Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police said it was concerned about revelations made against the Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.
Committee chairperson, Francois Beukman, said it was imperative that members of the DPCI, especially high-ranking members, should act without fear or favour to uphold the law, and that any dereliction of that duty should be properly investigated.
He was commenting on the damning, but untested evidence, of former Deputy Finance Minister, Mcebisi Jonas, who told the Commission that the Hawks did not seem interested in investigating two complaints laid against members of the controversial Gupta family.
Jonas told the Commission that he believed that the Hawks were “seriously compromised”.
Beukman said that in terms of the SAPS Act, any member of the public who can provide evidence of serious and unlawful infringement of his or her rights caused by an investigation of the Hawks can bring a complaint to the DPCI Judge.
“The current DPCI Judge is Judge Frans Kgomo, former Judge President of the Northern Cape Provincial Division of the High Court,” he said.
“Whilst the committee acknowledges that the proceedings of the Commission are still underway and that testimony will still be subjected to cross-examination and findings of the Commission be made, any serious allegations against DPCI members should be urgently investigated by the relevant authorities,” Beukman said;
He added that there were two independent institutions that were ideally placed to investigate the allegations against members of the Hawks, namely the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) and the Office of the DPCI Judge.
Beukman said that the Portfolio Committee’s view is that the Head of the DPCI, General Geoffrey Lebeya, should also, as a matter of priority, launch an internal inquiry into the allegations
