By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI/Hawks) is currently probing at least 22 477 cases with a combined monetary value of about R1.5 trillion.
The cases include cash-in-transit robberies; theft of fuel from Transnet pipelines; drug and human trafficking, and corruption. They also include commercial crime, organised crime, cybercrime and money laundering, inchoate offences such as conspiracy to commit crime and incitement to commit crime.
The monitory value for the cases being investigated is more than R1.5-trillion, involving:
- 23,519 suspects
- 12,360 have already been secured at court
- 11,159 are still pending
- 1,998 have been sent to the NPA for a decision
- 3 are scheduled for August 23
The sordid details were on Tuesday revealed by National Hawks Head, Lt Gen Godfrey Lebeya, during a media briefing in Pretoria.
Lebeya said the Hawks embarked on a process of assessment, implementation and monitoring in 2018.
Lebeya said when he took over the reins in 2018, he embarked on a process of ‘Assessment, Implementation and Monitoring (AIM)’, in an effort to ascertain organisational and management capabilities.
He said: “This entailed engaging the management and personnel in the Directorate in order to redirect the birds. To properly reengineer the Directorate, most issues were identified within the first 100 days in office.
“These included an incoherent organisational structure, stagnation in some investigations, transfer of personnel from DPCI to other divisions within the SAPS [South African Police Service], nepotistic practices in appointments, poor and unfair allocation of human and physical resources, and inadequate implementation of the Police Act, which has adversely impacted not only the functioning of the Directorate, but the attrition of skilled personnel.”
As a result of this anomaly, Lebeya said a work study was commissioned, which resulted in the redesigning of a fully developed structure for the Directorate. The structure was approved in 2019.
The structure is now being implemented to enhance skill levels and retain personnel in an effort to build capacity.
In recent times, the Directorate has made several key appointments. These include the appointment of the Deputy National Head, Divisional Commissioner, six Provincial Heads, Component Heads including Financial Accounting Investigation, Priority Crime Specialised Investigations and other senior managers and personnel across the country.
Between the 2018/19 and 2021/22 financial years, the DPCI had arrested 12 157 suspects that were brought before the courts of law.
In the same period, Lebeya said 4 447 convictions were secured across the country.
“The convictions relate to individuals as the charges/counts are much higher. To cite two examples: in 2019, the convictions relating to Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Component alone was 37 597 counts.
Lebeya meanwhile revealed they were processing at least 41 statements in the Phala Phala robbery docket, that was willing to say on the matter.
The Hawks boss skitted around the Phala Phala issue and was unwilling to divulge whether President Cyril Ramaphosa’s statement was among the 41 testimonies.
“So far, we have filed 41 statements in the docket. So, I will not deal with the nitty gritty’s of the content whose statement is filed in the docket.
“But rest assured that the 41 statements are more than the statement that the complainant (Arthur Fraser) has filed.“
Ramaphosa is accused of concealing a robbery which took place at his Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo on 9 February 2020.
Among the allegations is that the president paid off suspects who stole millions in foreign currency that was stashed in the furniture on the farmhouse in exchange for their silence.