2 Parliament 'white shirt cops' cleared by IPID
27 June 2017
Cape Town - Two Parliament security officials who were accused of also being police officers when they intervened during the 2017 State of the Nation Address (SONA) have been cleared by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).
IPID officials told the portfolio committee on police on Tuesday that Nokuthula Joka and Sizathu Mkana, two of the accused security officials, had in fact resigned from the police at least a year before SONA.
The charges were laid by EFF leader Julius Malema in February, after his party was ejected from the House during President Jacob Zuma's speech.
"The preliminary investigation established that Ms Nokuthula [Joka] was a former SAPS members. She resigned from the police service on July 31, 2015," IPID chief investigator Matthew Sisoko told MPs.
"At the time of the incident on February 9, 2017, the aforementioned person was not a SAPS member."
Similarly, a complaint laid against a man supposedly named Jerry Maphumulo was also dismissed. The man in question was in fact identified as Sizathu Mkana.
"He is also a former SAPS officer who resigned on July 31, 2016."
They had also found corroborating documents proving both Joka and Mkana were not SAPS members, but Parliamentary Protection Services.
IPID is still investigating the identities of a number of other Parliament security personnel on the video footage.
They are awaiting more input from Parliament head of security, a Mr Lebeko, on one other individual, as well as input from IPID Western Cape, where the original complaint was laid.
Opposition MPs have previously stated that police personnel posing as Parliamentary security was a breach of the institution's independence and the Powers, Privileges and Immunities Act.
