Hawks: Speaker? No, a Court of Law must rule
30 January 2015
The Portfolio Committee on Police today took a decision to refer the matter of the Minister of Police asking us to fire head of the Hawks, Anwa Dramat, to the Speaker's office for clarity on how to proceed.
This is despite the fact that court processes around Dramat's suspension are yet to reach a conclusion.
We have no doubt that the North Gauteng High Court will rule that General Dramat must return to work. At the hearing of this matter today, the Minister's lawyers arrived unprepared and will now only make their arguments on Monday morning. The Helen Suzman Foundation lawyers presented their arguments.
Secondly, the appeal by the Minister to the finding that he had committed two illegal acts, in suspending Dramat and then appointing an acting Head, will be heard by the Constitutional Court on Thursday next week.
In the interim, there is no basis for Parliament to entertain any proceedings for Dramat's removal from office until judicial processes have run their full course.
General Dramat has never been arrested, tried or convicted of any crime, yet is being accused of committing one. The Minister has provided no evidence that would warrant Parliament instituting any proceedings for Dramat's removal from office.
Instead, it is clear to us that the Police Minister acted unlawfully and outside of his authority when he suspended the Hawks boss without basis and without consulting Parliament. He knows that the law is not on his side and is looking for Parliament to condone his conduct ex post facto.
Should the Constitutional Court confirm the illegality of the Minister's actions, it will then be Parliament's responsibility to review the Minister's fitness for office.
The separation of powers is crucial to our democracy and the Minister's undue political influence must not be tolerated by Parliament.
The Court's must be allowed to complete their work before Parliament can assess how to proceed further on this matter.
Statement issued by Dianne Kohler Barnard MP, DA Shadow Minister of Police, January 31 2015
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
