South African Police expressing lucidity on civil claims against members

10 Oct 2011

The recent annual plan of the SAPS reveals that, the claims against the police as compared to the previous year have increased. South Africans should acknowledge the transparency that SAPS have with regard to the expenditure processes rather that shy away from mandated responsibilities. A civil claim as a contingent liability relates to a possible obligation for the department arising from past events and the existence of such an obligation will only be confirmed by the occurrence or non-occurrence of uncertain future events not wholly in the control of the South African Police Service.

The uncertain events refer to the possible settlement of the claim by the Department or a decision by court that the Department is liable as far as the merits of a particular claim is concerned. Not nearly all claims; however, result in settlements and payments in favour of claimants. The time of settlement and the amount that may, or may not be granted eventually, is also uncertain. Civil claims against the SAPS that have not been finalised by a court order or a mutual settlement agreement between the parties involved must be reported as part of contingent liabilities.

The amount of R 11,044,498, 000 - Eleven billion and forty four million and four hundred and ninety eight thousand rand revealed in the annual financial statements of SAPS as contingent liabilities for the past financial year, represents accumulated civil claims against the Department of Police that are still pending. Various factors influence the settlement of a claim or eventually the legal processes during a litigation process.

Claim amounts reported as contingent liabilities should be interpreted also with the following facts in mind:

• payments for damages claimed cannot merely be made upon receipt of letters of demand. A due process must still be followed in respect of each pending claim to determine whether or not the claim is valid and whether or not the claim should be settled or defended
• the amount of R11,044,498,000 billion relates to claim amounts only and not payment or even estimated settlement amounts in future
• a decision made by a plaintiff or by his or her legal representative about an amount that should be claimed as damages, is totally beyond the control of SAPS
• at the time when the figures (closing balance of all pending accumulated claims) are published in the financial statements, it is not known when an amount will become due and what amount will eventually become due in future once a claim had to be settled in favor of a particular claimant
• it is also not known whether or not the amount claimed will be amended, reduced or increased once summons are served
• it is also not known whether or not the matter will be adjudicated in a court of law or a claim will be settled out of court
• in matters that are adjudicated can only be finalized by the court.

Claim amounts are normally very much inflated by complainants through their legal representative offices. Moreover, do not necessarily represent amounts that claimants are legally entitled to. For instance, during the past financial year claims with a total claim amount of R746 million were finalized of which only R85 million was paid as compensation.

The National Commissioner of Police, General Bheki Cele, does not condone the unbecoming conduct of members which generally tend to attract civil claims against the police." Although many of our members end up causing the department to pay damages resulting from civil claims while striving to perform their duties diligently, there are those who tend to disregard to act within the ambit of the law," said Cele.

Statement issued by Colonel Tumi Shai, South African Police Service, October 10 2011

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