DPCI/Hawks is investigating 22 477 instances worth R1.5 trillion. Lt Gen Godfrey Lebeya, head of the National Hawks, confirmed the information on Tuesday.
Lebeya highlighted National Priority Offenses in his review of 2018 accomplishments.
Cases include cash-in-transit robberies, pipeline fuel thefts, drug and human trafficking, and corruption. Inchoate crimes include conspiracy to conduct crime and instigation to do crime.
More than 500,000 charges include 23,519 people.
Lebeya claimed 12 360 had been obtained in court and 11 159 remained.
“Of the cases under investigation, 1,998 have reached decision stage,” he stated.
Lebeya stated when he took over in 2018, he began ‘Assessment, Implementation, and Monitoring’ (AIM) to determine organisational and managerial competencies.
“This required Directorate management and staff to divert the birds,” he added. Most faults were detected within 100 days to reengineer the Directorate.
Incoherent organisational structure, stagnation in some investigations, transfer of DPCI personnel to other SAPS divisions, nepotistic practises in appointments, poor and unfair allocation of human and physical resources, and inadequate implementation of the Police Act negatively impacted not only the Directorate’s functioning but the attrition of skilled personnel.
Lebeya noted this anomaly led to the revision of the Directorate’s organisation. 2019 approved structure.
The structure is being introduced to improve capacity by boosting skill levels and retaining workers.
The Directorate began with 2,663 employees in 2009. In 2018, there were 2,535.
“It’s 2672. We’ve posted 200 jobs. Lebeya: We’ll keep advertising empty and sponsored roles to fill gaps.
Recently, the Directorate made major hires.
Deputy National Head, Divisional Commissioner, six Provincial Heads, Component Heads including Financial Accounting Investigation, Priority Crime Specialised Investigations, and other key managers and workers around the nation.
85% of Senior Management Service (SMS) roles have been filled despite the poor pace of Top Secret Security Clearance Certificate verification.
If the designate managers pass vetting and get Top Security Clearance, we can fill all positions before the end of the year.
Lower and middle management are still around 50%, and we want to fill these roles over the next two years, added Lebeya.
The DPCI apprehended 12,157 individuals between 2018/19 and 2021/22.
Lebeya stated 4 447 convictions were achieved in that time.
The convictions include those with greater charges/counts. Example: Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Component has 37 597 convictions in 2019.
Two natural individuals and five juristic persons were convicted on 487 charges of VAT fraud and money laundering totaling R110 million actual and R440 million potential damage. The guys were sentenced to 17 and 16 years in jail on 21 February 2020.