DA to file PAIA appeal for IPID report into Phiyega
17 April 2015
The DA has today filed an appeal under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to gain access to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate’s (IPID) report into the conduct of the National Police Commissioner (NPC), Riah Phiyega. This is to determine whether or not the IPID did indeed find that she defeated the ends of justice by tipping off Western Cape Police Commissioner, Arno Lamoer, into a probe for which he is the subject.
This comes after reports, today, confirming that the Western Cape National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) will be pursing the prosecution of General Lamoer. It is alleged that General Lamoer was one part of a corrupt relationship between top police officials and a local businessman who allegedly had apparent links to the criminal “under-world” (see here). Lamoer is also being tried for defeating the ends of justice. It is quite bizarre that Lamoer will be probed and not the person, NPC Phiyega, who is implicated in obstructing the course of justice.
While we welcome the NPA’s decision to prosecute Lamoer it is critically important that all those responsible for nefarious dealings be the subject of court proceedings. If the IPID persists in its endeavour to supress this report I will approach the Western Cape NPA to make public the record of decision to not prosecute Commissioner Phiyega so we may interrogate the veracity of this decision.
Indeed Phiyega’s tenure as NPC has been marred by incompetence and misconduct including:
Throughout the Marikana crisis she showed her lack of knowledge of policing and failed to acknowledge the police’s responsibility in the death of 44 people, going as far as to say that they did not kill them. This is conduct we expect to be indicted by the much anticipated Marikana report;
No progress has been made in addressing police brutality;
She has failed to rectify the resourcing crisis in the SAPS;
No decisive action has been taken against SAPS members found to have criminal records;
She, herself, has been the subject of an investigation by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) for allegedly defeating the ends of justice;
She has failed to institute a court-ordered disciplinary into disgraced Crime Intelligence head, Richard Mdluli;
Under her watch Crime Intelligence has been driven into the ground; and most recently
She has failed to enact SAHRC recommendations that would have ensured the SAPS were pre-warned about the on-going Xenophobic attacks.
Commissioner Phiyega was sold to the South African public because of her much-vaunted ethics and managerial skills despite the fact that she was removed from her two previous five-year contracts.
The suppression of the IPID report will not go unnoticed and the DA will do everything in its power to get to the real truth of the Lamoer-Phiyega relationship and ensure no one is scapegoated. All involved must meet the full might of the law.
Statement issued by Dianne Kohler Barnard MP, DA Shadow Minister of Police, April 17 2015
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