Johannesburg - Police union Popcru has criticised the parliamentary committee’s inquiry of the nine provincial commissioners for politicking after they publicly backed embattled national commissioner General Riah Phiyega.
And the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union has threatened litigation if the committee did not reconsider.
“They (provincial SAPS commissioners) can come to account to the committee only as far as matters around operations are concerned,” the trade union said on Monday after its national executive committee meeting.
“Parliament can’t become entangled in issues of conduct at operational level merely to push the agenda of getting at the national commissioner, who has become the sole target.
“Parliament’s views, in so far as its monitoring role is concerned, can’t go to the lowest level of the bureaucracy, as we witnessed with the latest inappropriate approach.”
The response, which can be regarded as an indication of the level of politicisation within the SAPS, comes as dates for the parliamentary police committee Rule 201 investigation are expected on Wednesday, when MPs also meet Police Minister Nkosinathi Nhleko.
Police committee chairman Francois Beukman said the trade union’s comments were noted. He invited Popcru to meet the committee, adding it would “nonetheless do its oversight in line with the constitution and the rules of Parliament”.
The provincial police commissioners angered MPs on the committee for meddling in politics through their support of Phiyega, even as President Jacob Zuma has yet to decide whether she should face a board of inquiry.
The Farlam Commission into the Marikana tragedy recommended an inquiry be held after finding Phiyega had misled it.
Zuma wrote to her, asking for reasons why she shouldn’t be suspended for the duration of the board of inquiry, which might recommend her removal.
At the end of June, Zuma asked Phiyega to respond to the commission findings, giving her until July 31 to do so.
A day later, on August 1, the nine provincial SAPS commissioners issued a statement backing Phiyega. They also aligned themselves with her testimony to the commission of inquiry.
The police committee took a dim view of the statement. MPs united across party lines to say the provincial top brass had stepped into politics in a move that blurred the lines between public servants and politicians.
At a meeting with MPs, the provincial police commissioners and two national deputy commissioners apologised to the parliamentarians, Zuma and the country.
And on Friday, the committee decided on a Rule 201 investigation into how the controversial August 1 statement came about.
Parliament’s Rule 201 allows a committee to “monitor, investigate, inquire into and make recommendations” concerning any such executive organ of state it oversees. It’s read together with Rule 138, which allows a committee to “summons any person to appear before it to give evidence on oath or affirmation, or to produce documents”.
However, Popcru on Tuesday rallied behind the provincial top brass, saying they did nothing wrong.
“The provincial commissioner did nothing wrong by supporting their supervisor,” it said.
“If there’s no reconsideration of the (committee’s) stance, litigation will be the route to follow as an option to resolve this unnecessary impasse,” the union said.
The Star