Input of the Deputy Minister of Police, Honourable Cassel Mathale at the occasion of NCOP Budget Vote Debate 2026/27
Honourable Chairperson;
Acting Minister of Police; Honourable Firoz Cachalia
Deputy Minister of Police, Honourable Doctor Polly Boshielo
Honourable Ministers in attendance;
Honourable Deputy Ministers in attendance;
Chairperson and Members of the Select Committee
Honourable MECs present;
Members of Parliament;
Heads of entities;
Ministry Staff;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen;
Good Afternoon.
I rise today with the intention to remind us of something fundamental to our society: the need for civilian oversight and the relationship between those who enforce the law and the public they are sworn to protect. In any democratic society, the police are bestowed with the massive responsibility of ensuring the safety and security of the citizens they serve.
For them to effectively execute this responsibility, they are granted enormous powers, including the power to arrest, investigate, detain, and, in certain circumstances, use force within proportionality provided for by the law. However, with power of this magnitude comes an equal measure of accountability.
Our men and women in blue perform an incredibly difficult and dangerous job, and many of them do so with honor, bravery, selflessness and dedication. Many of them remain true to their calling and undertaking of creating a safe and secure environment for all people in South Africa.
In the execution of this calling, there can never be room for unprofessionalism, corruption, misconduct or lawlessness of any form within the ranks of the police service.
We have noted the embarrassing and unacceptable behavior of some of our police officers and we do not accept such behavior. Police Officers who engage in corruption or any form of criminality are criminals. They do not deserve to wear our blue uniform and they must know that the orange uniform is waiting for them.
Honourable Members, it is with the recognition of human beings’ fallibility that the architects of our constitutional democracy idealistically created civilian oversight mechanisms such as the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service (CSPS) and the Independent Police Investigative Directorate amongst others, to maintain checks and balances upon those that have been bestowed with power and responsibility. We had to revolve from a culture where the police were a law unto themselves to one characterized by service delivery and civilian oversight.
Civilian oversight is a vital democratic mechanism that ensures law enforcement acts within the law, uses resources efficiently, and fulfills its mandate with integrity and honour - by promoting accountability, transparency, independent complaint investigations, and community involvement. Oversight bridges the gap between police agencies and the public they serve to build much-needed trust.
Effective oversight is essential to building trust between the police and the community. When marginalized or frustrated communities see an impartial, independent entity monitoring performance, guiding police service delivery through policies and legislation, reviewing grievances and complaints, it reduces dissatisfaction and hostility toward the police.
As part of the Ministry of Police’s reset agenda, Minister Firoz Cachalia has emphasized the need to increase or rebuild public trust in the SAPS - and the strengthening of the CSPS is at the core of achieving this.
Honourable Members; Oversight goes beyond reacting to individual incidents as we have seen with the outcomes of the Madlanga Commission and other investigative bodies playing out in the public arena currently. Oversight should allow for, for example, the auditing of training, management practices, departmental policies, identifying root causes of misconduct and corruption before they escalate and so on. Oversight should assist us to identify redflags and develop mechanisms to counter such.
The CSPS is at the center hereof. It plays the critical role of monitoring, evaluating, and advising on policing policy in general. However, as you are aware, recent parliamentary briefings have highlighted a glaring challenge of massive funding shortfall that the CSPS faces. We cannot mandate the CSPS to drive policy, oversee compliance, assist in professionalising SAPS and enhance community partnerships if it does not receive the necessary financial support. Parliament must ensure that the CSPS is sufficiently funded to execute its constitutional mandate efficiently and effectively.
Chairperson and Honourable members: The CSPS continues to maintain high standards of professional ethics and strives to manage its public funds and resources in an efficient and effective manner as required by the Constitution and the Public Finance Management Act.
The CSPS continues to strengthen efforts towards executing its mandate, even within the limited financial resources.
May I hasten to mention that the CSPS has maintained a clean and accountable administration in the past financial years by achieving five consecutive clean audit outcomes which confirm that this budget vote should be supported to enable them to exercise their oversight role consistently and competently. This consistent milestone augurs well for the eco-system of accountability and is a step in the right direction on the journey of building safer communities and an efficient, accountable police service.
Parliament must therefore support the Civilian Secretariat to instill governance reforms that are urgently required in the entire policing landscape.
Honourable Members, you cannot be spectators/critics or naysayers – you must support this budget and hold the CSPS to account where it is failing. The bottom line is that we are all in it together.
The CSPS leads and coordinates the implementation of the Integrated Crime and Violence Prevention Strategy (ICVPS) and strategic interventions as part of its efforts towards building a safer, ethical, capable and developmental state.
The Cabinet-approved ICVPS remains our guiding principle to address the root causes of crime through a ‘whole of government’ and ‘whole of society’ approach. The ICVPS will be critical in guiding our collective actions towards enhancing safety for the citizens of South Africa, underscoring the need for all stakeholders to fulfill their roles in a coordinated manner, in order to address the challenges of crime and violence more holistically.
The Department continues to work jointly with provinces in conducting research on policing and safety with the aim of improving service delivery and contribute to building safer communities. During the period of 2025/26, a research was undertaken for the analysis of the implementation of safety & violence prevention interventions in selected municipalities, and the findings revealed that across provinces and municipalities, safety is increasingly reflected in strategic planning instruments such as provincial and municipal safety strategies. More funding of the safety strategies is needed for effective implementation.
The scourge of gender-based violence and Femicide (GBV&F) in the country continues unabated, hence the President declared it late in 2025 as a national disaster. In contributing to the fight against this scourge, the Department will continue monitoring the compliance to and implementation of the Domestic Violence Act (DVA) in various police stations with insignificant and partial compliance levels to the DVA – focusing on assessing:
- The administration of domestic violence at police station level;
- Availability and suitability of private interviewing space / Victim Friendly Facilities; and
- The management of non-compliance complaints relating to poor response to GBV related cases.
The Department will further conduct docket analysis on stations that are reported to have high numbers of domestic violence cases that are closed as unfounded or unresolved. This will be done as a way of ensuring that GBV victims are given access to justice and are protected from the recurrence of such experiences.
Other notable initiatives to be implemented by the CSPS to address the scourge of GBV&F will include the following:
- Effective implementation of the Court Watching Brief programme. which has led to investigation and administrative challenges being addressed and cases re-enrolled and processed in courts. This Programme will be accelerated across provinces over the medium-term as part of our efforts to address the scourge of GBV in the country.
- Awareness campaigns to be held in different settlement areas (urban and rural) involving various community groupings to educate communities about their right to report GBV and the remedies at their disposal should they become victims.
- In partnership with organisations like Memeza Shout and Black Woman Caucus, the Department conducts awareness campaigns at institutions of higher learning and areas (communities) identified with high level of GBV&F to empower youth and members of the community with tools such as personal alarms and general education about GBV&F.
Monitoring the SAPS implementation of the CSPS Database of Recommendations remains uppermost in our minds. Therefore, to address the enforceability of CSPS recommendations by SAPS, we are reviewing the CSPS Act and the SAPS Act, which once enacted by the President will compel the National Commissioner of the South African Police Service to respond to CSPS recommendations within a stipulated timeframe.
As a legislative and policy wing of the Ministry of Police, the Department legislative proposals for the Five-Year Term of the Seventh Administration (2024-2029) will cover the following:
- South African Police Service Amendment Bill
- Firearms Control Amendment Bill
- Second Hand Goods Amendment Bill
- Stock Theft Amendment Bill
- Civilian Secretariat for Police Service Amendment Bill
- Critical Infrastructure Protection Amendment Bill
- Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority Amendment
- Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Amendment Bill.
Noteworthy is that the SAPS Amendment Bill was introduced in March 2026 in Parliament while the Firearms Control Amendment Bill is set for introduction in Parliament in this financial year. The Department will henceforth support the parliamentary processes and the subsequent enactment of these legislations by the President over the medium term. The rest of other legislation will be subjected for Cabinet approval and for publication for public comments before introduction in Parliament in the outer years. These legislative reviews are intended to address emerging implementation challenges, close policy gaps, and enhance our sector efforts towards reducing crime and violence in our country.
Ladies and Gentlemen: The Minister has outlined specific priorities for the Sector, aimed at a national reset agenda for policing and governance reforms including among others the following:
- Improved crime levels with a focus on Gender Based Violence
- Reduction of Firearm Related Crime
- Enhanced Border Security
- Police Department Entities with strong Strategic and Management Capability
- Increased Public Trust in the SAPS.
To deliver on these, the CSPS will implement several interventions in collaboration with the provincial secretariats over the medium-term including the following:
- Facilitating the implementation of the ICVPS through the National Working Committee
- Conducting the perception survey on the effectiveness of the implementation of the ICVPS.
- Ministerial provincial oversight visits will be undertaken to assess policing performance, engage with stakeholders, and monitor the implementation of crime prevention interventions at provincial level.
- Monitoring of crime and violence in sampled police stations and /or SAPS units and components.
- Research study to identify the effectiveness of policing at major ports of entries: A case study of the Durban Harbor and Beit Bridge border posts.
- Monitoring implementation of the National Policing Policy and support the process of establishing the National Policing Advisory Committee (NPAC) and its functionality.
- Conducting anti-crime campaigns focusing on GBV&F across provinces.
- Monitoring of IPID recommendations across provinces.
- Assessment of police conduct and integrity, policies and dissemination recommendations to SAPS for implementation and improvement.
- Revitalization of the community based patroller programme across provinces to support policing and promote community safety. A funding is being sourced in consultation with various stakeholders to support the effective implementation of the Programme across provinces.
Noteworthy is that some provincial departments of Community Safety have earmarked funding to roll-out the Programme in communities.
The Provincial Secretariats within the provincial departments of Community Safety remain critical partners for the Department to exercise its oversight at the provincial level. In term of the CSPS Act, all provincial Secretariats are obligated to align their plans and operations with plans, policies and operations of the National Civilian Secretariat for Police Service and ensure regular reporting to the Secretary of the Police Service.
In order to respond to the priorities in the 2024-2029 MTDP, a Perception Survey will be conducted to determine people’s feelings of safety in communities in collaboration with the provincial departments of community safety as means of establishing the effectiveness of ICVPS implementation. This survey will serve as an important measure to assess the effectiveness of crime and violence prevention interventions and demonstrate the perceptions of community members on safety.
In order to realise a crime-free South Africa, NDP acknowledges that building safety using an integrated approach and increasing community participation in safety matters remains indispensable.
To this end, the Department with the support of the Departments of Community Safety & Provincial Secretariats will monitor the implementation of the ICVPS by all metro municipalities in line with the signed Cooperation Agreements. The purpose of these Cooperation Agreements is to record the cooperation of relevant parties in pursuance of a shared vision for safety and security. These cooperation agreements will also be used as vehicle to accelerate the implementation of the ICVPS across metropolitan municipalities.
Monitoring the implementation of these agreements is being conducted at a regular basis through the established institutional mechanisms/arrangements led by the Department.
Incorporating the ICVPS into the District Development Model will further ensure the success of the strategy.
Another notable initiatives to be prioritized in 2026/27 include the assessment of Community Safety Forums (CSFs) and Community Policing Forums (CPFs) in all provinces to ensure that they are effective and functional. In the event where assessments revealed that CFSs and CPFs are non-functional, capacity building efforts will be implemented to ensure that they remain functional. This intervention serves as a testament that halving crime and violence remain a societal responsibility and augurs well with the strategic posture adopted by National Development Plan and the ICVPS.
The CSPS also continues to monitor the functioning of the FSLs across provinces.
The DNA Board has been established to ensure regular effective governance and oversight over the overall operations of the National Forensic DNA Database (NFDD). The Board will be required to monitor the functioning of the FSLs across provinces including the newly established Forensic Investigative Units. Several community engagements and public awareness will be implemented to profile the mandate of the Board and encourage the general public to report complaints regarding alleged violations related to the misuse of DNA samples and forensic DNA profiles.
Similarly, the work of the DPCI Judge will be profiled in various provinces as part of making the general public aware about the critical work undertaken by this office, which is in essence premised on investigations of human rights violations committed by the Hawks as well as political and other interference into investigations conducted by the Hawks.
Financial Capacity
The CSPS is currently severely underfunded and we request that its budget be aligned and increased from the current baseline over the MTEF period due to the pressing priorities that the Department is required to deliver on.
In order to ensure the effective execution of its mandate, the CSPS has requested for additional funding from National Treasury. Furthermore, a business case was made to the Standing Committee on Appropriation in Parliament justifying a need for the Department to be allocated with additional funding to deliver on its constitutional and legislative mandates.
To this effect, the CSPS submitted its budget requirements to the value of about R973.9 million against the current proposed budget of R181.3 million; which is a shortfall of approximately R792.6 million.
The submitted budget requirements include among others the following:
- Additional staff complement of about 345 personnel against the current staff establishment of 173
- About R27.4 million for Business Processes Digitisation and Automation
- Acceleration of the implementation of the ICVPS
- Establishment of National Policing Advisory Committee
- Establishment of Critical Infrastructure.
The Provincial Secretariats within the provincial departments of Community Safety remain critical partners for the Department to exercise its civilian oversight.
Inadequate funding remains a key constraint significantly affecting the Provincial Secretariats’ capacity to deliver effectively on their mandates.
The primary constraint remains a shortage of human resources and operational capacity, which limits provinces from delivering comprehensive and effective oversight. This capacity gap places sustained pressure on existing personnel and impacts negatively on the depth and frequency of oversight activities.
Honourable Members; effective civilian oversight is not a luxury; it is one of the most fundamental mechanisms to legitimise policing in the eyes of the public and to improve the trust deficit that we have experienced in decades. Therefore, I urge this Parliament to prioritize the resourcing of the CSPS, to vigorously hold the police executive accountable, and to champion a transparent, rights and evidence based approach to policing.
Let us work together to ensure that our Police Service reflects the democratic values of our society, protecting the vulnerable and serving all people with integrity and distinction.
Thank you.
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