Madam Chairperson
The South African Police Service Amendment Bill and the National Prosecuting Authority Amendment Bill jointly effect the establishment of a new, integrated division in the South African Police Service to prevent, combat and investigate national priority crimes.
Firstly I wish to thank the Select Committee for Security and Constitutional Affairs for the role it played in the development of the Bill now being considered. Normally the committee would only become involved in the consideration of a section 75 Bill, after adoption thereof by the National Assembly.
In the case of this Bill, the committee was part of all deliberations, including the public hearings all over the country and the public hearings in the Joint Portfolio Committees on Justice and Safety and Security. Despite this, the committee, once it started deliberations on the Bill, interrogated all aspects thereof afresh intensively and critically. The committee also allowed further submissions on both Bills, by Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA) and the Centre for Constitutional Rights and also allowed these institutions to make oral submissions, although the issues raised were also deliberated upon in the Joint Committees.
Madam Chairperson, I am confident that everything possible was done through the whole parliamentary process to ensure maximum public consultation as well as the best possible law to be developed. The Bill that was originally introduced underwent major amendments ranging from the level of the Head of the Directorate, which is now a Deputy National Commissioner, appointed by the Minister, in concurrence with Cabinet, to various co-ordination and oversight mechanisms.
The Joint Committees developed generic features that should be contained in any model law dealing with an organised crime unit. I am happy to say that the Bill complies with those generic principles, namely that a multi-disciplinary approach need to be utilised, comprising participants from Home Affairs, the South African Revenue Service, the Financial Intelligence Service and the Intelligence Services, the involvement of prosecutors from an early stage in the investigations, the need for crime intelligence, improving the definition of organised crime, the ability for the head or the unit to select cases within a policy framework determined by a Ministerial Committee, and approved by Parliament, that the head of the unit must be appointed by the minister, the vetting of personnel, the need for a monitoring structure in the form of a ministerial committee, that the unit must be free from political interference, a unique complaints mechanism, to strengthen the fight against corruption, effective parliamentary oversight, adequate budget and resources, and a phased approach in terms of which the Minister for Safety and Security needs to report back to Parliament within three years on whether any further legislative measures or amendment is necessary in order to improve the operations of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation.
The purpose of establishing the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation is exactly to enhance the combating and investigation of priority crimes. I expect from both the selected members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the selected Directorate of Special Operations (DSO) members to co-operate and form a new esprit de corps that will lead to huge successes against priority crime. In their midst will also be seconded personnel with expertise and skills from other departments and institutions such as the South African Revenue Service, the Financial Intelligence Centre, and Home Affairs. If so requested, such personnel may be transferred with the powers they have in the seconding department or institution, performed under the direction of the Head of the Directorate.
In view of the multi disciplinary approach to the work of the new directorate, provision is made in the Bill for an Operational Committee, consisting of the Directors-General or heads of the respective departments and institutions mentioned in respect of secondment of personnel. This committee must review, monitor and improve interdepartmental co-operation, and perform such other functions as the ministerial committee may determine from time to time.
The committees left no stone unturned to ensure that the final Bill now before us reflects the best possible model to combat national priority crime. This included a reflection on such models abroad, like the United Kingdom Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), and the Serious Fraud Office, the Australian Crime Commission and models in Norway and experiences in Canada.
The committees also made an in depth study of the recommendations of the Khampepe Report on the mandate and location of the DSO. It was clear from that study that not all the recommendations of the commission were implementable, and that to retain the DSO at its present location at the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) would for example not solve the problem relating to the Ministerial disjunction pointed out by the Judge. This would also not solve the intelligence support and oversight required in respect of intelligence functions, both issues which are addressed by this Bill.
Government is acutely aware of the extent and impact of crime on our country and in our communities. Organised crime, corruption and commercial crime pose dangers which strike at the heart of the economy and also have the potential to negatively affect the security and stability of the country. During the public hearings on this Bill in the provinces, there was a strong appeal from the public not to focus only on organised crime and commercial crime, but also on those serious violent crimes that are most visible and directly affecting communities in their daily lives such as car-hijackings and ATM bombings. There is a need to address all national priority crimes in a co-ordinated, multi-faceted manner.
A degree of operational independence is provided for by elevating the Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), to a Deputy National Commissioner appointed by the Minister in concurrence with Cabinet.
Madam Chairperson, the Bill addresses exactly those issues which are critical, namely to pool expertise, not only from the Directorate of Special Operations, but also the Commercial Crime Component and the Organised Crime Component of the South African Police Service.
Madam Chairperson, the South African Police Service has established some 29 Organised Crime Units based in all provinces. Some 87 prosecutors of the National Prosecuting Authority have been allocated to assist and advise these units, in respect of ensuring convictions, whilst remaining prosecutors. The Serious Economic Offences Unit of the SAPS follows a similar approach with serious economic offences working closely with prosecutors in the Specialised Commercial Crime Courts.
The Crime Intelligence Division of the SAPS is responsible for counter-intelligence measures, including vetting procedures in the SAPS. This is important in view of the requirement that only persons who are appropriately vetted may be appointed in the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation. The South African Police Service Amendment Bill recognises existing security clearances already issued by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), as long as they are still valid and which I on the required level.
The South African Police Service Amendment Bill also provides for additional integrity measures in respect of personnel of the Directorate, in the form of random tests for the abuse of drugs and alcohol, random entrapment as well as random polygraph testing. Security vetting for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation will be performed within the ambit of the National Strategic Intelligence Act, 1994, and uniform regulations made by the Minister of Intelligence.
Remedies, including an appeal process, provided for in the National Strategic Intelligence Act, 1994, are available in respect of the downgrading or refusal of a security clearance.
The Bill provides for a role for Cabinet in respect of the Directorate by providing that the President may assign a Committee of Ministers to perform functions relating to the approval of guidelines and procedures in respect of the directorate, in particular procedures to improve interdepartmental co-operation and guidelines for the selection of cases by the Head of the Directorate or referral of cases or categories of cases for investigation by the Directorate by the National Commissioner.
A complaints mechanism is established in the South African Police Service Amendment Bill, 2008, to investigate complaints of the public in respect of serious and unlawful infringements of rights caused by an investigation of the Directorate, or from members of the directorate who can provide evidence of any improper and unlawful interference regarding the conduct of investigations.
The Bill provides for the appointment of a retired judge to whom such complaints may be made. The retired judge will have the necessary powers and infrastructure to effectively fulfil his or her functions. The retired judge may also refer matters which fall within the mandates of the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) or other oversight institutions, to those institutions to be dealt with.
Parliamentary oversight in respect of both the implementation of the Bill, the functioning thereof, and interdepartmental cooperation are emphasised in the Bill. Both the National Commissioner and the Head of the Directorate can be called upon to report to Parliament. The Minster must report to Parliament within three years from the commencement of the Act on whether legislative amendments are required to improve the effectiveness of the Act.
The Head of the new Directorate may request the National Director of Public Prosecutions to exercise the powers in section 28 of the National Prosecuting Authority Act, 1998, to obtain evidence or to question a person.
The Bill provides for the effective implementation of the Act through Joint Audit and Implementation Teams that will audit personnel, cases, assets and budget that must be transferred to the South African Police Service. The informal joint task team, with sub-committees dealing with the issues mentioned and which was appointed upon insistence of the Joint Portfolio Committees, has already made significant progress with preparations for the implementation of the Bills. I wish to thank them for that.
A selection panel using criteria recommended by the Head of the Directorate will select both members of the South African Police Service and the DSO for appointment in the new Directorate. The National Prosecuting Authority will be represented on the selection panel.
I want to extend a warm welcome to the members of the Directorate of Special Operations who are willing to be transferred to the South African Police Service. We need your skills together with that of the South African Police Service members to establish an effective crime fighting capacity that the whole nation can be proud of.
I also need to emphasise that, in view of the envisaged procedure that the Minister of Justice will determine in consultation with the Minister for Safety and Security for the transfer of pending cases of the DSO to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, no cases will "fall through the cracks" and that every case receives specialised and unbiased attention.
Madam Chairperson, I thank you.
Issued by: Secretariat for Safety and Security
19 November 2008
