NCOP approves Ipid Bill
Amendment stripping Cele of certain Ipid powers sent to President Ramaphosa
A BILL that has effectively stripped Police Minister Bheki Cele of his powers to suspend or fire the head of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) has been sent to President Cyril Ramaphosa to be signed into law.
The Ipid Amendment Bill was finally approved by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) after a protracted battle between then Ipid boss Robert Mcbride and former police minister Nathi Nhleko.
Mcbride had dragged Nhleko to court in 2016 after he suspended him pending investigations into his conduct.
After several months, the Constitutional Court ruled that Nhleko did not have powers to suspend or fire Mcbride, and ordered Parliament to amend the Ipid Act.
Mcbride returned to his position and Nhleko tried to get the National Assembly’s committee on police to initiate the suspension, but the matter was held up until he left office after Ramaphosa took over in February last year.
Mcbride stayed in his position until Cele, in consultation with Parliament, did not renew his contract in March.
But the opposition said further amendments that needed to be made to the bill in order to prevent the Minister of Police from appointing the head of Ipid.
Cele described statement.
“We have this Ipid... that most of us were part of its creation. There will be individuals that will come and go within the institution. The best we have at the moment is the law; hence this as a problem you say we need to be transparent. The law says you shall do this. We are asking to be allowed to follow the law. We believe we follow the law in getting the man or woman to run this institution,” said Cele.
The minister appointed Victor Senna as acting head of Ipid after Mcbride left.
The Helen Suzman Foundation is still applying in the Constitutional Court to stop politicians from being involved in the appointment of the head of Ipid.
The organisation said the process should not be about the suspension or firing of the head of the police watchdog, but the appointment process itself.
The matter is still to be heard in the highest court in the land.
When Mcbride took Nhleko to court in 2016, the Constitutional Court ordered Parliament to fix the law in two years, but it missed the deadline in September last year.
It dragged for another year in the NCOP until it was concluded this week and sent to Ramaphosa to be signed into law.