Parliament - Police Minister Nathi Nhleko has lashed out at Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete over the handling of his request for Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) head Robert McBride to face a disciplinary inquiry, exposing growing rifts in the ANC.
Nhleko accused Mbete of “behaviour which negates the severity of this matter” after Parliament declined to hold an inquiry into claims that McBride altered an investigation report into the alleged illegal rendition of several Zimbabweans.
Nhleko alleges McBride changed the report to protect former Hawks boss Anwa Dramat and his Gauteng counterpart, Shadrack Sibiya, both of whom have been charged in connection with the alleged renditions.
They say the police’s crime intelligence division was responsible.
Nhleko’s attempts to get Parliament to discipline McBride have now escalated into a full-blown row with Mbete, after she told him his request could not be processed before the expiry of a 30-day deadline set by the Constitutional Court.
Ipid spokesperson Moses Dlamini confirmed McBride returned to work on Wednesday after his suspension by Nhleko automatically lapsed.
But the minister appears not to accept that McBride may return to work, advising him in a letter that their relationship had “irretrievably broken down”, and he should thus ask Mbete where to report for duty.
The row follows apparent indecision in the ANC over whether to support the inquiry, with the portfolio committee on police initially declining the request, then agreeing to consider it on Tuesday, only to revert to its initial position that it could not proceed without a resolution passed in the National Assembly.
Mbete had written to Nhleko last week, saying the committee could deal with the matter only by way of a resolution of the National Assembly, and this would not be possible before the deadline’s expiry.
The minister also pointed a finger at the ANC study group, saying he had attended a meeting on Monday where he was told the McBride matter had been “scrapped”.
The stand-off follows a soul-searching session in which the ANC caucus reflected on the trust deficit between the party and its constituency in light of the election results, and resolved to take a more rigorous approach to its oversight functions in Parliament.
Nhleko’s report on Nkandla, which bizarrely insisted all items installed at President Jacob Zuma’s homestead were security features, was among the examples of its failure to hold the executive to account that were discussed at length.
Parliament’s decision not to grant his request for an inquiry into McBride before the expiry of the deadline appears to be a shot across the minister’s bows, after successive court rulings setting aside his suspension of both Dramat and McBride, and indicates growing resistance in the ANC caucus to questionable decisions by members of the executive.
Political Bureau