Ipid, protector lock horns over report
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) will challenge the public protector’s “one-sided and legally flawed” report on its appointment of a cellphone expert to analyse death threats sent to investigators.
Ipid’s lawyers notified public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane in a letter last week of the impending court challenge on the basis of several alleged legal and procedural flaws.
It sought her assurance she would agree to an interim interdict staying the implementation of her remedial action pending the outcome of the matter.
Mkhwebane’s spokesperson, Oupa Segalwe, said the public protector had yet to be briefed on the police watchdog’s letter and had not yet determined if she would oppose the interim interdict sought.
Ipid is also accusing Mkhwebane of taking almost no account of its responses to her scathing preliminary findings against it and its former head, Robert McBride, one of 28 candidates vying to replace advocate Kevin Malunga as deputy public protector.
Similar allegations have been made by others who have had adverse findings made against them, such as public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan and former land reform minister Gugile Nkwinti.
McBride has already said he will seek to review Mkhwebane’s report on the hiring and permanent appointment of cellphone expert Theresa Botha as deputy director of the national specialised investigation team.
Mkhwebane found Ipid had engaged in procurement irregularities and maladministration when appointing Botha.
The challenges to Mkhwebane’s report come while the protector is facing a credibility crisis after numerous adverse findings against her in court.
In the letter to Mkhwebane, Ipid lawyer Jac Marais said during the course of the public protector’s investigations, Ipid had explained to the investigative team why the draft findings were wrong and that the submissions were supported by credible evidence.
The protector, however, did not address many of the explanations and pieces of evidence.
“It is inadequate and unlawful that the public protector does not consider and evaluate each credible submission and each piece of evidence that was tendered with the aim to combat the preliminary findings,” Marais said.
The death threats at the centre of the saga were allegedly made in late 2016, when Ipid was investigating former national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane for fraud and corruption, and tensions between the police service and the directorate were high.
Ipid has been engaged in a bitter war with some members of the police crime intelligence unit whom it accuses of threatening, harassing and seeking to intimidate investigators who were probing Phahlane.