Emperical investigation into the financial management in the Police service, North West province

Abstract

South African Police Service (SAPS) is mandated by act no 68 of 1996 to ensure a safe environment for all people living in South Africa. Like any other government department in South Africa, SAPS utilises public funds to perform day to day duties and to provide better service to the community in the form of a secure environment for all people living in this country. South African Police Service is regulated by the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA act 1 of 1999) in utilising the public funds. PFMA act requires that accounting officer be appointed in terms of section 36 (1) of the act and furthermore, requires that the accounting officer should ensure in terms of section 38 (1) (i) that the department has and maintains effective, efficient and transparent systems of financial and risk management and internal control. It also requires in terms of section 38 (1) (iii) that accounting officer ensures and maintains an appropriate procurement and procurement and provisioning system which is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective. According to the reports by the Auditor General in the previous three (3) financial years (2008/2009 - 2009/2010 - 2010/2011) financial management within SAPS has been unsatisfactory. The Auditor General pointed out same problem year on year of fruitless and wasteful expenditure which in many instances are caused by the penalties for not paying license fees in time. These suggested that control and measures were not in place to eradicate the problem . The report of 2008/2009 by the Auditor General revealed that "the accounting officer at SAPS did not ensure that the department has and maintains an effective, efficient and transparent system and internal controls regarding performance management. The information gathered from the study undertaken in SAPS North West from employees working at Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Finance at Potchefstroom, Rustenburg and Mafikeng revealed that finances while managed well, more needs to be done to ensure the effective utilisation of the finances. Fruitless and wasteful expenditure was blamed on management for not following the plan in place and procedures when procuring goods and services. Incompetent employees were also found to be contributing to the rise in fruit less and wasteful expenditures.