NATIONAL NEWS - Newly minted acting head and chief financial officer of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) Victor Senna will hit the ground running today with his stomach in and chest out as he presents his immediate plans and priorities to the parliamentary police portfolio committee for the next three months.
Little is known about Police Minister Bheki Cele’s choice to head up Ipid over its head of national investigations, Matthews Seseko, who appeared to have had a solid career in the finance world.
Political analyst Professor Ebrahim Fakir said yesterday Cele’s choice was bizarre.
“The Ipid executive director chairs a structure which gives strategic direction to the organisation and on investigations and the like, but maybe this accountant is competent to do that – I don’t know,” Fakir said.
“But I do think all of the decisions taken about Ipid are ‘political’ and mired in factional political battles inside the ANC, in addition to people politically connected and at risk of investigation or prosecution using their connections to either stymie these or use it to go after internal and external political, commercial or other competitors,” Fakir said.
“It’s part of the broader trajectory of the last 15 years where public institutions have been used to serve private – or corrupt – ends.”
Senna was appointed the CFO of Ipid in February 2018, following a two-year stint as the Gauteng department of health’s chief director of budget and revenue, as well as being the South African Social Security Agency’s general manager of finance for two years.
