McBride: ‘Cele relying on discredited claims to halt renewal of IPID contract’
PRETORIA – Ipid head Robert McBride says that Police Minister Bheki Cele is relying on discredited and malicious allegations against himself in order to stop his contract as head of the watchdog body being renewed.
McBride’s contract concludes at the end of this month, however, the decision to renew his contract has been referred to the Police portfolio committee in Parliament.
Cele’s letter to the committee emerged on Wednesday, in which he raises several concerns related to McBride’s propriety.
McBride says that the latest allegations repeated by Cele are nothing but a feeble attempt to prop up a false narrative that he has committed misconduct.
The Ipid head says that some of the claims made by Cele were reported to the Public Service Commission, which duly investigated the allegations before finding that they were unsubstantiated.
However, it has now emerged that despite the PSC’s findings, the same allegations are being investigated by the Public Protector, however, Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s office has not made contact with McBride.
Cele further relies on the allegations made by former Ipid investigator Cedric Nkabinde, who withdrew all his complaints when he resigned last year.
McBride says that he is in possession of a recording which reveals Crime Intelligence offered Nkabinde a post in return for falsely implicating Ipid officials in wrongdoing.