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Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police cut short its meeting with the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) today after it could not find satisfactory answers to questions about the entity’s lease arrangement with the Department of Public Works (DPW) regarding its Pretoria headquarters.

This came after officials from the ICD could not clearly explain their role in relation to the agreement which saw the entity’s office accommodation rental costs escalate from R4, 236, 938.50 in year 2009/2010 to R15, 567, 632.75 in 2010/11.

Also, the officials could not explain why the ICD occupied a building which they claim was suggested by the DPW without ensuring that it would not have a negative impact on the entity’s budget requirements and allocation for accommodation for the financial year.

“I don’t believe continuing with this meeting will take us anywhere; we need to invite the Department of Public Works and Treasury to be part of the meeting when we discuss this matter again,” said Committee Chairperson Sindi Chikunga.

Another matter that could not be explained was why the ICD committed public funds to pay for the lease agreement when those funds were not yet made available by Treasury – as it is outlawed under the Public Finance Management Act. Section 38(2) of the PFMA Act stipulates that “an accounting officer may not commit a department, trading entity or constitutional institution to any liability for which money has not been appropriated.”

“The details you are giving us are shocking. It is clear that you took matters for granted when dealing with this matter. I can’t understand why,” said Chikunga.

If the details regarding this lease agreement are anything to go by the Committee might consider not supporting your request for more funding from Treasury to fulfil the financial obligations regarding this lease agreement, Chikunga said.

The Committee will try to reschedule the meeting to next week Wednesday, 23 November, where the various stakeholders are expected to attend to clarify.