The SA police services (SAPS) crime intelligence (CI) division is battling an operational inefficiency of underspending within the section of undercover operations, which happens to be the most important area of their work.
This is contained in a classified report by Inspector-General of Intelligence, who has recommended that CI management, led by Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo, do a deep dive to get to the bottom of the causes of this anomaly.
The report states that in the 2023-24 financial year, the SAPS-Cl registered 82 undercover operations to address and neutralise organised crime perpetrated by syndicates and criminal groupings.
Budgeted funds underspent
The national and provincial organised crime threats, the report goes on, are managed and addressed through approved operational methodology such as tactical, network operations, pre-operations and undercover operations, which are at the centre of SAPS-CI methodology to tackle organised crime affecting the economic development of our country.
These by their nature encompass significant spending as they form part of intelligence-driven operations in pursuit of the strategic and intelligence priorities of the SAPS as encapsulated in the 2020-2025 SAPS Strategic Plan for the Secret Services Account (Slush Fund).
The IGI concluded that it was worrying that despite the high crime in the country, there was “a worrying trend wherein budgeted funds allocated for undercover operations were drastically underspent” by the covert collection capacity of the Saps-Cl.
“During our oversight fieldwork engagements which culminated in the review of documents/files relating to undercover operations registered in the 2023-24 financial year, an observation was made relating to significant underspending by intelligence operatives of budgets allocated for registered undercover operations,” reads an extract from the report, which we have seen.
“To illustrate this point, Project Flashy registered in the Western Cape to address truck hijackings had an approved budget of R768, 500.00. At the termination of this project, only R9, 000.00 had been spent.
“Furthermore, Project Taken registered for investigation of organised crime relating to extortion-related crimes in the Western Cape had a budget of R635, 200.00. At the termination, only R70, 000.00 had been utilised,” the report continues.
Undercover operations compromised
“The approved budgets allocated to undercover operations are utilised for-operational expenditure relating to hiring of safe houses (undercover premises), training and travel expenses for undercover agents, remuneration of human sources, and any other related resources and assets necessary for the subsistence of the enlisted undercover agents such as cell phones, vehicles etc.
“The observed underspending was attributed to various factors which impacted on proper execution of Undercover operations. These include the excessively long period of time that the Secret Services Account takes to allocate undercover operations numbers to provinces, the dysfunctionality of the Agent Management Programme (as no undercover agents were enlisted in the year under review), and non-payment of informer rewards and remuneration.”
Consequently, after the disturbing findings, the IGI made pointed recommendations to the Khumalo-led management of Saps CI.
Corrective measures suggested
“The Divisional Management of SAPS-Cl should consider critical and serious interrogation of the underlying factors which may have negatively impacted undercover projects. And it must take the necessary steps to address this phenomenon that has resulted in drastic underspending of funds allocated for undercover… projects.
“Progress, reports relating to the corrective measures taken by the Divisional Management to correct the underspending on undercover operations be provided to the Office of the Inspector General of intelligence.”
