Johannesburg - Sparks are expected to fly as suspended national police Commissioner Riah Phiyega and several senior generals embark on a fight-back strategy in the wake of two reports that could lead to unprecedented charges against Phiyega and most of her senior management team.
Police Minister Nathi Nhleko, in Parliament this week, accused Phiyega of fraud and perjury and recommended that she be subjected to a disciplinary process – a step that would require her to appear before a board of inquiry.
The police portfolio committee has submitted a separate recommendation that Phiyega’s entire management team face the music for misleading Parliament.
In what appeared to be the beginning of a long, no-holds-barred battle by the police chief and some of the generals:
* Phiyega fired the first salvo on Friday when she said Nhleko’s report was like a “kangaroo court”. She also instructed her lawyers to tackle Nhleko.
* Phiyega personally phoned Nhleko this week to demand a copy of the report used to denounce her leadership of the SAPS in Parliament. Nhleko apparently did not answer his phone.
* Deputy National Commissioner Nobubele Mbekele served police management with a court interdict on Friday, in an attempt to prevent action being taken against her or any of the other generals who had been working with Phiyega.
* Several senior generals implicated in the committee’s report failed to attend a crucial two-day strategy meeting convened by the acting police chief, Lieutenant-General Kgomotso Phahlane.
Those who did not attend included Gauteng Commissioner Lesetja Mothiba, who submitted a sick note, and KwaZulu-Natal Commissioner Mmammonye Ngobeni, who said she had a prior engagement with the minister of police.
Mbekele did not attend, saying she was ill.
Phiyega’s former spokesman, Solomon Makgale – one of the generals the committee on police has recommended face a board of inquiry – was also absent.
Phahlane is to present his plans for the SAPS to the committee on Wednesday.
Phiyega’s attorney, Sandile July from Werksmans Attorneys, confirmed on Saturday that the police chief had called Nhleko on his cellphone to ask for the report by the Ministerial Reference Group. The minister did not answer his phone, he said.
July said they needed to see the report first before they decided on their course of action
Phiyega had said on Friday she would seek legal recourse.
Nhleko’s spokesman, Musa Zondi, said no communication had been received from Phiyega.
He said Phiyega knew who the reference group’s convener was, but had not “made any effort to contact him”. Zondi said the convener would be able to give her the report.
However, Phiyega said on Friday: “While I do not know who sits on this reference group, the process they used is similar to the kangaroo court, since they have been void of prescribed methods laid out by our legislative framework.”
Zondi said the reference group had been established after Nhleko received complaints from several members of the SAPS.
He said some officers had phoned Nhleko, while others had written to him expressing their unhappiness. A number of them had approached Nhleko when he visited the provinces after his appointment.
“Some of the people physically came to testify and they had documented proof. If there was nothing wrong with the SAPS, why did people come forward?” Zondi said.
He lashed out at Phiyega, saying she had “worked very hard” trying to stop the investigations carried out by the minister’s reference group.
He disclosed that some people had said they would have loved to have participated in the probe.
They alleged they had been instructed by Phiyega not to “co-operate”, he said.
The reference group has accused Phiyega of fraud and perjury and recommended that she face a board of inquiry.
It is believed that a retired judge or a senior advocate would formulate the charges and convene a disciplinary inquiry against Phiyega. The charges would stem from allegations that she tipped off Western Cape Commissioner Arno Lamoer about an investigation against him.
Lamoer has been suspended.
The report has also recommended that Phiyega be made to answer allegations that she suspended the KwaZulu-Natal head of the Hawks and came up with trumped-up charges to protect the province’s commissioner, Ngobeni, from a corruption probe.
Zondi said the recommended processes had started.
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union said on Friday it would continue supporting Phiyega.
“We have always supported the first female police commissioner,” its secretary-general, Nkosinathi Theledi, said. “We have not seen the internal report made public by (Police) Minister Nhleko… but our support for her stands.”
The Sunday Independent