Police Oversight and Community Safety
In relation to the enforcement of maintenance orders in the Western Cape:
(a) How many warrants of arrest does the SAPS currently have for maintenance orders against defaulting parties, (b)(i) what is the process of executing these warrants of arrest and (ii) have these processes been followed, (c) how many warrants of arrest have been executed in (i) 2019, (ii) 2020 and (iii) 2021 and (d)(i) what were the reasons for not executing warrants of arrest and (ii) what are the relevant details?
The reply of the South African Police Service (SAPS):
6. (a) 437
(b) (i) All received Warrants of Arrest are recorded in the Process Register and are accounted for with signatures. Immediately after receiving, the Warrant of Arrest the address of the defaulting party is visited and the Warrant of Arrest is executed if the defaulter is available. If not, the workplace will be verified and visited. If the defaulter does not stay at the address and a new address is not available, an affidavit will be submitted and attached to the Warrant of Arrest and taken back to court. The suspect will then be traced and arrested.
(ii) Yes
(c) (i) 1243
(ii) 823
(iii) 994
(d) (i) Possible reasons for not executing warrants include incorrect addresses, defaulter who moved to an unknown address, defaulter without a physical address and addresses that fall within another police jurisdiction, which are then transferred to the identified police station.
(ii) In cases where the defaulter cannot be traced and found, a warrant for his/her arrest will be issued.
