Cape Town - Parliament has officially sealed former Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) head Robert McBride’s fate and ratified the decision by the portfolio committee on police not to renew his contract after it terminated last month.
This follows lengthy consultations by the committee and legal battles between Police Minister Bheki Cele and McBride.
Committee chairperson Francois Beukman said the decision to adopt the report did not come as a surprise as McBride is not entitled to have his contract renewed.
“Mr McBride, in his court papers, acknowledged that he has no right or entitlement to renewal and that the authority to determine whether the contract should be renewed lies with the portfolio committee on police,” said Beukman.
A total of 172 ANC MPs voted in support of the report against five from the DA. Parliament has now left McBride with the courts as his last resort for relief.
McBride has vowed to challenge the matter, and have the decision taken by the committee declared unlawful, invalid, reviewed and set aside.
The committee wants to initiate the process to find a replacement for McBride.
This process could be delayed, pending McBride’s court challenge to have the committee’s decision set aside.
The Helen Suzman Foundation has also filed an application in the Constitutional Court on processes followed in the appointment of the Ipid head.
The foundation wants Cele to not to have a part in the nomination of the head of Ipid.