Pretoria - In a bid to save her job and reputation, suspended national police commissioner Riah Phiyega has applied to the high court in Pretoria to review and set aside the findings and recommendations of the Farlam Commission of Inquiry into Marikana.
The commission was set up by President Jacob Zuma to investigate the events at Lonmin mine in Marikana which led to the deaths of a total of 44 people.
Phiyega listed Judge Ian Farlam, advocate Pingla Devi Hemraj and advocate Bantubonke Tokota as respondents.
Retired Judge Farlam was the chairman of the commission and Hemraj and Tokota additional members.
The notice of motion stated that Phiyega wants the findings and respondents' recommendations during the commission reviewed and set aside.
She and her team are now waiting for a court date to be set. Currently the high court is in recess.
Among the findings challenged is that the leadership of the police at the highest level did not to give a true version of how it came about that the tactical option was implemented on August 16, 2012. Also, that it tried to conceal the fact that the plan was hastily put together without public order policing (POP) inputs or evaluation.
“That a decision at the national management forum (NMF) was not disclosed to the commission; an inaccurate set of minutes for the 6.30am meeting was prepared and a number of SAPS witnesses testified before the commission in support of the incorrect version,” Phiyega's submission reads.
The papers also reveal that there was a finding that the statement dated August 17, 2012, which Phiyega read out to the media that same day, created the impression of only one shooting incident and that the most reasonable conclusion is that the report prepared for the president was deliberately amended to obscure the fact that there had been two shooting incidents separate in time and space - and that this resulted in deliberate misleading of the public.
The recommendation that steps be taken in terms of Section 9 of the SAPS Act to inquire into Phiyega's fitness to remain in office and whether she is not guilty of misconduct in attempting to mislead the commission, is listed as another recommendation to be reviewed and set aside. “...the respondents’ verbatim reproduction of the evidence leaders’ heads of argument and the cut and paste exercise undertaken by them is inconsistent with their obligation to apply their minds independently. Therefore the report, to the extent that it made negative findings against (Phiyega), should be reviewed and set aside.”
In her founding affidavit, Phiyega said after a mere 64 days in office as police commissioner, the Lonmin mine incident took place in which 34 miners or strikers were killed during a shooting in which the police were involved.
She said she only sought the court to review findings and recommendations which related to her, nothing else. “Its findings and recommendations insofar as they relate to me have had a tremendous impact on me both as a person and as national commissioner. No doubt, such findings, if inaccurate, or vitiated by illegality, irrationality, bad faith or malice are susceptible to judicial review by a competent court such as this one,” her affidavit read.
The main findings and recommendations Phiyega is challenging are in Chapter 23 and Chapter 15. They pertain to concealing information about certain events that day, her fitness to hold her post and that the report prepared for Zuma was deliberately amended when it was reformulated into a media statement to obscure the fact that there were two shooting incidents and not one.
In October last year the Presidency announced Phiyega’s suspension pending the outcome of the inquiry.
Zuma asked Phiyega to provide reasons why he should not suspend her pending the inquiry. After requesting an extension, she provided her reasons.
But she was subsequently suspended with full pay.
“The suspension is to endure pending any decision that is made following upon the recommendations of the Board of Inquiry into allegations of misconduct, her fitness to hold office and her capacity to execute official duties efficiently,” the statement by the Presidency said.
Pretoria News