South Africa: Strengthening Civilian Oversight over the police in South Africa: The national and provincial secretariats for safety and security

This paper examines the effectiveness of the secretariats for Safety and Security which are the key institutions for Civilian Oversight.

The national and provincial secretariats for safety and security were established to undertake Civilian Oversight and monitoring over the South African Police Service (SAPS). This was done to ensure that the police were accountable to the public. The secretariats for Safety and Security are the key institutions for Civilian Oversight. This paper examines their effectiveness in the 10 years since their establishment.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to respondents from the National Secretariat for Safety and Security, the provincial Secretariats for Safety and Security, and the regional directors of the Independent Complaints Directorate, who gave of their time to participate in the study. Thanks are also due to Melanie Lue-Dugmore and Sean Tait of the Open Society Foundation, who assisted with much of the preparatory work for the research. In addition, the authors are grateful to Bilkis Omar, who assisted with the interviews. The researchers wish to express their gratitude to Antoinette Louw, Anton du Plessis, Melanie Lue-Dugmore, Sean Tait and Michael O’Donovan, who took the time to comment on previous drafts of this report.

Authors

Duxita Mistry is a senior researcher in the Crime and Justice Programme, Institute for Security Studies.

Judy Klipin is a part-time lecturer at the School of Public and Development Management and a criminal justice consultant.