The police amendment bill has been criticised for centralising power. Picture for illustration: Ashraf Hendricks / GroundUp
The parliamentary portfolio committee on police has asked the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) to provide a “detailed analysis of the incidents and statistics relating to” its investigations.
The chairperson of the committee, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, said in a statement on Thursday that this was in light of concerning reports of murders and assault cases against the police since the commencement of the nationwide lockdown declared by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Joemat-Pettersson said the analysis should be of investigations Ipid had undertaken from January to March 2020.
The committee has always maintained that the enforcement of the state of national disaster regulations should be done within the confines of the Constitution.
“We align ourselves with our president when he gave his marching orders to the SANDF (South African National Defence Force) and the SAPS (South African Police Service) on the evening of 26 March 2020, when he said: ‘Do it in such a way that we do not violate the rights of our people either intentionally or unintentionally. Let us execute our task with respect. I want, after this mission, the people of our country to see you as the South African National Defence Force and the South African Police Service, and know that you are the best in the world in that you were supportive of them and given them the assurance and assisted in every way you could.’”
Joemat-Pettersson added that as part of its constitutional obligation of oversight, the committee had requested the statistics to ensure that the cases were investigated and those found in the wrong were prosecuted.
“The committee will do an expert analysis on the Ipid statistics and discuss them in its next meeting.”
The committee urged the police to continue enforcing the declaration within the confines of the law as directed by the president.
It said it continued to support the minister of police, Bheki Cele, and the government in general in their lockdown efforts.
(Compiled by Makhosandile Zulu)
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