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The Democratic Alliance is concerned by the rise in police criminality. The Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) annual report, released this afternoon, showed that the total number of cases received by the ICD regarding the police has increased by an overall 4.2% to a total of 6375 cases in 2009/2010. The fact that 6375 of our police were investigated for every crime from theft to murder is an indictment on the SAPS top structure, and is quite possibly a result of the hiring of unsuitable candidates over the last few years.

Significantly, the number of cases of alleged police criminal conduct reported to the ICD has increased by 7.7% to 2462 cases last year. Worryingly, the 2009/10 figure is a 50% increase in the number of cases reported to the ICD regarding alleged police criminal conduct in the last five years, from 1643 cases in 2005/06 to 2462 in 2009/10.

On a positive note, in 2009/2010, the ICD received fewer cases of deaths in police custody and as a result of police action. The total number of deaths at police hands is down by 5.7%, from 912 deaths in 2008/2009, to 860 in 2009/2010. This however, remains a very high figure, which is more than an average of 2 deaths per day at police hands and demonstrates why the ICD needs to be bolstered. KwaZulu-Natal remains the province with the highest number of deaths as a result of police action or in police custody, accounting for a third of all cases. My colleague and the new Minister of Community Safety in the Western Cape, Albert Fritz, will be taking up those incidents of criminality by members of the SAPS in the Western Cape with the Provincial Police Commissioner, once officially appointed.

What is worthy of congratulation is the fact that, under new management, the ICD received an unqualified audit report, after five years of qualified audit reports, which in turn augers very well for the implementation of the new Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), which is due to replace the ICD, giving it the teeth it so desperately needs to serve as the police watchdog. The number of ICD recommendations that were implemented by the Police reached as low as 10% before the IPID Bill was tabled. We welcome the fact that the new Bill, which was recently passed by the National Assembly, will ensure that recommendations are in fact implemented.