IPID: The curious, agonising, perplexing case of the ANC vs Robert McBride By Marianne Thamm MarianneThamm
So far, it has been a bitter and long battle of attrition with Executive Director, Robert McBride, surviving several attempts at dislodging him during his tenure and which played out during the height of IPID’s investigations into allegations of State Capture and the role of the SAPS.Especially considering the spirit of Thuma Mina’s commitment to rooting out endemic corruption across the state and government departments.
The endorsement of the process by the High Court, says the HSF, must be placed on hold until there’s been a final determination on the matter by the Constitutional Court. But the legislative drag or delay occurred because the SAPS Civilian Secretariat drafted a Bill which had required “substantial consultation processes with respect to processing and this has taken time”, the committeeThe process initiated by the Civilian Secretariat for Police, the committee said, “would not allow for Parliament to proceed and comply with the deadline determined by the Constitutional Court.
But it is also an ANC which, to McBride and many of his old comrades, is no doubt unrecognisable, an entirely different organisation as the governing party, and it is this that lies at the heart of the IPID head’s extraordinary fearlessness with regard to investigations into police corruption at high levels.
Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, as well as Sitole insist the grabber procurement had to do with “national security” while IPID and the IGI maintain this is an attempt to cover up criminality and was about procurement itself and not a threat to the country. With regard to the “grabber” procurement, Ramatlakane claimed, “I don’t know about this grabber. It is absurd. How can the grabber work at the ANC conference? We don’t need a grabber for voting at an ANC conference.”
Kohler Barnard reminded the committee nonetheless that after the PSC report, “the woman had been returned to her position. No reference to the Constitution was made and the decision was reversed. We should have a letter from him [McBride] filling us in on why he took action. The PSC did not recommend action be taken against McBride.”
The evidence that IPID claimed was prima facie with regard to police corruption created a “systemic risk at which these processes, this cleansing work, is placed if leadership transition issues such as this are not handled with utmost care,” warned Mbhele.
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