Police Oversight and Community Safety
Question by Hon Walters.
With regard to her Department’s Court Watching Brief Programme:
(a) How many cases have been monitored by this programme in (i) total and (ii) 2024 to date, (b) in how many of these cases were suspects prosecuted for (i) extortion and (ii) gang-related offences and (c) in how many of these cases were suspects (i) convicted, (ii) acquitted and (iii) when acquitted, what were the reasons for the acquittal?
- (a) (i) The primary objective of the Department of Police Oversight and Community Safety’s (POCS) Court Watching Brief Programme (CWB) is to contribute towards promoting professional policing and accountability in line with the National Development Plan.
The CWB programme visits courts to assess police functions in terms of police investigations. The methodological approach entails accessing court’s charge sheets and extract the relevant information on cases removed from the court roll (withdrawn criminal cases) due to failures. The CWB reports on the systemic failures identified. The report is issued to the SAPS leadership to address challenges and develop corrective measures to improve service delivery. The CWB monitored 3 750 cases from 2019/20 to 2024/25 (Qtr.1) financial year.
Table 1: Number of cases monitored by the Court Watching Brief Programme
2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
Total of 873 criminal cases were monitored
Breakdown is as follows:
| Total of 397 criminal cases were monitored
Breakdown is as follows:
| Total of 502 criminal cases were monitored
Breakdown is as follows:
| Total of 689 criminal cases were monitored
Breakdown is as follows:
| Total of 944 criminal cases were monitored
Breakdown is as follows:
Qtr.1 – 63 Qtr. 2 – 180 Qtr. 3 – 265 Qtr. 4 – 436 | Total of (345) criminal cases were monitored
Breakdown is as follows:
Qtr.1 – 345
|
(ii) For quarter 1 of the 2024/25 financial year, a total of 345 cases have been monitored at various courts.
(b) (i) Not in the POCS mandate. These statistics must be obtained from the NPA.
(ii) Not in the POCS mandate. These statistics must be obtained from the NPA.
(c) (i) Not in the POCS mandate. These statistics must be obtained from the NPA.
(ii) Not in the POCS mandate. These statistics must be obtained from the NPA.
(iii) Not in the POCS mandate. These statistics must be obtained from the NPA.
