Members of Parliament’s police committee will get a chance to read what has become a controversial Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) report into detective Charl Kinnear’s assassination.

But they will need to follow a process, including making an appointment, to access the document.

This emerged during a police committee meeting on Wednesday.

On Monday, Daily Maverick reported that Ipid had been grilled about the report last Friday because it had been restricted without explanation, thereby making it inaccessible to the public.

Although it had been restricted after copies were leaked and widely reported on in the media.

The processes for access to the Ipid documents detailed in Parliament on Wednesday therefore appear to be exceptionally strict when considering that the report into Kinnear’s assassination has already been the subject of several news articles and featured in an episode of Carte Blanche.

Ipid executive director Jennifer Ntlatseng told Parliament’s police committee on Friday the report was restricted “because we were investigating a sensitive matter and it implicated senior [police] officers”.

Police committee chairperson Tina Joemat-Pettersson had said that in providing a restricted report to Parliament, Ipid had “compromised Parliament’s oversight mandate”.

Ipid’s report implicates a number of police officers in having failed Kinnear in the run-up to his 18 September 2020 assassination outside his Bishop Lavis home in Cape Town.

Read in Daily Maverick: “No one had Kinnear’s back: Ipid calls for criminal charges against superiors and members of WC rogue unit”

At the time of his murder Kinnear was investigating several underworld crimes as well as colleagues.

Top-secret security clearance not required

Last week it was not clear whether police committee members would be able to access Ipid’s report on his assassination because it had been restricted.

There were concerns that only those with specific security clearance would be allowed to read it.

But during Wednesday’s meeting, Joemat-Pettersson said John Manyange of the National Assembly Table had provided feedback on the matter. She said top-secret clearance had never been a requirement in the past and in the case of the Kinnear report, it would also not be a requirement for access to it.

Documents in a safe

Joemat-Pettersson said an email from Manyange stated: “The classified documents that the Speaker’s office received from Ipid are in a safe for reading by members of your committee.”

There was a strict process that would need to be followed for access to the documents. This involved arranging a date and setting aside adequate time to read them.

Joemat-Pettersson explained that only full-time members of the police committee would be allowed to see the Ipid paperwork.

“We have to go by the book and follow the law by the latter,” she said. “Everything will be transparent and above-board.”

Joemat-Pettersson planned to go through the Ipid documents this Friday.

Police bosses must give updates

She said she had also asked for an update on what Police Minister Bheki Cele and National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola had done in terms of recommendations contained in Ipid’s report.

They were expected to respond in writing to the police committee about what they had done since they had received the report.

It is understood they received it around May.

Aside from Ipid’s investigations and reports into the Kinnear matter, a criminal case was also playing out in court.

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Suspects in that case include Nafiz Modack, who Kinnear was investigating; Zane Kilian, suspected of illegally tracking Kinnear’s cellphone in the run-up to his murder; and Kinnear’s colleague, former Anti-Gang Unit cop Ashley Tabisher.

During Wednesday’s meeting in Parliament, Joemat-Pettersson made it clear that the police committee would act carefully in the matter.

“We are not going to compromise the investigation and the case because Parliament erred,” she said.

She added that, where necessary, she would seek legal advice on how to deal with the matter.

Findings implicate cops

Before it was restricted, Daily Maverick published several articles about the Ipid report’s findings and recommendations.

These included that a ”rogue”-style unit of police officers in the Western Cape, linked to Crime Intelligence, existed – this related to a complaint Kinnear made to his bosses back in December 2018 when he insisted a rogue unit of cops was working to frame him and some of his colleagues.

Ipid recommended that four of the unit’s members face departmental charges. 

Daily Maverick has also reported that Ipid lodged criminal complaints against former national police commissioner Khehla Sitole because it was felt he had failed to cooperate with its investigation relating to Kinnear.

Sitole, who vacated the top-cop seat at the end of March, denied this. DM

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