CQ No. 25 - Amazon Web Services

1 SA Crime Quarterly no 31 March 2010 35 Gareth Newham (GN):What are the corefunctions of the secretariat ?Jenni Irish-Qhobosheane (JIQ):Essentially, thecore function is to support the minister of policeto fulfil his constitutional mandate andresponsibility. This includes determining thepolicy and strategic direction of the police ,securing its budget and overseeing is for this reason that the secretariat has astrong policy and research role to play in support of the it is to provide civilian oversight overthe police . The minister has added a function,which is to build and maintain partnerships. Sothere are three key functions of the secretariat :to advise the minister on policy and conductresearch to inform the minister's decision-making; to conduct civilian oversight of thepolice through monitoring and evaluation; andthirdly, to fulfil these functions throughpartnerships.

2 The minister also wants theSecretariat to play a role in the drafting oflegislation for the police , which used to be doneonly by the SAPS. GN:Between 1994 and 1999 the secretariat wasseen as a powerful structure and played animportant policy role. However, after 1999 the post of the national secretary was downgraded, and for the past decade many people have seen the National secretariat as having a very limitedfunction. Now the post of the national secretaryhas been upgraded and there are moves tosubstantially strengthen the structure. What haschanged?JIQ:The changes were twofold. Firstly, governmentbecame increasingly concerned with the quality ofservice delivery and there was a strong emphasis onstrengthening the monitoring and evaluationcapacity of government.

3 Secondly, the ministerhimself has been the driving force behind thechange to the secretariat . In the period followingthe April 2009 national elections he identified arange of gaps and weaknesses in policing. This waspartly because of concerns about the police thatwere being raised in parliament. Also, there were anumber of crucial issues in the 1998 White Paperon Safety and Security that had not been takenforward. It was for these reasons that the needarose to strengthen the capacity of the role of the secretariat also needs to beentrenched, and so we are in the process of draftinglegislation to give the secretariat the authority itneeds.

4 This will go before parliament this we are also looking at how we align theProvincial Secretariats' work with the NationalSecretariat, given that policing is a nationalcompetency in South Africa. We are also going toensure that the National secretariat has people ofquality who can perform the necessary functionsthat are required. The minister wants to make surethat the capacity of the National secretariat isentrenched so that it does not again becomeweakened, as was the case in the past. GN:What is the vision that is driving the currentthinking of changing the police from a 'service' to a'force'?JIQ: Essentially it can be explained in terms ofthree things, accountability, communication andOn the with Jenni Irish-Qhobosheane Since the 2009 national election, minister of police , Nathi Mthethwa, has been reorganising andstrengthening the national secretariat of police .

5 The existence of this body is constitutionally Newham spoke to the new national secretary of police , Jenni Irish-Qhobosheane, on 25 February2010. CQ No. 31 - Mar 2010 3/17/10 3:22 PM Page 3936 Institute for Security Studiescoordination. The issue of accountability is mostimportant as there is a need to create clear linefunctions in the police so that each person knowswho is in charge, who they are accountable to, andwho is accountable to them. This will also helpthe public know who has authority andresponsibility. This is also a way of improvingdiscipline in the police , which is an importantmatter. It must also be understood that theapproach is not just about making the policetougher on criminals.

6 The reorganisation andstrengthening of the National secretariat and theIndependent Complaints Directorate (ICD) mustbe seen in this context. We are aware that theremay be challenges as a result of changing thepolice. To minimise the negative impact of thesechallenges, the external oversight structures arebeing strengthened. The minister has thoughtthrough these issues carefully. It is not just a knee-jerk reaction. GN:What are the most important policeoversight challenges facing the secretariat ?JIQ:There are a number of challenges. The pastbackward slide of the secretariat is not just thefault of the SAPS.

7 It was also about the capacity ofthe secretariat . This is the biggest challenge weface. We need to bring in the right people but wealso need to draw on the expertise that is outthere in society. There are many people in variousorganisations that have a lot of valuableexperience and insight and we want to work inpartnership with them to assist the secretariat infulfilling its functions. It is for this reason that weintend to establish reference groups consisting ofrepresentatives from civil society to engage withthe secretariat . Another challenge is getting the police tounderstand the functions of the secretariat .

8 Weneed to recapture some of the terrain that theSecretariat held in its early days. This is a dailychallenge. Addressing this challenge requires thesupport and vision of our Executive Authority(the minister). Fortunately this does exist and webelieve that legislation will help. We also needparliament to hold the secretariat accountable forits oversight role. Another key challenge is thatthe secretariat will have to remain focused on thebroad issues, or the structural issues, that impacton police transformation and not be distracted bythe different individual issues that emerge. Over the past few years the secretariat has tried toinvestigate each complaint against the police thatwas brought before it.

9 However, these complaintsusually refer to police service delivery and fallwithin the responsibility of operational need to take cognisance of the service deliveryand other complaints that are made against thepolice, but our focus needs to be on the structuraland policy shortcomings that led to thecomplaint, and not only the complaint itself. We are not going to establish a massiveSecretariat. Rather, we want to have a streamlinedbody that is effective. This will require that weclearly communicate with the public that we arenot a complaints office. We have to keep a clearline between our role, which is to focus on civilianoversight and policy advice; and the role of thepolice, which is to focus on operations.

10 Theremustn't be encroachment on each other's corefunctions. This will be a challenge that we mustalways keep in mind. Another important challenge is developing a clearimplementation plan. Once the legislation isfinalised and our functions are clear, we will be ina better position to plan our activities. We willneed to keep our house in order if we are tosucceed in holding the police accountable for theimplementation of their plans. GN:Could you explain the issue of separatingpolicy issues from operational issues by speakingto practical examples? There will be specificincidents that make it into the media that will beindicative of a larger problem in the police .