NATIONAL NEWS -
The DA was in favour of keeping McBride on, with the majority ANC and its MPs against it.
The final report, which was deliberated on since Monday, was accepted unanimously, with the DA’s Dianne Kohler Barnard and Zakhele Mbhele not present. They said they were boycotting it since the whole thing was a “sham”.
The matter will now be referred back to the High Court in Pretoria for a final decision. The committee cited an apparent breakdown in trust between McBride and the police minister, Bheki Cele.
McBride had been locked in a dispute with Cele, who in January informed him that his contract would not be renewed and that he should vacate his office at the end of February.
McBride contended that Cele had no authority to make such a decision and maintained his contract as head of the independent body could only be decided by Parliament.
On 12 February, McBride took Cele to the Pretoria High Court to ask the court to find Cele’s decision “unconstitutional, unlawful and invalid” and to set it aside.
But before arguments were made, both McBride and Cele’s counsel reached an agreement that the decision on whether or not to renew McBride’s appointment rested with the portfolio committee for police and not with the minister. The end of February was retained as a deadline and the agreement was made an order of the court.
The portfolio committee started deliberating McBride’s term of office last Friday.
The Helen Suzman Foundation, however, believes that the agreement will not stand up to constitutional scrutiny.
The foundation claims the agreement illegally gives the minister the authority to make a “preliminary decision” before being decided on by the portfolio committee as to whether to renew or not the term of office of the head of Ipid.
The foundation has applied for leave to appeal the ruling in the Constitutional Court.
The foundation said the IPID Act – which allows for its head to serve for five years, renewable for one additional term – is unclear on who is required to make a decision on such renewal and believes the Constitutional Court should provide clarity.
“The Constitutional Court has on numerous occasions held that a political actor is not permitted to make a decision on the renewal of a term of office of an executive of an independent institution, such as IPID, as this is incompatible with the requirements of adequate independence,” the foundation said in a statement on Tuesday.
The foundation said it believed the Pretoria High Court agreement was “unconstitutional” and any authority given to the minister of Police by the agreement over the renewal process was “constitutionally invalid”.
It said the petitioning of the Constitutional Court would have no effect on the powers of the portfolio committee as this was already set forth in the IPID Act.
Should the Constitutional Court agree to hear its appeal, the “current renewal process endorsed by the high court order should be placed on hold” until a final determination was made, the foundation said.
It is not known when the Constitutional Court will decide if it will hear the appeal.
If the Constitutional Court finds the process is unconstitutional and McBride is dismissed, his dismissal will need to be overturned.
