Parliament, Monday, 3 November 2025 – The Portfolio Committee on Police has criticised the lack of improvement in the audit findings of both the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSiRA) and have called for effective consequence management both internally and externally to remedy the situation. The committee reconvened a meeting to assess the 2024/25 annual reports of entities within the police portfolio. This followed the committee’s decision on 15 October 2025 to adjourn the meeting due to the unavailability of both the Minister and the National Commissioner of SAPS.
“It is completely unacceptable that the SAPS and PSiRA have persistently shown non-compliance with supply chain management (SCM) and 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 Mr Ian Cameron, the Chairperson of the committee.
The Office of the Auditor-General of South Africa informed the committee that SAPS and PSiRA continue to face persistent lack of improvement in their audit opinions, which raises a question about the effectiveness of the implementation of audit action plans. The committee highlighted that these plans are intended to address prior years’ audit findings, and lack of focus and attention to them represents impunity within the organisations.
At the SAPS, while the committee acknowledged the unqualified audit opinion, the committee is concerned that SCM regulations are being undermined, which erodes confidence between the SAPS and communities. “The fact that there is endemic manipulation of the evaluation criteria points to corruption within the system. The committee highlighted the need for lifestyle audits, initially for high-risk officers within the system to root out irregular appointments that do not meet identified specification,” Mr Cameron emphasised.
While the committee acknowledged the lengthy process to act on a material irregularity, it called for processes that will ensure that any irregularities can be acted upon timeously.
Meanwhile at PSiRA, the committee welcomed the assurance that the AG has referred the Unemployment Insurance Fund-linked R129 million training scheme to the Special Investigating Unit. This will ensure that money irregularly spent on the programme is recovered. PSiRA agreed that it did not achieve its objectives with this programme and that only 118 of the trained 6 507 learners were accredited. The committee had previously highlighted the inadequacies in the supply chain process that appointed a service provider incapable of rendering services and the lack of monitoring as well as the lack of consequence management following the contract.
Despite the committee’s recommendations, the PSiRA has not done enough to prevent irregularities since 2019. “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,” Mr Cameron emphasised.
The committee was also alarmed that PSiRA has not done enough to collect money it is owed due to over-reliance on the work of external service providers. In-year spending was also poorly monitored, resulting in the entity overspending on operational expenditure, which is unacceptable. Such mundane disfunctions, made worse by recurring over successive financial years, should not be prevalent within the entity.
It is also astonishing that the position of SCM manager has been vacant for over 24 months, yet the entity is underperforming on SCM laws and regulations. The committee emphasised the need for consequences because without clear and effective consequences the impunity will continue. Also, in line with Section 10 and 11 of the PSiRA Act, the committee called on the Minister to exercise his oversight role on PSiRA to ensure that its situation improves.
The committee is continuing its engagement with the management of SAPS, PSiRA, the Civilian Secretariat for Police and the Independent Police Investigative Directorate.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON POLICE, MR IAN CAMERON.
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