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The unending court battles within the SAPS top brass is crippling the department’s capacity to fight crime. This, in return, has a very negative impact on ordinary citizens as they are the most consumers of the services rendered by the SAPS. Proactive policing is non- existence as the battle for the sole of SAPS as to who is the legitimate supplier of SAPS products is penning out in our courts for over a period of 5 years and it seems like there’s no end in sight.

The SAPS has a forensic battle as well which has been ragging in courts for over 5 years and again with no end in sight. This battle has so much negative bearing on the functionality of the courts and correctional services as matters are either postponed longer or withdrawn pending the forensic results. Correctional services are forced to house waiting trialist for longer than unnecessary period due to SAPS man made issues. 

Drivers caught under the influence of alcohol and drugs; their matters are postponed for over a period of a year due to the backlog on blood results. After a year, the driver has already been involved in more than one cases of drunk driving. Others are dead as a result of this continuous habit because the law gives them a lieu way to do this. Life we could have saved if blood is processed faster. Victims of crimes find justice later at the time when they have already lost faith in the system and adjusted to live with the people who have wronged them. Those who cannot adjust, takes the law into their own hands. 

SAPS was doing very well in dealing with the DNA backlog until 2017 when they have a dispute with the service provider whom they decided not to pay but continued to use his database which was unlawful. To show that SAPS needed this product, they decided to copy and use it but the DNA backlog continues to sky rocket! 

The minister needs to, in the best interest of the Victims and the country, intervene and look for the best exhibit register to facilitate the movement of exhibits from stations to SAPS national forensic laboratory while at the same time, strengthen it by building forensic laboratories at each and every Province. Something which could have been finalized by now if it wasn’t as a result of this infighting. 

IPUSA is also calling on the minister to intervene in the facilitation of the tender to put siren instruments and marking of visible cars to help with visible policing. South Africans complaints about the lack of police visibility is legitimate and as the executive authority responsible for policing, surely you will want to see all unmarked vehicles marked and increase police visibility. It cannot be that all the time we issue crime stats, crimes which could be easily dealt with by visible policing becomes the most feared crimes amongst our societies! 

It is your department which is creating the problems the criminal justice system is faced with today. South Africans are angry with SAPS and justifiably so. We are not saying handle the supply chain department. We are saying manage your department and all the infighting SAPS is experiencing from the past years till today, will come to an end. 

The SSA (Secret Services Account) is the most lucrative department in CI, because of the secret spending taking place there. There are officers who were so good in corporate governance, but because they refused unnecessary expenditure to take place, they are pushed out. Together with IGI, you can clean CI and restore its credibility to help fight crime and not political battle 

The buck stops with you, honorable minister. The next crime stats should show that public confidence in SAPS have risen and crime has or is coming down. That the unnecessary litigation bill has dropped and that there be consequences management to those who continues to choose negative discipline to address members dissatisfaction as opposed to positive discipline. This is affecting the morale of our members. SAPS at war with itself and you are the only one who can help resolve it. 

But if you don’t intervene, South Africans will have no option but to continue and buy life policies and upgrade from police to private security companies for security purposes. Members will continue to wait for month end and receive what they deem due to them for doing absolutely nothing. 

Issued by IPUSA