Zille, Mthethwa battle looms

Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa will challenge the Western Cape Community Safety Act signed into law as he believed it was illegal and unconstitutional.

Mthethwa's spokesman Zweli Mnisi told the Cape Argus they would challenge it "all the way to the Constitutional Court" and that they would soon be making an announcement on "the way forward".

Provincial premier Helen Zille signed the bill into law on Wednesday, saying it was a "big step" forward and the first time in South Africa that provincial oversight over the police had been defined.

Twenty three of 36 provincial legislature members last week voted in favour of the bill.

It sought to regulate how oversight of the police should take place and gave the provincial government the power to assess the effectiveness of visible policing, among others.

The bill also proposed the creation of a provincial police ombudsman.

Zille and Mthethwa were locked in a separate court battle over her creation of the Khayelitsha commission of inquiry last year, which has been tasked with investigating allegations of police inefficiency and a breakdown in relations between police and the community.