Recomendaciones

discussion, it is evident that SAPS has a rich history. Comparably, it is one of the oldest public institutions in the South African public sector. This section discusses the features that distinguish SAPS from other public institutions. Four significant features that are considered essential in distinguishing SAPS from other public institutions, namely, legislation that governs SAPS, its services and programmes, ranking structure and institutional culture, are discussed in the following sections

4.3.1 Legislation that governs the South African Police Service

The Police Indemnity Act was reflected upon as part of the legislation that governed the SAP in the discussion of the developments in the SAPS. As stated, old legislation such as the Police Indemnity Act were repealed and replaced with new ones that were intended to reinforce SAPS as part of a transforming public sector and democratic society.

This legislation is specific to the sector in which SAPS performs its functions and regulates the manner through which police officials carry out the duties that were listed in the definitions of key words in chapter 1. The Constitution as the supreme law of the country, gives effect to the South African Police Service Act (85 of 1995) as amended, which lists the functions that the SAPS must perform.

In terms of the SAPS Annual Performance Plan 2016/17, the types of legislation that evolve from the implementation of the SAPS Act and that regulate its programmes; include the Animal Movement and Control Bill, which is the product of a review of the Stock Theft Act (57 of 1959), Critical Infrastructure Protection Bill, which replaced the National Key Points Act (102 of 1980),

Firearms Control Amendment Bill (2014), which amended both the Firearms Control Amendment Act (28 of 2006) and the Firearms Control Act (60 of 2000). Other types of legislation that were promulgated to further the goals of the SAPS Act include the South African Police Service Amendment Bill (2014) Protection of Constitutional Democracy against Terrorist and related Activities Amendment Bill (2014) whose purpose is to update the Protection of Constitutional Democracy against Terrorist and Related Activities Act (33 of 2004). Because South Africa is party to international policing institutions, its public institutions including SAPS conform to international treaties. In order to keep abreast with the changing needs of South Africa’s democracy, this legislation is, as circumstances warrant, reviewed and as such, require that SAPS’ national instructions be reviewed as well.

Despite having referred to the legislation that governs SAPS’ programmes, the SAPS as a public institution that exists to administer a public service to the South African society and that is funded by government, is required to comply with legislation that governs other public institutions as well. Even though this legislation is not central to the nature of the services that SAPS performs, it regulates the manner in which SAPS carries out its functions. Examples of this legislation include the White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Services (1995) that sets out the transformation objectives that managers in SAPS should strive to achieve, the White Paper on Transforming Public Service Delivery (Batho-Pele) (1997) that sets out the principles within which SAPS should perform its functions, the White Paper on Human Resource Management in the Public Service (1997) that provides for diversity and equality and the Public Finance Management Act (1999) that governs the efficiency and effectiveness with which public resources should be managed. The discussion of the services and programmes that are undertaken to achieve SAPS’ constitutional mandate are discussed in the following section.

4.3.2 Services and programmes of the South African Police Service Some of the services that are delivered by SAPS are highlighted in the legislative framework that has been discussed in the foregoing subsection. These services are performed solely by SAPS and no other institution, whether in the public or private sectors, has a concurrent mandate to perform them. As such they are basic features that distinguish SAPS from other public institutions. Policing services are part of those regarded as ‘essential’. Despite some policing activities being performed by private security companies and individuals, none of them enjoy the legislative support that SAPS has.

The core services that are performed by employees of SAPS are to prevent, combat and investigate crime, maintain public order, protect and secure the inhabitants of the Republic and their property and to uphold and enforce the law. SAPS’s Annual Performance Plans for the reporting periods 2016/17, 2015/16, 2014/15, 2013/14, 2012/13, 2011/12, 2010/11, 2009/10 and 2007/8 and SAPS are significant in that they are public documents which provide vital information about the programmes of SAPS These programmes are briefly discussed in subsequent subsections.

4.3.2.1 Administration

The administration programme is an administrative support base of the SAPS and its purpose is to provide strategic leadership, management and support services; and to provide for the functions of the Civilian Secretariat for Police. The strategic objective of the administration programme is to regulate the overall management and to provide centralised support services. The overall responsibility of the administration programme is to sustain corporate support functions such as human resources, supply chain management and computer services to support the execution of line-function operational activities. A

significant amount of SAPS’ budget is spent on this programme due to SAPS’s renewed focus on developing human resources, skills development, replacing boarded vehicles, creating new employee health and wellness centres, and purchasing uniforms, weapons and ammunition, training and development and inventory management.

4.3.2.2 Visible policing

The purpose of the visible policing programme is to enable police stations that are distributed throughout the country to institute and preserve safety and security and to provide for specialised interventions and the policing of South Africa’s borders. The strategic objective of this programme is to minimise all forms of crimes by providing a proactive and responsive policing service that helps to reduce the levels of priority crimes. As referred to in the SAPS Strategic plan for 2014 – 2015, sub-programmes that form part of the visible policing programme include crime prevention, border security, specialised interventions and facilities management. A significant amount of the budget of this programme is devoted to providing basic policing services to reduce serious crimes and improve services to victims of crime, particularly rural safety and crimes that affect vulnerable groups. The visible policing programme also has a mandate to facilitate the construction of police stations to provide victim friendly services to victims of rape, sexual offences and abuse.

4.3.2.3 Detective services

The purpose of the detective services programme is to enable investigations and to provide support to investigators in terms of forensic evidence and the Criminal Record Centre. The strategic objective of the detective services programme is to contribute to the successful prosecution of offenders by investigating, gathering and analysing evidence. The programme consists of four main sub-programmes, namely, Crime Investigations, Criminal Record

Centre, Forensic Science Laboratory and Specialised Investigations, which contribute immensely to the successful prosecution of criminal offences by maintaining and providing accurate criminal records and funding for the forensic laboratories which provide specialised technical analysis and support during criminal investigations.

4.3.2.4 Crime intelligence

The purpose of the crime intelligence programme is to manage crime intelligence, analyse crime information and to provide technical support for investigations and crime prevention operations. The strategic objective of the crime intelligence programme is to gather crime intelligence in support of the prevention, the combating and investigation of crime; to collate, evaluate, analyse, coordinate and disseminate intelligence for the purpose of tactical, operational and strategic utilisation; to supply intelligence products that relate to national strategic intelligence to the National Intelligence Coordinating Committee (NICOC) and to institute counter-intelligence measures within SAPS. Similar to visible policing, the crime intelligence programme is a labour intensive programme and as a result a significant amount of SAPS’ budget is spent on compensation of employees, mainly in the Intelligence and Information Management sub-programme.

4.3.2.5 Protection and security services

Similar to visible policing and crime intelligence programmes, the protection and security programme of the SAPS is labour intensive and as such a significant amount of its budget is spent on compensating employees that are deployed to perform static, mobile and VIP protection services. The purpose of this programme is to provide protection and security services to all identified dignitaries and government interests. The strategic objective of the protection

and security services programme is to minimise security violations by protecting foreign and local prominent people and securing strategic interests.