Cele told to give reasons for firing McBride
PARLIAMENT has ordered Police Minister Bheki Cele to give reasons by Monday why he wants the employment contract of Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) head Robert McBride terminated.
This follows McBride and Cele having reached an agreement on Tuesday that the portfolio committee should decide whether to renew the contract of the Ipid boss.
They also agreed that the committee would decide by February 28 and the matter would be put on the urgent roll on February 26.
The portfolio committee has until February 22 to submit an affidavit on its progress in renewing McBride’s contract.
Briefing the committee yesterday, chairperson Francois Beukman said Cele should submit his reasons by Monday.
Beukman also said McBride would be afforded an opportunity to respond to Cele’s reasons until Wednesday.
Cele did not provide any reasons for his decision in his correspondence to the committee.
“I request that my recommendation not to renew the contract of employment of Mr McBride be considered by the National Assembly,” he wrote in a letter to Speaker Baleka Mbete.
Beukman also said the committee planned to sit the whole day for deliberations and discussion on February 22. “What we will submit on Friday morning to court is everything that we did from today until next Friday,” he said.
The DA’s Diane Kohler Barnard said Cele had no right to make a decision on the employment contract of the Ipid boss.
“I have not seen something so arrogant in quite some time,” she said.
In an interview, the NFP’s Mansoor Shaik-Emam said the committee should consider the matter based on its merit and take into account McBride and Ipid’s performance in the interests of fighting crime.
Shaik-Emam said the renewal of a contract was the prerogative of an employer.
“Nobody has the right to demand the renewal of a contract,” he said.
In papers before court, McBride argued that the decision to renew the executive director’s contract was not one the minister was empowered to take.
“The decision must be taken by the National Assembly’s police portfolio committee since it is responsible for appointing the executive director and for the oversight of Ipid,” McBride said.
Cele said he had not made a final decision, but a preliminary one that could be confirmed or rejected by the committee.
Responding to this, McBride said the minister had done an about-turn on the letter notifying him of his decision and that his last official work day was February 28.