Cape Town - Almost a year after the findings of the Khayelitsha Commission of inquiry into policing in the city’s largest township were handed to Premier Helen Zille – and three years after the commission was established – it has emerged that the country’s top cop has dismissed both the commission and its findings.
Zille revealed on Friday that police commissioner Riah Phiyega had slammed the commission as an “expensive and resource-hungry paper exercise” whose findings were biased and misdirected.
The police’s 22-page formal response to the commission’s findings was made public on Friday.
The document, addressed to Zille and marked “strictly confidential”, was signed by Phiyega on June 5.
It forms the most comprehensive reply by police since the commission published its 465-page report on August 25.
Phiyega states that the commission, which between January and May last year investigated the state of policing in Khayelitsha, should not have taken place at all.
“The South African Police Service holds a view that the commission of inquiry was not necessary, since the national commissioner undertook to address the issues that were raised by the premier of the Western Cape.”
The inquiry’s findings contained 20 recommendations – from better oversight at the township’s police stations to changes to the model governing how many police officers are allocated to each precinct.
The police response, however, dismisses the findings as biased and containing nothing new as the commission had “highlighted what was already known”.
“The police’s main contention is that the whole criminal justice system should have been investigated, which includes the NPA responsible for prosecutions as well as the Department of Justice responsible for the court services and judiciary”.
The police say that local government officials should have appeared before the commissioners as “subjects of the commission inquiry”.
This argument was repeatedly made during the commission hearings by Norman Arendse, the lawyer for the police, who said the quality of policing and the quality of service delivery were interlinked.
The police also allege the hearings tarnished their reputation by diminishing “the public’s perception of the police.”
Several civil society organisations approached Zille to set up the inquiry after a spate of mob killings in 2011.
The groups, which included the Social Justice Coalition, the Treatment Action Campaign and Ndifuna Ukwazi, argued that the commission would open the door to a better relationship between residents and authorities if its findings were implemented.
Speaking to journalists on Friday when she made public the police response, Zille said she understood Phiyega’s response to be “interim in nature”.
This was because it stemmed from the office of the national commissioner and not that of Police Minister Nathi Nhleko.
Despite the response being labelled “strictly confidential”, Zille said she released it after receiving a police go-ahead.
Weekend Argus asked acting national police spokesman Colonel Vishnu Naidoo whether this was indeed the case, and sent him a copy of the document.
Naidoo did not respond to this and other questions by deadline last night.
Zille also announced her 14-page response to the police report.
In it, she questioned why the police’s response only dealt with the relatively brief findings of the commission, and not the “extensive evidence contained within the report, let alone the days of oral testimony”.
Axolile Notywala, spokesman for the SJC, said the police response was “disappointing and really frustrating”.
“The response itself, and the fact that it came almost a year later, says something about the disregard for people who are living in areas in Khayelitsha suffering from crime.”
He said there had been cases of vigilantism in the township over the past few weeks.
He was concerned that the provincial government and national police were again “falling into a blame game”.
He said while the SJC wasn’t certain if the document was the police’s final say on the matter, it would continue interacting with all roleplayers to improve the lives of Khayelitsha’s residents.
The complainant organisations indicated they would release a more in-depth response soon.
The Timeline
The Khayelitsha Commission into policing in Khayelitsha, first announced by Premier Helen Zille in August 2012, was a provincial inquiry tasked with investigating allegations of a breakdown in trust between the police and residents of Khayelitsha, as well as inefficiency at the township’s three police stations.
It sat between January and May last year.
The commissioners, former Justice Kate O’Regan and advocate Vusi Pikoli, heard 150 hours of public testimony from more than 70 witnesses, including police members.
They then compiled an official report.
A hard copy of the report was handed to Zille on August 25.
The next month she gave a copy to the Minister of Police.
Saturday Argus