Auditor-General couldn’t verify 48% of SAPS responses to crime
The South African Police Service (SAPS) Annual Report for the 2014/15 financial year has revealed has revealed that almost half the reporting of SAPS members on their performance in responding to dispatch call-outs could not be properly verified. This serves as a further indication that our crime stats desperately need to be independently scrutinised if they are going to be accurate and enjoy the confidence of the South African people.
The Auditor-General, in his note, stated that claims that the SAPS are performing - and diligently responding to complaints - are unreliable up to 48% of the time. If this is the case, it would mean that the SAPS is failing in its fundamental function to properly and effectively manage complaints; and that they are failing to report credibly so that the real progress made by the SAPS in the fight against crime can be tracked.
More importantly, if SAPS does not have accurate stats, they cannot have an effective policing strategy to combat crime and ordinary South Africans – particularly the poor, who cannot afford private security - will bear the brunt.
This lack of action and credible reporting is ultimately the responsibility of the National Police Commissioner (NPC), Riah Phiyega, whose incompetence and lack of decisive leadership have seen a decline of a SAPS whose ability to combat and report crime effectively wanes by the day.
Indeed, just this morning the Sunday Times reported that Commissioner Phiyega has been the worst NPC to preside over our police service over the last 15 years . The Sunday Times’s analysis shows that, in 15 major crime categories, she is worse than both her embattled predecessors, Jackie Selebi and Bheki Cele.
We do not take pleasure in this failure because these deficiencies negatively impact ordinary South Africans who are the everyday victims of crime in their homes and businesses.
There is a real need for these crime statistics to be independently audited by institutions such as the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and other independent firms to prevent those with a direct interest in inflating them from showing better performance in the SAPS when that is not the case.
The DA noted with cautious optimism the Minister’s declaration that the stats were compiled in consultation with StatsSA. This was a welcomed acknowledgement of the need for these stats to be verified. However, there is clearly reason to impress upon the Minister and the Commissioner that, in order for these numbers to have optimal credibility and legitimacy, they should be audited by an independent body with no ties to the government. This will go a long way to restoring the public’s confidence in these stats.
Additionally, the DA proposes that South Africa requires real-time crime statistics to be publically available at every SAPS station so that localised responses to crime can be tailored appropriately and implemented timeously.
Crime affects each and every one of us. We must fight it with all means at our disposal, because the people of South Africa deserve better. They should not have to live under siege in their homes, their cars and their communities.
Issued by Zakhele Mbhele, DA Shadow Minister of Police, 4 October 2015
