Why is Minister Nhleko ordering the IPID to do the job of SAPS?
23 October 2014
The Democratic Alliance is very concerned about media reports today that the Minister of Police, Nkosinathi Nhleko, has ordered the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) to "investigate crime in the Western Cape town of Grabouw" following an imbizo that he held with community leaders and Grabouw police commanders (see Sapa report). I will therefore be submitting parliamentary questions to seek clarity on Minister Nhleko's reasons for this misplacement of duty.
The Minister's decision is reported to have been influenced by the serious complaints and pleas from the Grabouw community about spiralling crime in the town, ranging from murder and domestic violence to alcohol and drug abuse.
However, the investigation of crime is not the IPID's job but the core function of the South African Police Service (SAPS) that costs the taxpayer in excess of R70 billion. While the IPID Act allows for it to use its policing powers to investigate "any" matter if so requested by the Minister, that is not the primary role for which it was established and Section 28 of the IPID Act is very clear and detailed about the nature of offences that should concern it.
What should concern the IPID are acts of criminality and misconduct perpetrated by SAPS officers such as assault, rape or torture, and police negligence that enables criminality to be perpetrated during police custody.
The IPID's Annual Report for the 2013/14 financial details a litany of underperformance by the IPID in its failure to meet time-bound targets for completion of investigations in approximately 60 - 90% of cases and this is against targets that are already set quite low (50 - 65% of registered cases to be completed within 90 days).
This was largely attributed to investigative capacity constraints and the Portfolio Committee on Police heard yesterday that the calibre and experience of investigators in the IPID is currently widely varied and needs to be improved through ongoing training and mentoring. Clearly the IPID is struggling to fulfil its core mandate, never mind taking on the workload of another policing agency, which has its own budget and capacity to perform that task.
Minister Nhleko must make clear in his response whether or not he has indeed ordered the IPID to investigate crime in Grabouw and what his reasons are for giving this instruction. The IPID is the police watchdog, not a police substitute, and they must not be distracted from doing this effectively.
Statement issued by Zakhele Mbhele MP, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Police, October 23 2014
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
