Phahlane’s ‘Back to Basics’ approach on HR welcome; sound financial management must follow 

22 December 2015

The DA welcomes the announcements made today by Acting National Police Commissioner, Kgomotso Phahlane, about processes underway to address human resource deficiencies within the South African Police Service (SAPS). 

His words today echo the call made to him by the Democratic Alliance (DA) upon his appointment to implement all the necessary measures to address the systemic decline of the SAPS, and fix the fundamentals needed to turn it around into a robust and effective crime-fighting agency.

The DA will monitor the implementation of Phahlane’s commitments, especially those relating to the intake and training of new police recruits and the appointment of personnel to Forensic Analyst posts by the end of this financial year. Forensic Science Laboratories must be enabled to work more efficiently and cut down the waiting time for blood, DNA, ballistics and other forensic analysis test results. 

The DA has long highlighted the problems with under-staffing and under-resourcing at station level within the SAPS, arguing that our inability to turn the tide on crime over many years was due to capacity shortages in visible policing, which is crucial for crime prevention. 

We have also highlighted the importance of fixing weaknesses in our crime intelligence and detective services divisions, which are crucial for securing high conviction rates – especially when it comes to the syndicate crime that underlies vehicle hijackings and property robberies. 

Phahlane today said all the right things in line with our call by outlining a ‘Back to Basics’ approach that will focus on high visibility and improving investigations and intelligence capacity within the SAPS.

The DA additionally calls for urgent action by the Acting Commissioner to address problems in the SAPS relating to financial and supply chain management in furtherance of this approach.

The multi-billion rand SAPS budget does not filter down to the ground resulting in a chronically shoddy state of police service at station level. It is time to put an end to procurement fiddling and siphoning in the financial and procurement management systems that is the root cause of this.

If Lieutenant-General Phahlane can maintain his momentum to refocus the priorities of the SAPS to get it on track by ensuring that the basics are in order, his tenure as caretaker Commissioner will be defined by a performance record that he and all South Africans can be proud of.

Issued by Zakhele Mbhele, Shadow Minister of Police, DA, 22 December 2015