Johannesburg - Minister of Police Nkosinathi Nhleko and the Acting National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane, will hold a media briefing in Pretoria on Sunday at which they are expected to announce the implementation of the recommendations of the Farlam Commission, efforts at transforming the police and the re-establishment of specialised units.
Deputy Minister of Police Maggie Sotyu and the national head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks), Lieutenant-General Berning Ntlemeza, will also be present.
Phahlane is expected to explain his implementation of a drastic shake-up of SAPS management structures which is expected to reduce costs, improve efficiency and effectiveness and maximise the fight against crime.
Contrary to expectations, there are not going to be any announcements of further suspensions.
Instead, the briefing will centre on the progress made in establishing a panel that will help guide the Police Ministry on how to implement the Farlam Commission of Inquiry report’s recommendations.
National deputy police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nobubele Mbekela and national police spokesman Lieutenant-General Solomon Makgale were suspended by Phahlane in November. They challenged their suspensions, but the Labour Court ruled their suspensions lawful.
They were suspended after they publicly defended National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega, who has also been placed on suspension pending an inquiry into her fitness to hold office.
The Sunday Independent has been reliably informed that the current transformation efforts of the SAPS by Phahlane form part of the recommendations of the Farlam Commission, and will be explained at the media briefing.
The briefing will also highlight the progress made and the urgency of the establishment of an independent panel of local and international expertise, its structure, and transformation task team that will provide technical support led by the deputy minister. The panel will be led by a retired judge.
A source within the police said the SAPS is obliged to focus on implementing the report’s recommendations within two years, particularly with regard to the police’s organisational structure, operating principles, equipment and infrastructure and training and learning as well as its legislative and regulatory framework.
“The demilitarisation process and progress already made in the SAPS will form part of the briefing,” he said.
Regarding the possibility of the announcement of suspensions, the source said: “No, not out of Sunday’s briefing. Remember that there are parallel processes. There is a criminal investigation which is ongoing and there are cases that directly relate to the killing of the 34, and there are cases that relate before the killing of the 34 where the policemen and security officers were killed.
“Some of the investigations are done by the police and some by Ipid. What may likely flow out of that process will be disciplinary issues which at this stage are not dealt with, as the SAPS will await the recommendations by Ipid.”
The Presidency announced in December that the board of inquiry that will be headed by Judge Cornelis Claasen has become officially “operational”.
Other members of the board are advocates Bernard Khuzwayo and Anusha Rawjee. The board has appointed advocate Liza Tsatsi as secretary.
The inquiry will investigate the report prepared by Phiyega for Zuma on August 16, 2012 and the media statement subsequently issued on August 17, 2012 to see if they were deliberately amended to conceal the fact that there were two shooting incidents at different scenes.
The board will also assess whether the overall testimony by Phiyega at the Marikana Commission was in keeping with “the office which she holds and the discharge of her duties commensurate therewith”.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant-General Baile Brenda Motswenyane has been appointed the North West provincial police commissioner and Lieutenant-General Khombinkosi Elvis Jula will be in charge in the Western Cape.
Both will take up their new positions on February 1.
Meanwhile, Karishma Dipa reports that a bid by the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) to halt Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane’s restructuring of the SAPS has failed.
On Thursday, the Labour Court in Joburg dismissed Popcru’s urgent application to stop what the union had called Phahlane’s unilateral restructuring of the SAPS.
Judge Hamilton Cele ruled that he did not consider the matter urgent. He did not agree with the union’s stance that the restructuring would cause harm.
“There is an absence of irreparable harm and it is just an expression of an opinion. The application cannot succeed and it has been dismissed,” the judge said.
Popcru had filed the court papers in a bid to stop the restructuring of officers at the crime-fighting organisation as announced by Phahlane in Parliament last year.
Popcru’s lawyer, advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza SC, told the court while delivering his heads of argument that the SAPS, including Phahlane, had failed to consult with the union when he instituted the changes.
He said that when they called a meeting to inform them about the restructuring, they provided Popcru officials with only a one-page document detailing the procedures.
“Sufficient information should have been provided to enable all parties to consult.”
Ntsebeza said Popcru had approached the court with the urgent application as restructuring was already under way, and that the process could cause harm to the public as it would affect service delivery.
But advocate Paul Kennedy, for Phahlane, hit back at Popcru, arguing that the restructuring – specifically involving SAPS management – was necessary to improve the work of the police.
He poked holes in the union’s argument that the restructuring could cause harm, and instead said it was merely Popcru’s opinion.
He disputed Ntsebeza’s argument that by the time the council reached a finding, the restructuring procedures would have already happened. Instead, he reiterated that changes to the police structure could be reversed.
Popcru’s Richard Mamabolo said in a statement they were getting increasingly concerned about the continued disregard for procedural agreements displayed by Phahlane.
“As part of the so-called Back to Basics campaign, which is being loud hailed without the necessary resources and has not been discussed anywhere through the involvement of stakeholders, Phahlane continues to undermine the role and decisions of collective agreements and of stakeholders,” Mamabolo said.
Sunday Independent