Cape Town – National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega should not be “the sacrificial scapegoat” for the 2012 Marikana shooting in which 34 mineworkers died in a clash with police, the Democratic Alliance said on Saturday.
“The DA welcomes the decision by President Jacob Zuma to institute a commission of inquiry into Riah Phiyega’s fitness to hold the office of national police commissioner,” DA spokeswoman Dianne Kohler Barnard said in a statement.
“We equally welcome the president’s notice to suspend her pending the outcome of this Inquiry.”
Given the importance of the position and its role in ensuring that all South Africans were safe and secure, she should be removed from office while the inquiry proceeded with its deliberations, Kohler Barnard said.
Phiyega’s failings over the past three years had contributed in no small measure to the events the led to the Marikana shooting. She had also overseen the sharp decline of the SA Police Service and affected the service’s ability to protect South Africans.
“While we welcome this Inquiry which is important for exacting justice for the families and loved ones of those that died at Marikana, Ms Phiyega should not be the sacrificial scapegoat, but that the terms of reference also include those that bore the ultimate political responsibility for what happened at Marikana,” Kohler Barnard said.
These included then police minister Nathi Mthethwa, former mineral resources minister Susan Shabangu, and “even the incumbent Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, for putting big business and financial self-interest ahead of the lives of ordinary South Africans exercising their constitutional right to protest for a better life for them and their families”.
The DA looked forward to the full terms of the Inquiry being made public. These should be extended so that the commission not only investigated Phiyega’s fitness to hold office – as required by the report of the Farlam Commission of Inquiry into the events at Marikana – but also investigate her poor record as commissioner, where she had failed to fight crime.
“Ms Phiyega’s track record at the helm of the police service has been disastrous to say the least,” she said.
South Africans desperately needed a well-managed SAPS that they could trust to keep the streets safe.
“We all bear the brunt of a disintegrating police service which lacks effective leadership. This is a welcomed opportunity to get it right,” Kohler Barnard said.
On Friday, the presidency said Zuma had informed Phiyega of his intention to institute an inquiry to look into the “allegations of misconduct and/or lack of fitness for the office that she occupies and/or her ability to execute her duties efficiently with regard thereto, or any other conduct which may have a bearing on her position as head of the police service”.
Zuma had also afforded Phiyega an opportunity to make written representations to him as to why she should not be placed on suspension pending the outcome of the inquiry, it said.
African News Agency