Riah Phiyega faces the axe
2015-04-05 15:48
Abram Mashego, Athandiwe Saba and City Press
Staff Reporters
Johannesburg - National police commissioner
General Riah Phiyega is against the ropes – she’s facing recommendations from
four reports that say she should face charges or “remedial action”, City Press reported on Sunday.
Eight senior sources within or close to the
police told City Press last week that the Marikana Commission of Inquiry
report, handed to President Jacob Zuma last week by Judge Ian Farlam,
recommends that Phiyega “face charges” for her role in the police operation
that led to the deaths of 34 striking miners in August 2012.
A senior government source told City Press
last week that Phiyega is now “fighting for her life”.
City Press has learnt that Farlam’s report
recommends that other senior police officers should face the music too,
including North West provincial commissioner Lieutenant General Zukiswa Mbombo,
her deputy in charge of operations, Major General William Mpembe, and his
fellow deputy commissioner, Major General Ganasen Naidoo.
None of the sources to whom City Press spoke
were aware of the exact charges Phiyega and her subordinates may face.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant General
Solomon Makgale said he could not comment on the Marikana report because
Phiyega had not received a copy.
Calls for
report to be made public
Dali Mpofu, the lawyer for the miners wounded
in and arrested after the Marikana massacre, said he would not be surprised if
Farlam’s report recommended that Phiyega be charged in connection with planning
the assault on the miners, perjury and concealing what happened at “scene two”,
where police pursued and shot fleeing miners.
“In our final arguments, we asked that
Phiyega and Mbombo be charged or, at the very least, face disciplinary action,”
Mpofu said.
Neither Mpofu nor his clients have seen the
report. Mpofu has asked for the report to be made public.
“In the next few weeks, I will hear from my
clients as to what course of action they would like instituted if the report is
not made public. For now, we will give the president due time to consider the
recommendations,” he said.
However, the Farlam report is just the latest
report that appears to question Phiyega’s fitness to hold office.
City Press has learnt of three other
complaints and recommendations made against Phiyega since 2013.
The latest is an “adverse finding” against
Phiyega of a draft report compiled by the “reference group” - a panel of legal
and security experts established by Police Minister Nathi Nhleko in October.
The group was set up to investigate a variety of police issues, including its
administration, promotions, and disciplinary and criminal proceedings involving
senior management.
The group was formed after Nhleko wrote to
Phiyega to say that he had received a number of “concerns” about the functioning
of the SA Police Service. Phiyega told Nhleko she would not cooperate with the
group and then complained about it to Zuma.
A member of the reference group told City
Press last week that a draft report had made “adverse findings” against
Phiyega, and recommended that “remedial action” be taken against her. “The team
found that there was poor leadership and recommended that the minister take
appropriate steps.”
Makgale said he was unable to comment as the
reference group “never discussed their findings” with Phiyega.
Tip-off
In September last year, the National
Prosecuting Authority (NPA) declined to prosecute Phiyega on charges of
defeating the ends of the justice after she was caught on a legal wiretap
tipping off Western Cape commissioner Arno Lamoer about a Hawks investigation
against him.
On the wiretap, Phiyega is heard talking to
Lamoer about a Hawks investigation revolving around his alleged corrupt
relationship with police benefactor and multimillionaire businessman Salim
Dawjee.
The Independent Police Investigative
Directorate (Ipid) investigated the case. Although the NPA declined to
prosecute Phiyega on the basis that “there were no reasonable prospects of a
successful prosecution”, Ipid and a senior prosecutor recommended she face
internal police disciplinary proceedings for irregular and inappropriate
behaviour. City Press learnt from two senior sources that “nothing” has come of
this recommendation.
Makgale said Phiyega was not aware of Ipid’s
findings.
Another serious case against Phiyega centres
around a top-priority Hawks, Ipid and NPA investigation into the alleged
corrupt relationship between the KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner, Lieutenant
General Mmamonnye Ngobeni, and Durban businessman Thoshan Panday.
City Press has learnt that suspended Ipid
head Robert McBride formally recommended to Phiyega that she “start
disciplinary action” against Ngobeni.
“It was after McBride asked Phiyega to take
action against Ngobeni that Phiyega told Ngobeni: ‘They’re asking for your
suspension, but don’t worry, over my dead body’,” a senior police official
close to the Ngobeni matter said.
Makgale denied any such discussion took
place, and added that Phiyega “does not know Panday and has never received a
phonecall from him”.
A senior source close to Ipid said Nhleko was
“directly” briefed on “Phiyega’s role protecting Ngobeni” and that a “formal
recommendation was made that Phiyega be suspended”.
McBride, who was suspended last week, said he
“could not respond to any media questions”.
The Ngobeni case involves charges of fraud,
racketeering and bribery amounting to more than R60m, as well as bribery
charges against Panday and police Colonel Navin Madhoe, who are accused of
attempting to bribe KwaZulu-Natal’s Hawks boss, Major General Johan Booysen,
with R2m.
Booysen was overseeing the investigation into
Ngobeni and Panday’s allegedly fraudulent relationship. This investigation led
to a high court interdict, which Booysen obtained last year, prohibiting
Phiyega from firing him.
“It’s not only the Marikana recommendations
that are causing her headaches. She has other equally large fish to fry,” said
the senior government source. “There’s no way the president and the minister
can continue to look the other way on Phiyega.”
