Committee Report on lifting of the provisional suspension of Magistrate Hole; Committee Report on Independent Police Investigative Directorate Strategic Plan 2013
Meeting Summary
The Committee considered and adopted two outstanding reports as well as several minutes.
Having considered the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development’s report and the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development’s recommendation the Committee concurred with the Minister’s recommendation on the lifting of Mr P S Hole’s provisional suspension.
The Committee further recommended that the National Council of Provinces approve the lifting of the provisional suspension with the following conditions, namely that:
●Mr Hole be assigned only these part-heard matters. Any decision regarding the allocation of new matters is to be informed by the outcome of the inquiry into his fitness to hold office currently underway;
●The Magistrates Commission considered starting those part-heard matters afresh where this was necessary and desirable having regard to possible prejudice to the children, women or any other person who has already testified;
●Mr Hole must not conduct himself in a manner that compromised the integrity of the judiciary and brings the administration of justice into disrepute;
●The Magistrates Commission provide regular reports to the National Council of Provinces on whether Mr Hole is abiding by the conditions of the upliftment, and the progress of the cases before Mr Hole, as well as the status of the disciplinary hearing against him.
The Committee approved the report on the Annual Performance Plan, Strategic Plan and the Budget Vote of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate. The Committee recommended the following:
●IPID must eliminate the backlog of cases it is investigating. In particular there should be more pressure exerted on SAPS to implement the Domestic Violence Act recommendations.
● IPID should have a meeting with the SAPS management to deal with the issues of co-operation between members of SAPS and IPID.
●The Committee is very concerned about the vacancies that exist in the IPID management structure and notes that it should be filled within a reasonable period. IPID should investigate the Directorate of Priority Crimes Investigation (DPCI) cases presented to the Committee and submit quarterly progress reports to the Committee.
●IPID should develop a strategy that specifically addresses increasing police brutality.
I●PID should hold media and public briefings on its investigations at least once a month to give the public an update of its progress.
Meeting report
Lifting of the Provisional Suspension of Mr Hole
Mr Jacob Skosana, Deputy Chief State Law Adviser: Policy Development, Department of Justice and Constituional Development, informed the Committee that the Department of Justice had sent a letter to Parliament to inform it of the recommendation of the Magistrate Commission to suspend Mr Hole, Regional Magistrate at Kimberly from office in respect of section 13(3)(a) of the Magistrates Act, 1993.
The letter came about because of a dispute between Magistrate Hole and Mr Nqadana, the Regional Court President who laid complaints against Mr Hole for the alleged derogatory remarks the former had made in Court. Mr Hole was subsequently suspended. Childline had challenged the suspension on the grounds that he was treated unfairly. The Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development agreed to lift the suspension on condition that he conducted himself in a manner that was befitting a judicial official. The Magistrate Commission must keep Parliament informed of the developments around the misconduct allegations. The Portfolio Committee felt that the matter would create a precedent and felt that the conditions it spelt out should be used as a guideline. Mr Skhosana urged the Committee to consider the lifting of suspension on behalf of the Minister.
Discussion
Mr D Bloem (COPE; Free State) said that he did not agree with the manner that the case was handled. In the eyes of the public it would appear that the Committee was just fumbling in suspending people without proper investigations. He suggested that the Committee should let legal process take its course.
A Member asked why the Committee should decide something that had already been decided.
Mr J Gunda (ID; Northern Cape) asked if there was another Magistrate available to take over Mr Hole’s cases.
Mr Skhosana explained that cases that had already been heard by Mr Hole were supposed to be wound up by him. There were 28 partly heard cases and five people were in custody since 2011 and only four cases were handed over by other magistrates handing sentences.
Mr L Ndzimande (ANC; KZN) suggested that the Committee should consider all decisions according to legislative guidelines. Mr Hole was not the first magistrate to be suspended while still handling cases.
Mr A Matila (ANC; Gauteng) (Alt) said that the Magistrate Commission was not accountable to the Committee unlike departments. He urged the Committee to be very careful saying that each matter had its own merits and should be considered as such.
Mr Bloem said that the pending cases were immaterial to Mr Hole’s suspension; it was Childline that was behind the lifting of the suspension.
Mr J Bekker (DA; Western Cape) said that any decision taken by the Committee would not have any bearing on the matter because the Minister had already made his decision.
Mr Matila said that it was more than year since Mr Hole was suspended. He had a problem with magistrates who were suspended with full pay. He expected the Magistrates Commission and the affected magistrates to compile a report for the Committee.
Mr Bloem said that the lifting of the suspension should be seen against the background of humanitarian plea due to the depression that was gripping a person whose case was handled by Mr Hole.
Mr Skhosana said that the current legislative framework was inadequate to deal with the issue, because a criminal case should only be handed over to another magistrate only when the case had reached a stage of handing down a sentence. This could only happen when a Judge was sick or had died; otherwise the whole case should be started from scratch. If Judgement had not been made then the case should start all over again. Childline had also stated that it would be very cumbersome to the witnesses and other people if the case was stated from scratch. The Committee was not informed about the investigating process that led to the suspension of Mr Hole. The Magistrate Commission did not provide a detailed report on the matter and the Constitution did not make any provisions for the involvement of the Committee in matters of disciplinary procedures. It was undesirable for the courts to tell Parliament what to do and vice versa.
Mr Gunda moved for the lifting of the provisional suspension and Mr Matila seconded the motion. The provisional suspension Mr Hole was lifted with conditions, noting objections by Mr Bloem.
Outstanding Committee Minutes
Committee Minutes dated February 13 2013 Minutes
The Chairperson went through the minutes page by page and invited comments from the floor.
Mr Nzimande moved for the adoption of the minutes and Mr Bloem seconded the motion. The minutes were adopted without amendments.
Committee Minutes dated 19 February 2013
The Chairperson invited comments and amendments from the Committee.
No comments were received.
Mr Bloem moved for adoption and Mr V Manzini (DA; Mpumalanga DA) seconded the motion. The minutes were adopted without amendments.
Committee Minutes dated 20 February 2013
The Chairperson invited members to voice their comments.
Mr B Nesi (ANC; Eastern Cape) pointed out that his apologies were not reflected in the minutes.
The minutes were approved after this correction was made.
Committee Minutes dated 26 February 2013
The Chairperson tabled the document for consideration.
Prince M Zulu (IFP; KZN) said that his name was not reflected in the minutes.
Mr Matila complained about the absence of apologies in most of the minutes.
Mr Manzini moved and Mr Bloem seconded the motion. The minutes were adopted with minor amendment.
Committee Minutes dated 28 February 2013
The Chairperson encouraged to Members raise comments or amendments.
Mr Manzini moved and Mr Bloem seconded the motion. The minutes were adopted without amendments.
Committee Minutes dated 11 March 2013
The Chairperson went through the minuets page by page and invited comments from the floor.
Mr Nesi said that he was present in that meeting but his name was not reflected.
Mr Manzini moved and Mr Nzimande seconded the motion. The minutes were adopted with minor amendments.
Committee Minutes dated 19 March 2013
The Chairperson went through the minutes and invited some comments from the Committee.
No comments were received.
Mr Nesi moved and Mr Ndzimande seconded the motion. The minutes were adopted without amendments.
Committee Minutes dated 20 March 2013
The Chairperson tabled the document for consideration.
Prince Zulu and Mr Manzini said that their names were not reflected in the minutes.
The Chairperson explained that the Members were present but then left earlier.
Mr Manzini said that he had signed the register.
After the Committee went through the document, Mr Ndzimande moved and Mr Manzini seconded the motion. The minutes were adopted with minor amendments.
Committee Minutes dated 24 April 2013
The Chairperson opened the discussion as he went through the minutes.
No comments were received.
Mr Nesi moved and Mr Manzini seconded the motion. The minutes were adopted without amendments.
Committee Minutes dated 7 May 2013
The Chairperson tabled the document for consideration.
Mr Matile moved for adoption and Mr Nesi seconded the motion. The minutes were adopted without amendments.
Report of the Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Development on the 2013/14 Annual Performance Plan, Strategic Plan and budget of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, dated 19 June 2013
The Chairperson tabled the document for consideration. He indicated that the Committee would focus on the Recommendations part of the report.
Mr Irvin Kinnes, Committee Content Advisor, suggested the word “must” should be removed from the recommendations because it had legal implications and Parliament could not use it.
Mr Nzimande said that he could not understand the problem with the use of the word “must” as an assertion.
Mr Matila said that the recommendations were a true reflection of the proceedings, the Committee should not shy away in using the word” must.
Mr Bloem felt that the third recommendation was a bit “lame”. He then suggested that the words “as soon as possible should be replaced by “with immediate effect”.
Mr Matila disagreed and pointed out that those vacancies were supposed to be filled by people that needed to be trained. He felt that the recommendation should be left as it was.
The Chairperson informed Members that IPID was conducting interviews on 19 and 20 June 2013 to fill those vacancies.
Mr Nzimande said that there was a stipulated period for the posts to be filled.
Mr Bloem questioned the validity of the fifth recommendation because it talked about IPID should address increasing police brutality. He said that it was IPID’s job to look and investigate police brutality.
Mr Kinnes explained that IPID was understaffed and lacked vehicles to travel to different police stations.
Mr Bloem asked for clarity on recommendation 6 that said that IPID should hold public briefings.
Mr Kinnes said that he would change the recommendation to say “media briefing”
Mr Matila moved for adoption of the report and Mr Nesi seconded the motion.
Any Other Business
Mr Nesi mentioned that he had been treated badly by the police when he was called at midnight by people who complained that police were not responding to emergency calls. He said that the policemen in that police station were rude and told him that a police station was not Parliament. He then phoned the Provincial Commissioner to report this. The matter was made worse when the police officers who were rude to him had disappeared and the others said that they did not know them. He felt that the Committee should have a special permit that would give its Members access to Police facilities.
Mr Bloem and Mr Chairperson said that the previous Committee had access permits
Mr Kinnes said that very often the people who manned police stations at night were police reservists.
The meeting was adjourned
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