Police probe fruitless expenditure of R2.7bn

THE police are investigating cases of fruitless and wasteful expenditure amounting to R2.7 billion as they try to clear their financial statements.

This is contained in the annual report of the police with audited financial statements tabled in Parliament.

In the report the police said there was R91 million in fruitless and wasteful spending in the last financial year.

However, they were investigating a number of transactions that could relate to fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

“There is no unauthorised expenditure for the reporting period. Confirmed fruitless and wasteful for the reporting period is R91 755 405. Transactions with a value of R2 743 585.71 are under investigation, as possible fruitless and wasteful expenditure,” states the report.

The police also said there was underspending and overspending in various departments due to a number of factors.

In the administration section the police underspent by 1.43%.

“A net underspending of 1.43% was realised as a result of decreased spending on the compensation of employees in this programme, which required reprioritisation towards compensation in other programmes. In addition, lower than expected spending on uniforms due to the unavailability of contracts to source the identified requirements, hosting and network upgrades within the information and technology environment and capital works building projects could also not utilise funding available for such.

“The National Treasury’s approval was obtained to shift funding from perceived underperforming capital items to other goods and services environments, essentially focusing on critical procurement for Covid-19 that had been embarked upon, of which no allocation existed at the time,” said the report.

It added that there was overspending in detective services and crime intelligence of the police.

In the detectives unit there was overspending of R116.9m. The police said this was due to fleet services and buying of goods and services.

On crime intelligence there was overspending of R63.1m and this was to pay for salaries for workers. The police said there was also overspending of 7.31% in protection and security services. This was also to pay workers.

In the report, Police Minister Bheki Cele called for a fight to be intensified against serious commercial crimes and violent crimes.

He said the police were putting in more resources to fight these crimes because they threatened the country.

He said they would not rest until the crime situation had stabilised and they had regained control of the streets from criminals.

The police service wants to ensure enough resources for gender-based violence. This scourge has been plaguing the country for some time, with calls for extra money for the police and the criminal justice sector.