Phiyega
incompetent - DA
2013-09-03 23:18
Riah Phiyega. (File, Sapa)
Johannesburg - National police
commissionerRiah Phiyega should
be fired, the DA said on Tuesday.
"[She] is not fit to lead the SA Police Service [SAPS]," said
DA MP Dianne Kohler-Barnard.
She said Phiyega had been hired because of her managerial skills, but
that she was failing to deliver.
The DA intended writing to President Jacob Zuma to ask him to
institute a board of inquiry into her fitness and capability to head the
police.
"Her latest blunder this weekend over senior appointments shows
that she is totally out of her depth and is taking the SAPS down with
her," said Kohler-Barnard.
She was referring to Phiyega's appointment of Major General Bethuel
Mondli Zuma as Gauteng police commissioner.
The appointment was later withdrawn when it was found that Zuma faced a
charge of drinking and driving.
Kohler-Barnard said Phiyega's attempts to rectify her weekend error were
proving her incompetence.
"Firstly, she claimed that SAPS background checks are more
stringent than most organisations. This is clearly not the case if a simple
Google search revealed Zuma’s charges within minutes.
"Secondly, she has now backtracked even further on his appointment
by saying that these appointments were 'provisional'. If this were the case,
then why make the announcement in the first place?"
Zuma, who is not related to President
Zuma, was to have replaced Lieutenant General Mzwandile Petros,
whose last day as provincial commissioner was on Saturday.
The SAPS said Zuma had been permanently withdrawn from the post, and
would face disciplinary hearings after failing to declare the pending charges
against him.
Kohler-Barnard said Phiyega's appointment had been disastrous from the
beginning.
She had failed to take responsibility when the police shot dead 34
striking mineworkers near Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana last year, and she
had failed to address police brutality, Kohler-Barnard said.
"Richard Mdluli remains on
suspension year after expensively-paid year on her watch with disciplinary
proceedings yet to take place, and the Crime Intelligence Unit [CIU] is in
tatters; and she has failed utterly to take decisive action following the SAPS
criminality audit and dismiss all those members found to have criminal
records."
‘Phiyega a mistress of disaster’
The Congress of the People (Cope) has also called for Phiyega to step
down.
"Phiyega is a mistress of disaster
and more calamities will take place as long as she continues to lead this
ministry," said Cope spokesperson Mluleki George.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) blamed President Zuma for the
mishaps in the police service.
"Under President Zuma, South Africa has turned into a banana
republic where senior appointments are done without proper security check-up on
the individuals who are supposed to lead the fight against crime," said
EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.
The Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) said the weekend blunder had
caused concern about the SAPS's information gathering.
"This concern is reinforced by the
revelation in Parliament that there are 1 448 serving SAPS officers who have
been found guilty of serious offences like rape, attempted murder, corruption,
fraud and assault," said Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven.
- SAPA
