The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police, Mr Francois Beukman, has reemphasised the need to restore confidence in crime-fighting agencies as a tool to safeguard the country against rampant corruption and plundering of state resources.
A starting point of this re-focusing exercise is the appointment of capable and proper leaders to head crime-fighting agencies. We need leaders, women and men of integrity, in these institutions who are beyond reproach. Fit and proper persons who subscribe to the values of Act 108 of 1996, namely the Constitution of the Republic, and can make decisions without fear, favour and prejudice, Mr Beukman said.
There is a dire need to move with speed to amend outdated legislation, such as the South African Police Service (SAPS) Act of 1995 to strengthen law enforcement in the Republic and bring it in line with the current environment. Furthermore, the civilian oversight element must be strengthened to ensure adequate monitoring of the SAPS. To this effect, additional measures to further strengthen institutions such as the Inspector-General for Intelligence and the Independent Police Investigative Directorate and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (DPCI), better known as the Hawks, are needed.
Above all, the need to step up efforts to deal with corruption is urgent. Our people want to see that perpetrators of crime who plundered state coffers are arrested and prosecuted in the relevant fora and courts. Our law enforcement agencies should interact with Interpol and their counterparts in other jurisdictions to ensure that all fugitives in relation to state capture are apprehended and brought to book, Mr Beukman emphasised.
From an international perspective, the most significant crime threat to countries including South Africa, in the next 10 years will be cybercrime. The DPCI needs to ensure that the capacity and training of staff for the Cyber-Crime Centre be prioritised during this financial year. Two matters needing the urgent attention of the Department of Police are the development of a policy proposal and study on e-policing and digital policing.
Fighting corruption requires an anti-corruption system that is well-resourced, operates freely from political interference and has the support of all citizens. The current multi-agency anti-corruption system must be strengthened by better cooperation and the setting of well-defined targets to be achieved as outcomes. Law enforcement agencies with specific reference to the DPCI and Commercial Crime Detective Unit of SAPS must further develop the necessary capacity and expertise to deal with complex private-sector crime investigations.
To restore confidence of the people in the crime fighting institutions, strong and decisive action must be taken against those who act against the law and the Constitution. Over the past week or two, several current senior and former senior SAPS officials have been subjected to court processes. Some pleaded guilty on corruption-related charges, others were sentenced for long prison terms, while others must still offer their pleas in related court cases. We welcome on-going efforts by law enforcement agencies to deal with corrupt officials in their midst, but we need more urgency and decisiveness, Mr Beukman emphasised.
The immediate implementation of compulsory lifestyle audits and continuous integrity testing, apart from normal vetting procedures for senior officers and officials across the criminal-justice system, is the only way to go.
At the centre of crime fighting is the need for Intelligence-driven policing. The turn-around strategy to restore the Crime Intelligence Division of the SAPS as a credible and real-time provider of intelligence products should be fast-tracked and will be closely monitored by the Committee.
Source Parliament of the Republic of South Africa