IPID Amendment Bill a step closer to becoming law after adoption of A-list Bill
22 November 2023
The Portfolio Committee on Police has today adopted the A-list version of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) Bill. Next week, it will consider the B-list version of the Bill and the committee report. The committee is confident that the substantive public submissions received and the inputs made by committee members have greatly strengthened the Bill, thereby ensuring IPID’s structural and operational independence.
The A-list essentially lists all the amendments agreed to by the committee, while the B-list Bill will reflect all the proposed amendments and comments forming part of the new Bill.
Despite the approval of the A-list Bill, committee members representing the Democratic Alliance objected to it, especially clauses 4 and 16, based on the view that the Bill does not go far enough in strengthening IPID’s independence.
The committee last week resolved that the extensive improvements made to the IPID Amendment Bill [B21-2023] adequately addressed concerns that the Bill was not upholding the spirit of the court judgement in McBride v Minister of Police and Another.
“The contributions by members and the valuable inputs made by individuals and stakeholders have contributed to a Bill that guarantees the independence, both structurally and operationally of the IPID. We are confident that the product we will approve next week meets the standard demanded by the Constitution and that it will capture the values of meaningful public participation, as highlighted by the Constitutional Court judgement in Mogale and Others v Speaker of the National Assembly, the Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces & Others,” said Mr Nocks Seabi, the Chairperson of the committee.
The committee is of the view that the strengthened Bill provides Parliament with adequate checks and balances and ensures stronger oversight over the appointment of the IPID executive director.
Meanwhile, the committee received a presentation from the South African Police Service, the IPID, the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSiRA) and the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service on the committee’s questions, which were raised during interactions on these entities’ annual reports. The committee was concerned about IPID’s capacity to investigate the police and ensure that policing occurs in an environment that respects the rule of law.
These concerns arose out of information about the current workload of 200 cases per IPID investigator and the growing case backlog. In the Eastern Cape, 20 investigators serve 199 stations; in Gauteng, 33 investigators cover 144 police stations; and in KwaZulu-Natal, 24 investigators serve 184 stations. Furthermore, there is a case backlog of 13 944 cases, some dating back to 2018 and earlier.
IPID also informed the committee that it does not have a functional contact centre and this impacts on citizens’ access to IPID’s services. The committee acknowledged the fiscus-related funding challenges but called for an engagement to find solutions to this problem.
Issued by Malatswa Molepo, Parliamentary Communication Services, Parliament, 22 November 2023
