The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) under Robert McBride, a polarising and controversial figure, has made strides in policing the police.
Ipid ensures independent oversight of the South African Police Service (SAPS) and Municipal Police Services.
McBride took the helm in 2014 despite objections by opposition parties and concerns that he was too embedded in the ANC to be impartial. His term of office expires in March 2019, but the Ipid Act allows for it to be renewed for an additional term.
McBride is loathed by some for having led the Umkhonto we Sizwe unit that bombed the Why Not Restaurant and Magoo’s Bar in Durban in 1986, in which three women were killed and 69 people injured. He was captured and sentenced to death, but later reprieved on death row. He was granted amnesty at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
McBride has been linked to a string of misdemeanours over the years. A gun-running matter in Mozambique in 1998 was dropped when it was argued he was on a special assignment for the intelligence agency.
He also faced an assault charge, and was charged with drunk driving in 2006. While initially found guilty of drunk driving and sentenced to a five-year jail term in 2011, both the verdict and sentence were eventually overturned in 2013.
Despite the controversies, McBride has pursued with gusto police officials implicated in wrongdoing, confounding his detractors. He has also driven calls for a more independent Ipid insulated against political interference.
McBride oversaw the probe into disgraced former Western Cape provincial commissioner Arno Lamoer, recently found guilty of corruption. He also helped investigate former national police commissioner Riah Phiyega, accused of, among other things, "creating an environment where corruption was allowed to thrive".
Police commissioner
The watchdog has also been investigating former acting national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane, accused of corruption and money laundering. Phahlane was removed as acting national police commissioner in 2017 after complaints of impropriety and corruption by forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan.
In addition, Ipid has been looking into the controversial case of Captain Morris "KGB" Tshabalala, who was employed at SAPS despite being a wanted criminal. Tshabalala was reemployed by SAPS in 2015 while on parole. Ipid has said that it is struggling to establish who was responsible for rehiring Tshabalala, citing a refusal by the police to declassify information.
The police watchdog has often clashed with the SAPS, with many senior officials accused of refusing to co-operate with investigations. McBride has butted heads with police ministers and has faced rumours and threats of arrest. Some see this as an indication that Ipid is succeeded in carrying out its role.
It is encouraging that Parliament is pushing for amendments to the Ipid Act to curb the powers of the police minister over the Ipid head. Such amendments will go a long way to creating a more effective police watchdog.
In 2016, the Constitutional Court ruled the police minister had no authority to dismiss the head of Ipid without Parliament instituting necessary processes.
This was after former police minister Nathi Nhleko moved to suspend McBride.
McBride returned to Ipid’s top position in 2016 after a war with Nhleko and Phahlane.
The court said in its ruling that Ipid was an independent body established in terms of the Constitution. It noted that section 4(1) of the Ipid Act required it to function independently of the SAPS.
"Given the nature, scope and importance of the role played by police in preventing, combating and investigating crime, Ipid’s oversight role is of cardinal importance," the court said.
In 2017, McBride said Ipid and its partners from the state and nonstate sector had a key role to play in the professionalisation of the police and the implementation of the National Development Plan.
The amendment of the act is a critical step in this process.
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