President Cyril Ramaphosa has approved the appointment of Robert McBride as the Director for the Foreign Branch of the State Security Agency.

McBride has been appointed for a period of three years and his term commenced on the first of this month.

State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo says the appointment of McBride will serve to bring organizational stability at the agency.

Dlodlo cites McBride’s wealth of experience from leading the Metropolitan Police for Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality and later the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, IPID.

The position has been vacant for about four years.

On Wednesday, Parliament endorsed the appointment of Jennifer Dikeledi Ntlatseng to replace McBride as Executive Director of IPID after his contract wasn’t renewed in February last year.

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Meanwhile, the DA and the Freedom Front Plus have condemned Parliament’s Police Portfolio Committee’s decision to support Police Minister, Bheki Cele’s nomination of Dikaledi-Ntlatseng as the new head of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, IPID.

The directorate has been without a head for nearly 17 months after the contract of Robert McBride expired.

The Act governing IPID states that the position must be filled within 12 months.

DA MP Andrew Whitfield and FF Plus leader Pieter Groenewald have called the process flawed.