Police Minister haunted by Sheriff for failing to pay out civil claims
The Minister of Police's offices are today facing the attachment of R245 000 worth of furniture by the Deputy Sheriff of the Court, due to the SAPS' failure to pay costs for five cases it has lost on appeal.
This is not an isolated incident.
On most days of the year, the Sheriff of the Court, or his representative, can be found at Minister Mthethwa's offices to attach goods in lieu of fees the Ministry has failed to pay as ordered by the Court.
I will be submitting a series of questions to Minister Mthethwa to determine why the SAPS is repeatedly failing to uphold the law and meet its debts.
The latest information from the 2010/11 SAPS annual report states that the police have earmarked R11 billion for possible civil legal claims against the department. These claims include: assault, shootings, damage to property, police actions, vehicle accidents and legal costs.
Even when the Ministry of Police loses in court, it chooses to ignore the ruling, forcing citizens to ask the Sheriff of the Court to attach goods in lieu of payment. That the Sheriff of the Court must pay almost daily visits to the Minister's office is nothing short of contempt of our courts on the Ministry's part.
The Ministry's conduct should not be tolerated. The SAPS is responsible for law enforcement, and the Ministry of Police should at all times display respect for orders of the Court.
Three years ago, law firm Edward Nathan Sonnenberg compiled a 400-page report, at a cost of R8 million, into the Police Legal Services. The Democratic Alliance (DA) has repeatedly urged the Ministry to act on the report's findings. Why two successive Ministers of Police have failed to act on its recommendations has never been explained. At the time that the report was commissioned, the backlog of civil legal claims stood at 19 000, and many claims took three years and upwards for the SAPS to settle.
The Minister of Police must explain why this state of affairs has been allowed to continue, and what steps he plans to take to curb the SAPS' repeated failure to meet its debts.
Statement issued by Dianne Kohler Barnard MP, DA Shadow Minister of Police, January 19 2012
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