Question no 55
Ms D Kohler-Barnard (DA) to ask the Minister of Police:
(1)(a) In each (i) department and (ii) province in respect of each of the past three years, how many police officials have been (aa) charged with and (bb) convicted of crimes and (b) in each case, what offence was the official charged with or convicted of;
(2) whether such officials received state funds to support their legal case; if so, how much did this amount to;
(3) whether each of these officials paid this amount back to the State; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
(1) The information reflected in the table (http://www.info.gov.za/speeches/docs/rnw55_091006.pdf) is only for the period 2008/09. The information for the previous two (2) years is not readily available and would have to be obtained from the respective provinces and divisions and it will be time consuming.
(2) By direction of the National Treasury, a Standard Chart of Accounts (SCOA) synchronised with a new Economic Reporting format was introduced with effect from the 2004/05 financial year. The SCOA contains the classification of items according to classification standards. The SCOA, therefore, comprises the coding of items used for classification, recording and reporting within the accounting system. Different classification regimes were harmonised in the chart. The chart caters for data dissemination as determined by the National Treasury.
The design principles of the new reporting tables inter alia allow for the grouping of transactions based on their nature. One such grouping of items is goods and services, of which Legal Cost (State Attorney) is a sub-classification. The amount paid in respect of legal costs relates to legal services rendered to the SAPS by the State Attorney towards various kinds of litigation including constitutional matters, labour law matters, criminal law maters, administrative law matters and others.
Members, who have been charged with committing crime (criminal law), while performing their official duties, may apply to be represented by the State Attorney at the expense of the State, subject to certain conditions. The State Attorney claims such expenditures back from South African Police Service (SAPS). The amount paid by SAPS for legal costs for members who have not forfeited state cover, is included in the sub-classification as indicated above. The specific segment paid in terms of members represented by the State Attorney cannot be provided separately at this stage as it will require a labour-intensive scrutiny of all cases by the Office of the State Attorney.
(3) The debtor administration system of the department does provide for the recovery of legal costs on instruction of the State Attorney but does not differentiate between the various categories of litigation. As a result, legal costs recovered specifically in terms of criminal litigation, can not be presented at this stage. What should be noted is that legal costs are only recoverable in instances where a member has forfeited his or her state protection.
Issued by: South African Police Service
6 October 2009
