decision.

SAPS Vredendal

We are investigating circumstances surrounding the shooting of community members of an informal settlement in Vredendal in the Western Cape.

The incident occurred on 03 March 2001 in Avilla Park informal settlement where members of the SAPS and SANDF conducted a raid. It is alleged that a police officer assaulted an old man and as a result members of the community became unruly and started throwing stones at police. It is also alleged that police started firing live rounds of ammunition, without warning, into the community, which resulted in an exchange of fire between the police and community members. Six civilians and two police officers were wounded during the shooting.

Our investigation continues.

3. Racism and racial discrimination

SAPS Hartswater

In a case in the Northern Cape, a number of SAPS members at the Hartswater Police Station are currently being investigated on charges of racism and racial discrimination. It is alleged that the MEC for Safety and Liaison was rudely treated when she conducted a routine visit to the police station. Two police officers were charged departmentally for unbecoming behaviour and issued with written warnings.

4. Police corruption

SAPS Vehicle Collision Unit, King William’s Town

The ICD is investigating allegations of corruption, fraud and extortion implicating Sgt C Killian based at the King William’s Town Collision Unit.

The incident occurred in King William’s Town in the Eastern Cape where Sgt Killian approached Andile Jack and demanded an amount of about R 500, 00 as payment for an admission of guilt fine in respect of a traffic offence for which he was in possession of a warrant of arrest.

The ICD took charge of the investigation on 15 February 2001. Sgt Killian was arrested and detained at Tamara police station after he was exposed through a trap set by the ICD. On 16 February 2001 he was charged for fraud alternatively corruption. He applied for and was granted bail of R 2000, 00. The case will be heard on 23 March 2001 In the Zwelitsha Magistrate’s Court.

MONITORING AND DEVELOPMENT

During our last presentation to this Committee, we mentioned the fact that during the 2000/2001 financial year, the emphasis fell on Monitoring and Development. Although ideally the police should not be allowed to investigate themselves, it is equally clear that a civilian body such as the ICD cannot, no matter how well resourced it might be, successfully investigate all complaints against the police. The complaints lodged with the SAPS against its own members number several thousand each year, and even with the requisite personnel complement, it would be impossible for the ICD to investigate efficiently and effectively all such complaints. Parliament also recognized this and made it possible for the ICD to refer matters to the police and to monitor the progress of these investigations.

In essence the ICD has the discretion to decide whether it should itself investigate a complaint brought to it or refer it to the police. The only exception is complaints or reports of deaths in police custody or as a result of police action. As far as these matters are concerned, we are compelled by law to investigate them.

Our priorities both in respect of investigation and monitoring should be understood in the context of these considerations. In fact the shift of emphasis from investigation to monitoring was dictated purely by the realization that it would be impossible to impact positively on police practices unless we adopted a more proactive approach that focusses on eliminating the root causes of police criminality and misconduct.

During the period under review the following areas of priority were identified for Monitoring and Development:

1. Development of a Strategy to reduce the risk of deaths in police custody and as a result of police      action

Following the submission of a detailed research programme to the ICD by the WITS Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, a workshop was held in April 2000. This workshop, which was attended by all relevant stakeholders, considered the findings of the research and much of the ensuing debate revolved around the development of a strategy to reduce the risk of deaths in police custody or as a result of police action. A task team, consisting of representatives of the ICD, SAPS, NGO’s, the Department of Justice and police unions was established to take the process forward.

The strategy is in the process of being finalized and it is envisaged that it will be completed by the end of June 2001.

2. Identification of systemic problems through trends analysis and research

The ICD continuously analyses trends with a view to identifying systemic problems that may impact negatively on service delivery by the SAPS. During the period under review, the following projects were undertaken:

Review of the SAPS complaints system

A review of the complaints system within the SAPS was conducted, which, among others, revealed that there were no systems in place to deal effectively with complaints by members of the public. A report was compiled and forwarded to the Minister, National Commissioner and Secretariat. It recommends, inter alia, that a register of all complaints received by the SAPS should be regularly checked by the Station Commissioner to ensure that complaints lodged with the police are properly dealt with. The recommendations made by the ICD were favourably received by police management and they have already taken steps to ensure that they are implemented.

Police brutality

Police brutality is a generic term which is generally used to describe the use of excessive or unnecessary force by the police. It includes offences such as torture (which is a form of assault), assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and common assault. Although the number of torture cases reported to the ICD decreased from 68 in the 1997/1998 financial year to just about 20 in the current financial year, these cases still attract a lot of attention whenever they occur. During the course of the year Amnesty International published a document which, according to some media reports, suggested that torture was still rife in South Africa. This necessitated the ICD to review all complaints of torture it had received as well as the SAPS policies and instructions. This exercise revealed that although the SAPS anti-torture policy was a good one, the implementation of the policy was in several respects inadequate. We have recommended to the SAPS that a Working Group be established to look into the implementation strategy.

The other area we looked into was the use of dogs by police on civilians. Again here, the intention is to review policies and practices to ensure that they are consistent with the Constitution in particular and legislation in general. This project will also be completed by the end of June 2001.

As far as the general use of violence by the police is concerned, as previously reported to this Committee, we have commissioned research into this. Technikon SA will present its research findings to us on 8 March 2001.

Racism

The other area that we are still looking into is the question of racism in so far as it impacts on members of the public. Work has already begun in this regard and it is envisaged that the project will be completed within the first six months of the coming financial year.

3. Domestic Violence Act (DVA)

In terms of this Act, the ICD has been given the additional responsibility of overseeing the implementation of the Act by the police. We have to report on a six monthly basis to Parliament and we have been meeting our obligation in this regard.

Also, during the 16 days of activism for no violence against women (25 November – 10 December 2000), we visited 10 police stations in Gauteng Province to observe the readiness of the SAPS to implement this Act. A report was compiled of our finding and recommendations. Same was forwarded to the Minister, National Commissioner and Secretariat.

4. Stakeholder Management

We are currently exploring the possibility of referring the service-related complaints, which constitutes about 34% of total complaints – intake to the police and to the Secretariat for Safety and Security. We have already had meetings with the Secretariat. If it should be possible for the Secretariat to deal with these complaints, this would go a long way towards addressing the concern raised with regard to the referral of such matters to the police.

CORPORATE SERVICES

Priorities include the promotion of human resource development with the emphasis on the development and multi-skilling of staff members, the promotion of sound labour relations and human resource practices as well as the recruitment and selection of suitable staff. Legal and communication support as well as the rendering of a comprehensive administrative support has been necessary to the line functionaries to perform their duties.

The budget of Corporate Services for the financial year 2000/2001 covers the expenditure of the following sub-programmes:

• Management (Offices of the Executive and Chief Director)
• Human Resource Management
• Financial Management
• Provisioning Services
• Auxiliary Services
• Legal Services
• Information Technology
• Communication Services

The expenditure under this programme can be broken down into the following standard items of expenditure:

Personnel Expenditure: Ten percent of the staff members included under this programme represents the Top Management of the Directorate. The other 43 staff members render a support service to the line functionaries in terms of administrative, communication, legal, financial, logistical, IT and human resources.

Legislation such as the Public Service Act and Regulations, the Tender Board prescripts and the Treasury Regulations compels departments to ensure accountability in terms of all actions and expenditure. For example an official who requires an asset or service to be delivered/rendered may not order or approve such an expenditure, nor may he/she take charge of such a delivery or make the necessary payment of such a service. This implies that sufficient staff should be appointed to ensure that all necessary checks and balances are put in place to prevent abuse and/or misuse of funds and, to render a support service to the line functionaries in the most efficient and cost effective manner.

The preceding illustration confirms that a minimum number of support staff will always be necessary to perform the support service, irrespective of the number of line functionaries that would need the support. In the case of the Directorate, the current number of support staff appointed represents the minimum number of support staff necessary to perform the various support functions. The support service will still be able to cater for an increased line function and the latter increase will not necessitate an additional increase in the support staff.

It needs to be mentioned that during benchmarking with other similar service-orientated departments and organizations; it became apparent that the Directorate’s expenditure in terms of corporate support represents an average expenditure of thirty three percent of the total expenditure of such an entity. Likewise, the cost to run a Budgetary component within the Directorate – a section regarded as one of the more important components to ensure accountability and the sound management of expenditure – can be calculated at the rate of approximately 30 cents for every R1 000 spent by the Directorate.

In order to curb expenditure under this programme, the sharing of expenditure of the Audit Committee with another department, is currently being considered. Similarly, only the one post of Assistant Director in the Internal Audit component is currently being advertised (for a second time) for filling.

Administrative Expenditure: Under this standard item the following expenses include official telephones and data lines, cellular phones, postage, official vehicles, travelling and subsistence allowances.

The Directorate received an unqualified report from the Office of the Auditor General in respect of the 1999/2000 financial year. Visitations to the various offices for auditing of assets, financial and human resource management were combined with the training of (all) staff in respect of induction, PFMA and other relevant administrative policies and procedures. Though many more policies and systems need to be recorded, the most important 27 policies and procedures have been compiled and/or updated during this year to bring (some) activities and expenditure in line with the requirements of the PFMA, the Public Service Regulations and other legislation.

3. EXPENDITURE: 2000/2001

The following provides a breakdown of (the preliminary) expenditure incurred (and recorded) by the Directorate under the various standard items for the period 1 April 2000 up to 28 February 2001. With one month remaining before the closing of the books for the financial year, it is evident that the Directorate has so far spent 91 percent – exactly on target - of its total budget:

Expenditure trends within the Directorate:

The Directorate was established in April 1997 and since then its expenditure on the Vote grew by an average of 7,0 percent a year between 1998/99 and 2003/04. Though very small, the programme: Monitoring and Development grew much faster than the total budget, at an average of 26,2 percent a year. Reprioritisation towards this programme reflects the importance that the Directorate attaches to the monitoring and supervising of investigations that were referred to other agencies. Investigative personnel have been multi-skilled in order to perform the investigations, or where necessary, to effectively monitor the progress and finalisation of investigations by other parties.

In 1997/98 and 1998/99, the Directorate spent an average of 18,7 per cent on start-up capital expenditure. As projected, this expenditure fell to an average of 5 percent during this year in respect of the extension of the information network to the newly established offices and the upgrading of computer software to prevent damages due to computer viruses.

The growth in personnel spending has tapered off to 4,2 percent of the total budget, over the last two years since the Directorate did not recruit or fill all of the 152 funded positions. Annexure A provides an organogram of the post establishment of the Directorate.

Due to the limitations of the budget in terms of operational expenditure, ways and means were sought to decrease personnel expenditure in order to create savings for operational expenditure. As such the Directorate has:

• Determined (during this year) the necessity of each and every post/post level before the filling thereof; and

• Where necessary - in line with the policy on job evaluation - determined the responsibility level of every vacant post. This exercise has in a few instances led to a decrease in the approved level of some vacant posts with the result that savings developed artificially. The latter was then utilised – after virement approval by the Executive Director - to fund operational expenditure.

Operational expenditure has increased from the previous year with approximately 3 percent. This increase correlates well with the increase in the number of staff members, though it needs to be mentioned that the level of expenditure in terms of operations had to be curbed since 1 November 2000 in order to remain within the limited budget. The curbing of expenditure was undertaken in line with the investigative priorities. For example cases now take longer to be completed since travelling expenditure can only be permitted when sufficient reason exists for a trip to a particular area. A limitation was further placed on the use of official vehicles to the effect that such vehicles may not travel in excess of 1 000 kilometres per month.

In terms of the acquisition of official accommodation for the two "intake" offices in Northern Cape and Mpumalanga, the Directorate has been fortunate to share accommodation with other State departments in order to render a service to these communities. Unfortunately the sharing of one of the offices (Mpumalanga) has to cease by the end of March 2001 due to the sharing department moving to other suitable accommodation early in the new financial year. The Directorate is currently seeking other accommodation to share in order to curb expenditure and a limited amount (R 140 000) has been put aside for these expenses in the next year. These funds may not be sufficient to locate accommodation via the national Department of Public Works, but the Directorate is considering more creative ways to rent temporary official accommodation.

After the briefing to the Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security on 28 February 2001, expenditure included under the programme Administration in terms of expenditure incurred by the core functions was removed from Administration’s expenditure. (These expenses include the general expenditure linked to the running of an office such as official telephones, data lines, the use of official vehicles, security and cleaning services as well as the faxing, copying and mailing of documentation/evidence).

The programme: Investigations comprises 46,6 percent of the total budget whilst programme: Monitoring and Development has grown to 15,7 percent of the budget. The programme: Administration utilizes 37,8 percent of the total budget to support the line functionaries.

Although 535 posts had been approved for the establishment of the Directorate in order to fulfil its mandate effectively and efficiently, the Directorate considered the budgetary constraints since inception and decided to reprioritise its investigative priorities. In view of the limiting budget and the effect of the carry through cost of the filling of the 32 vacant posts, a decision was taken to make use of contract appointments to assist permanent employees to finalise activities. As such, more than 40 jobs were created for qualified unemployed youths during the current financial year, to be trained to assist the line functionaries with their administrative tasks. Understandably this arrangement has a positive influence on the unit cost of personnel expenditure since more employees were appointed on lower salary levels – with limited service benefits - to complete the specific projects.

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

The budget for training and development to the amount of R335 000 was utilized as follows:

Bursaries Allocated

Twenty nine bursaries were allocated on the basis that each employee will qualify for assistance to the maximum of R6000.00 per annum.

The following short courses were attended:

An amount of R9000 in respect of the skills development levy will be paid over during this financial year.

The total training expenditure for 2000/2001:

Bursaries       : R180000.00
Training         :  R147600.00
Training levy   :    R 9000.00
Total             : R336600.00

ICD: Budget allocation per standard item - 2001/2002 (Please note that this file is in .pdf format (13 kb).  Click here for instructions on how to open it.)

4. NATIONAL PRIORITIES 2001/2002

Investigation of Complaints

The ICD’s investigative priorities for the year 2001/2002 will be:
Deaths in police custody and as a result of police action;

• Crimes against women and children;
• Police brutality;
• Corruption

Monitoring and Development

• Regular visitations to police stations and police cells. The purpose of the visits would be two-fold. Firstly to establish the readiness of the police to implement the DVA and secondly, to audit custody management

• Finalization of our projects with regard to racism, the use of dogs on civilians by the police and the development of a strategy to reduce the risk of police-related deaths.

• Our DVA obligations, including activities during the 16 days of activism.

• Femicide research – an external agency will be commissioned to do this research in partnership with ourselves. The successful completion of this project depends on our accessing donor funds.

Corporate Services

The most important challenge for Corporate Services will be to ensure a repetition of another unqualified report from the Office of the Auditor General.

Another important challenge the programme has to face is to manage the Directorate in order to remain within the limitation of the budget. Since the financial year: 1998/99, the Directorate had difficulty staying within its limited budget. In the mentioned financial year, operations had to be scaled down in the last two months, to prevent overspending.

Though the budget will not be able to cater for the full implementation of the PFMA, the Directorate needs to seek other means to ensure compliance with the said legislation.

Another important challenge includes the establishment of an Internal Audit component, the identification of a shared Audit Committee to assist with the finalization of a risk management plan and the compilation of an audit charter to guide the auditing process.

If funds permit the appointment of another Chief Director to manage and oversee the functions of Corporate Services, will strengthen the reporting lines to the Executive Director. This arrangement will also free the Executive Director and the current Chief Director from the additional burden of management and supervision of the various support functions, such as Human Resource and IT, Auxiliary and Legal Services, Communication and Finance in order to allow her to concentrate her energy on issues surrounding the vision, mission and objectives of the Directorate. This Chief Director may then also take over the function of Chief Financial Officer.

The provincial offices of Mpumalanga and the Free State need to move to permanent official accommodation. In line with the prescripts for the acquisition of office space, the national Department of Public Works will not be able to assist the Directorate in this regard without an advance payment of at least R 660 000 from the Directorate’s budget.

The Directorate has had its fair share of disciplinary actions to deal with during this year. In total 22 such cases were dealt with and finalized or, are still being investigated.

5. ANNEXURES

a) Organogram of the staff complement (Annexure B) (Please note that this file is in .pdf format (29 kb).  Click here for instructions on how to open it.)
a) Statistics: Racism cases (Annexure B) (Please note that this file is in .pdf format (7 kb).  Click here for instructions on how to open it.)