By Johnathan Paoli
The Portfolio Committee on Police has strongly criticised the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSiRA) for their persistent failure to implement audit recommendations and curb financial and administrative irregularities.
The committee warned that the ongoing lack of accountability and consequence management within both institutions threatens to erode public confidence in the country’s law enforcement and regulatory systems.
Meeting on Monday to assess the 2024/25 annual reports of entities under the police portfolio, the committee expressed deep concern over recurring audit findings and the limited progress made to resolve them.
The sitting followed an earlier adjournment on 15 October after both the Minister of Police and the National Commissioner of SAPS failed to attend.
“It is completely unacceptable that SAPS and PSiRA have persistently shown non-compliance with supply chain management (SCM) regulations and yet there is little or no action undertaken to ensure consequence management. An environment that lacks consequence management will breed impunity, and unfortunately, this seems to be the case at SAPS and PSiRA,” said committee chairperson Ian Cameron.
The Office of the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) briefed the committee that both SAPS and PSiRA continue to show a “persistent lack of improvement” in their audit outcomes, despite years of repeated recommendations.
This pattern, the AG said, raises questions about whether the institutions’ audit action plans are being implemented effectively.
Audit action plans are designed to correct weaknesses identified in previous years.
Yet, the committee found that both entities had either ignored or inadequately implemented them, resulting in a cycle of repeated findings, non-compliance, and wasteful expenditure.
At SAPS, the committee acknowledged the unqualified audit opinion but expressed alarm that systemic failures within supply chain management continue to undermine credibility.
“The fact that there is endemic manipulation of evaluation criteria points to corruption within the system. We have recommended lifestyle audits, starting with high-risk officers, to expose irregular appointments and procurement manipulation,” Cameron said.
The committee further noted that the lengthy processes involved in acting on material irregularities often weaken accountability and allow misconduct to persist.
It called for streamlined mechanisms to ensure that irregularities are dealt with swiftly and decisively.
Turning to PSiRA, members of the committee welcomed the Auditor-General’s decision to refer the authority’s R129 million Unemployment Insurance Fund-linked training scheme to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).
The training programme, designed to benefit unemployed youth, was found to have serious irregularities.
Out of 6 507 learners enrolled, only 118 were accredited, raising serious questions about the competence of the service provider and the oversight of the project.
The committee heard that PSiRA failed to perform due diligence in appointing the service provider, which later proved incapable of delivering the promised training outcomes.
“It is unacceptable that even after the authority has admitted that no due diligence was performed for the awarding of the contract, nothing tangible and no practical interventions have been made. It is in this context that the referral to the SIU is welcomed,” Cameron said.
The committee also noted with concern that since 2019, PSiRA has failed to implement sufficient safeguards to prevent similar irregularities.
Members said this reflects a culture of tolerance for failure within the entity’s leadership.
The committee expressed disbelief that the position of Supply Chain Management Manager at PSiRA has been vacant for more than two years, even as the authority continues to underperform in key SCM compliance areas.
The vacancy, coupled with over-reliance on external service providers for debt collection, has led to further inefficiencies and financial losses.
In-year spending was poorly monitored, leading to overspending on operational expenses, something the committee described as a mundane dysfunction that should not persist year after year.
Members warned that the repeated financial mismanagement and lack of internal capacity were clear symptoms of weak leadership and a failure of governance.
The committee confirmed it will continue engaging with the leadership of SAPS, PSiRA, the Civilian Secretariat for Police, and the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) to ensure full accountability and corrective action.
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