Cape Town – President Jacob Zuma on Friday dismissed calls for the widening of the board of inquiry into suspended national police commissioner Riah Phiyega’s fitness to hold office.
“President Jacob Zuma has not amended the terms of reference of the Board of Inquiry into the allegations of misconduct by the National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, Gen Riah Phiyega and/or her capacity to execute official duties efficiently, arising from the Marikana Commission of Inquiry,” the Presidency said in a statement.
“The Presidency has received inquiries from media houses on whether the terms of reference had been amended to include new matters that have been brought into the public domain. The terms remain the same.”
Opposition parties, as well as the South African Police Union, called for the terms of reference to be broadened following more damning allegations against her following the release of the findings of the Ministerial Reference Group (MRG) and Parliament.
The MRG, established by police minister Nathi Nhleko last year, found she had to answer to complaints of fraud, perjury, and misconduct.
A task team would be set up to establish what remedial action would be taken against her, Nhleko had said.
The terms of reference of the board of inquiry, Zuma’s office said would include investigating whether Phiyega, acting with others in the SA Police Service leadership structures, “misled the Commission” by hiding the fact that they had authorised the “tactical option” during a management meeting on the day before the killings.
The board of inquiry would also investigate whether Phiyega, while taking the decision to go the tactical route, could have foreseen the “tragic and catastrophic consequences which ensued”.
The President also wants the inquiry to establish whether a report prepared for Zuma, and a media statement issued on August 17, was “deliberately amended” to hide the fact that there were two shooting incidents, “resulting in misleading the public that all the deaths had occurred at Scene 1 which arose out of members of SAPS having to defend themselves from an advancing mass”.
African News Agency
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