Parliament – The highly controversial media statement by the country’s nine provincial police commissioners in support of now suspended national police commissioner Riah Phiyega following the release of the Marikana commission of inquiry report was meant to “threaten” President Jacob Zuma, Freedom Front Plus MP Pieter Groenewald said on Tuesday.
“I think…with this statement they actually sort of threatened the President to say if you want to fire the national commissioner just take note all nine provincial commissioners support her and if you fire her you fire all of us,” Groenewald said as Parliament’s portfolio committee on police was scrutinising transcripts of the July meeting of the board of commissioners (BOC) in which it was decided that the provincial commissioners would publicly back Phiyega.
In August all the provincial commissioners, SAPS spokesman Solomon Makgale, and several other members of the SAPS management team were forced to retract the statement and apologise after MPs accused them of overstepping their mandate and “entering the political realm”.
Groenewald said the senior officers embarrassed and discredited the country’s police service.
ANC MP Livhuhani Mabija said she picked up several discrepancies in the minutes of the BOC meeting and the actual transcripts.
“It means they cooked the minutes…to protect themselves,” Mabija said.
The provincial commissioners claimed Phiyega did not instruct them to issue the statement.
However, the transcripts show Phiyega had berated her fellow officers for their “cowering leadership” after widespread criticism of the police following the release of the report into the Marikana shootings which on August 16, 2012, left 34 miners dead.
“We’ve seen how the fires were stoked. We’ve seen the emotive atmosphere…,” said DA MP Zak Mbhele, hinting that Phiyega may have initiated the release of the media statement by the commissioners.
A draft report with proposed findings on whether the provincial police commissioners lied to MPs and, through their actions, undermined President Jacob Zuma’s efforts to implement findings of the Marikana commission which included that Phiyega face a board of inquiry into her fitness to hold office, will be presented to MPs next week.
African News Agency
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