Remove Ipid from minister’s control, watchdog needs independent board PURPLE HAZE
DALEEN Gouws is correct in pointing out that the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) lacks independence (14/10/20).
However, the solution to giving it that independence does not lie in privatisation, which would be a potential security risk, but in removing it from the control of the minister responsible for policing.
The head of Ipid and other senior staff should be appointed by, and report to an independent board, preferably headed by a retired judge, which would be responsible to Parliament. Its senior staff should be people with legal, preferably prosecutorial, backgrounds and if former police are employed as investigators, they should never be deployed in areas in which they have served in the SAPS.
Ipid also needs independent experts in ballistics, forensics, and crime scene investigation. They, like the police, are currently hampered by the almost total breakdown of forensic mortuary services due to gross mismanagement and corruption by the Department of Health, so they also need access to independent pathologists.
It is unacceptable that the government continues to ignore the Constitutional Court judgment in the matter brought against the minister and another by Robert McBride as it relates to the lack of independence of Ipid required by the Constitution.
The judgment noted that the “invasive powers” of the minister destroyed confidence that the public needed to have that Ipid would be able, “without undue political interference” investigate the police.
Ipid now seems to be using a new marketing strategy to distract the public gaze away from its lack of independence.
It is disgraceful that the minister continues to appoint the Ipid head and the parliamentary portfolio committee merely rubber stamps the appointment.
A change of legislation is urgently required, for a minister of Police cannot be both a player and a referee. Mary de Haas | Durban