The National Assembly has passed the contentious IPID Amendment Bill despite objections from opposition parties.
The bill contains amendments to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) Act which relate to the appointment of the police watchdog’s head and the salary scales of IPID investigators.
Parties debated the bill on Tuesday, with the opposition maintaining that the police minister still exercises too much power over the IPID, calling for greater independence.
In 2016, the Constitutional Court instructed Parliament to amend the IPID Act after former head, Robert McBride, challenged his suspension.
Deputy Police Minister Cassel Mathale defended the amendments contained in the bill and dismissed concerns around the constitutionality of the bill.
Submissions made by parties during discussions want Parliament to lead the process to appoint the IPID head and not a minister-appointed independent panel.
“The point they are missing is that IPID’s mandate is not to investigate the minister but to investigate police conduct in the exercise of police powers.”
Democratic Alliance (DA) MP, Andrew Whitfield: “It must be Parliament that appoints an independent panel of experts to shortlist applicants and Parliament that conducts final interviews in order to transparently assess the suitability of the applicants.”
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) said while it was satisfied that the bill deals adequately with the McBride judgment, it said the legislature could have done more.
-EWN
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Well-known Mzansi actress Sonia Mbele has recently opened up about parenting as seen in an X (formally known as Twitter) video shared on 30 November. In the clip, she shared a story of a time she bumped into her deadbeat son’s father at a supermarket in Joburg.
The former Generations star got into detail as she shared a real story of the time she ran into her deadbeat baby daddy whom she had been with for almost a decade before their split. Read More