The Western Cape needs clarity from the SA Police Service

ON TUESDAY, National police commissioner Riah Phiyega will appear before the Western Cape Parliament standing committee for community safety.

This is unusual, but the committee, charged with oversight over policing matters within the province, is adamant that it needs clarity on several unresolved issues.

Policing is a national function. Provinces, however, have specific functions as defined in the national constitution. These functions, described in section 206, include monitoring conduct, overseeing the effectiveness and efficiency of the service (most specifically the visible policing component) and the promotion of good relations between the police service and the community.

Normally, the provincial police commissioner would report to the legislature and there are specific references in the national and the Western Cape provincial constitutions for this action.

In these references, the word “legislature” was interpreted by our legal adviser as meaning the standing committee. An interesting situation has now developed in the relationship between this legislature and the police.

There are two main aspects: the specific obligations of the provincial police commissioner to the legislature, and the impact of nationally driven policies which are managed in a provincial context – but not by the provincial government.

Following the 2009 general election, the new Parliament, on the advice of its legal adviser, was satis- fied to adopt the reporting format of the previous Parliament, according to which the provincial commissioner and his staff annually addressed a list of pre-submitted questions and topics.

Over the three years since then, the committee has become increasingly concerned about the substance and content of these reports.

The police remained generally vague and unresponsive to requests for a more complete report. Another legal opinion was obtained and this time emphasis was placed on the requirements of the provincial constitution, which states the matter in a critically different way.

Section 67 (2) states that, “The provincial parliament may require the provincial commissioner of police for the Western Cape to appear before it or any of its com- mittees to answer questions”, and section 67 (3) states: “The provincial parliament must receive an annual report from the provincial commissioner of policing in the Western Cape.”

It has now been confirmed that the police do indeed produce an annual report on policing in the Western Cape, but fail to submit it to the legislature.

Incredibly, the police do formally table annual reports in other provincial legislatures and copies from several of these provinces have been received by us.

The failure by a department to submit a formal annual report has several significant impacts. It is a breach of the law and can have audit implications, it prevents comparative statistical analysis from one year to the next, it pre- vents informed criticism of failed strategies and poor results, and restricts the scope for constructive contributions to identifying solutions.

Time and again, the provincial commissioner has deferred to national policy and gives this as the reason why he is unable to deal with certain critical issues. These issues include the compilation of the resource allocation guide which determines the staffing and resources at station level.

Earlier this month, the provincial commissioner would only brief the standing committee on the true state of the guide at station level in camera, because identifying understrength stations would put officers at risk of being attacked. The committee declined the briefing.

This raises the matter of minimum service levels the public can expect from the Visible Policing Unit at station level. A few years ago, the then-national commissioner stated that this minimum level would be two officers per vehicle, two vehicles per sector, 24/7.

Recently, the deputy provincial commissioner said he was satisfied with one vehicle per sector, but the committee routinely witnesses less.

The police system of shift management where officers on course, detached duty, annual or maternity leave and so on remain on the active duty shift lists is a mystery.

In some cases a shift starts without a single officer on the roster being present and officers from other shifts have to be brought in.

We need clarity on recruitment methodology and cycles to ensure quality recruits and how this will apply to the Western Cape in the future. The moratorium on reservists is another critical matter.

The police housing policy needs clarity. Officers are regularly killed at home for firearms because they cannot afford to live in any place other than sub-economic areas.

Many stations have vacancies because officers cannot afford to live near the station of their choice and cannot get to work due to erratic transport provision.

What specific measures are being applied to ensure adequate accommodation for police members? These are among the key questions to which we will be seeking answers.

Wiley is the chairman of the standing committee on community safety in the Western Cape legislature.