Cabinet recommends Robert McBride for Independent Police Investigative Directorate head

Cabinet has recommended that former Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride be appointed head of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid).

"We believe Mr McBride's appointment as head of Ipid will help this important institution to achieve [its]... mandate," Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said in a statement on Tuesday.

Mthethwa said Cabinet decided to recommend McBride as Ipid executive director at a meeting on Wednesday.

"Mr McBride was the successful candidate following the shortlisting, interviewing processes, as well as Cabinet's endorsement," he said.

"However, in line with the Ipid Act, the appointment can only be finalised once Parliament has concurred."

He said Ipid had been headed by an acting executive director for almost a year and the stability of such an important institution was crucial.

McBride, a former MP and government official, won an appeal in March against a conviction of drunken driving and attempting to obstruct justice. He was arrested in 2006 after crashing his official car on the R511 following a Christmas party.

In September 2011, a Pretoria regional magistrate sentenced McBride to two years imprisonment for driving under the influence of alcohol and in effect three years' imprisonment for attempting to obstruct the course of justice.

In 1998, McBride was arrested in Mozambique on charges of gun-running. He spent seven months in a Maputo prison and was later cleared of all charges. He claimed he was investigating illegal gun running with the National Intelligence Agency.

In 1999, McBride faced an assault charge after he, underworld boss Cyril Beeka, and another man visited an escort agency and allegedly assaulted an employee.

McBride was part of an Umkhonto we Sizwe group that bombed the Why Not Restaurant and Magoo's Bar in Durban on June 14, 1986. Three people were killed and 69 others injured in the explosion. He was captured and convicted, and sentenced to death.

In 1992, he was released after his actions were classified as politically motivated. He was later granted amnesty at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.