McBride’s testimony at state capture inquiry postponed

Former Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) head Robert McBride’s testimony at the commission of inquiry into state capture was postponed on Monday to Thursday.

The postponement has led to the subsequent postponement of former head of the KZN Hawks General Major Johan Booysen’s appearance before the commission, whose testimony hinges on McBride’s evidence. Booysen will now testify next Monday.

The commission’s head of the legal team, advocate Paul Pretorius, said the postponement was necessitated by the failure of the legal team to hand over notices to parties implicated in McBride’s testimony. Those implicated are about 30 to 50 individuals.

McBride was expected to first appear before the commission on February 18 but that too was postponed to afford the inquiry’s legal team to hand over notices to implicated parties.

McBride’s sworn statement to the commission is set to lift the lid on how law enforcement agencies failed to carry out their mandate.

McBride’s evidence is said to be the most damning since that of former Bosasa chief operating officer Angelo Agrizzi last month.

Besides implicating high-profile persons, Pretorius said McBride’s testimony would deal with attempts to undermine the mandate and role of Ipid.

Former president Jacob Zuma, ministers, and senior state officials are expected to be among those implicated by McBride.

(Additional reporting, Brian Sokutu)

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