Acting police crime intelligence boss Chris Ngcobo conceded on Tuesday that his security clearance was still outstanding.

Briefing the National Assembly's police committee, Ngcobo and National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega said both the SA Police Service and the State Security Agency (SSA) were experiencing problems with security vetting, including backlogs.

"The vetting processes are nowhere [near where they] should be. There's no structured process. It's one of the weak areas," said Phiyega.

This was one of the areas Ngcobo would focus on while re-organising the beleaguered unit.

Ngcobo said his security clearance expired well over a year ago, and he had applied for the re-vetting process.

He had not received his clearance by the time he was appointed on June 26 and withdrew his application, as his new post required clearance from an external agency.

The SSA would now deal with Ngcobo's vetting application.

Earlier this week, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa revealed that suspended former police intelligence head Richard Mdluli and his then finance head Solly Lazarus had both operated without clearance for over a year.

Both Ngcobo and Phiyega were grilled about what they were doing to restore the unit's reputation following allegations of fraud and mismanagement against Mdluli and Mthethwa.

Ngcobo said several successes had been recorded since he took over the running of crime intelligence.

"We've had 23 network operations since I took over. We arrested seven suspects and seized drugs worth R100 million."

He also listed problems facing the unit. These included a 20 percent vacancy rate and officers not complying with vetting processes.

MPs told the police management to consider disciplining officers who did not apply for security clearance when they had to be re-vetted.

Phiyega commended Ngcobo for his successes in the two months he had been in office, saying it was rare to see tangible results in such a short period of time.

She admitted there were still gaps in crime intelligence, but said these were being addressed on an ongoing basis.

"We were in the desert, now we are seeing the clouds, and hopefully we will see monsoon rains in the coming year."