Hon Deputy Speaker and hon members, the UDM welcomes the Bill that is before us today. Indeed, we urge government to promulgate and implement the provisions with haste. Since its inception, the Independent Complaints Directorate has struggled to perform its most basic function, namely to act as a watchdog over the police. This Bill seeks to address this glaring legal hole in our democratic dispensation with the introduction of a reconstituted Independent Police Investigative Directorate, as well as the innovation of the substantial penalties and prison sentences for police officials who contravene the provision of this Bill to undermine investigations.
Whenever we formulate a policy and legislation, it is important that we remember why the constitutional obligations of this democracy were created in the first place. In this particular case, it means that we need to remember the brutality, ruthlessness and lawlessness that many members of the apartheid police operated with. Those police atrocities and injustices were some of the hallmarks of an illegitimate, oppressive regime. In a modern constitutional democracy, we cannot allow such behaviour. That is why we must be vigilant, especially at this time when it is popular for VIP police members to behave like thugs with badges.
We note that the estimated cost of making the new directorate operational runs into several hundred million rands. We need unconditional undertakings from the Minister that this money will be forthcoming and that it will be spent on acquiring the required officials and investigators. We cannot tolerate a continuation of the previous trend of an understaffed directorate that failed to swiftly and thoroughly investigate incidents involving the police. The UDM supports the Bill. Thank you, Deputy Speaker.