Political parties are still calling for greater involvement of Parliament in the appointment of the head of police watchdog, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).
The power currently rests with the minister of police, which has brought into question the IPID’s independence.
On Friday, the police committee was still going through each clause of the IPID Amendment Bill.
The bill, which was not legally certified by the state law advisor, gives the police minister powers in the appointment of someone who investigates the police.
The police committee continued its deliberations on the contentious bill, which has also been labelled unconstitutional by state law advisors.
Some of the challenges identified in the bill is the appointment of the IPID head after the Constitutional Court ruled the law should be amended to give it greater independence.
Democratic Alliance (DA) Member of Parliament (MP), Andrew Whitfield, said this was still not addressed in the current bill.
“While the minister must appoint a candidate to the office of the executive director to head the directorate, it should be following a recommendation of the National Assembly by the recommendation of the relevant parliamentary portfolio committee.”
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) MP Zandile Majozi said the minister could not be the only one involved in appointing a panel.
“I’m definitely not comfortable with giving all the powers to a minister in identifying and appointing a panel (to choose the IPID head).”
The committee will now make necessary changes to the bill before it is finalized.
-EWN
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Popular 47-year-old South African reality TV star, actress, and businesswoman, Shauwn Mkhize aka MamKhize has been slapped with an R37 million tax bill. According to the report, MaMkhize has accumulated a massive amount of unpaid taxes.
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