The South African Police Services (SAPS) has until October 15 to provide a cost breakdown of the 22 information technology projects that it is undertaking in conjunction with the State Information Technology Agency (Sita).

The chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police, Sindisiwe Chikunga, said that the committee needed additional information on the projected costs of each of the 22 projects and how much had been spent to date.

“The R3.6-billion allocated to the SAPS sub-programme responsible for technology management services is a great deal of money and we need to know exactly how the department intends to spend it,” said Chikunga.

She added that the committee was cautiously optimistic about the progress that has been made by the SAPS and Sita since April, when it was clear that the work programmes of the two parties were not aligned.

SAPS Major-General Bonginkosi Ngubane said that the department was on track to achieve a number of targets set out in its yearly strategic plan.

“We have been able to deploy the 491 planned mobile connectivity devices for tracing stolen vehicles, firearms and missing or wanted persons and we are also on course to achieving the fingerprint exhibit imaging target, with training expected to be concluded before the end of the financial year,” said Ngubane.

The progress report by the SAPS further showed that the department was on course with the deployment of a pilot site in Pretoria for the forensic science laboratory integrated case management system, while its e-Docket system would also be rolled out from December.

Sita acting chairperson Febe Potgieter-Gqubule expected that service level agreements between Sita and the SAPS would be signed by the end of September.