The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) is at the forefront of fighting corruption in the country and therefore, without adequate funding, the fight against crime “will be seriously undermined”, its acting executive director, Victor Senna, told the portfolio committee on police.

Senna and his team appeared before the committee on Thursday to lay out their annual performance plan for the 2019/20 financial year.

Senna said IPID’s operations are stable, despite the departure of former executive director Robert McBride.

He added they would appreciate it if the position was filled soon to maintain stability.

DA MP Andrew Whitfield asked committee chairperson Tina Joemat-Pettersson to write to Police Minister Bheki Cele in this regard, as Senna’s role as acting executive director expires at the end of the month.

Joemat-Pettersson said she would do this.

Senna was appointed in March this year after the fifth Parliament’s portfolio committee on police’s controversial decision not to renew McBride’s contract.

IPID’s chief financial officer, Patrick Setshedi, told the committee on Thursday that its budget allocations had increased from R234.7m in the 2014/15 financial year to R336.7m for 2018/19 at a growth rate of 34%. The increase is the result of increased funding for the police.

Its expenditure is expected to grow from R336.7m in 2019/20 to R381.6m in 2021/22 at an average growth rate of 13%, mainly to accommodate operating costs and contractual obligations, without increasing the directorate’s capacity.

Of IPID’s total budget allocation for 2019/20 of R336.7m, R228.8m is spent on compensation for its employees, of which most are investigators.

Setshedi added that R55.5m was spent on contractual obligations, which left only R52.3m for IPID’s operations during the financial year.

Setshedi said it was experiencing “capacity constraints” in general, with the following functions “extremely affected”:

• Integrity strengthening and protection;

• Legal services and contract management;
• Service delivery coverage and accessibility;
• Accounting, compliance and reporting responsibilities;
• Community outreach events.