Hearing into leadership of Phiyega begins

SUSPENDED national police commissioner General Riah Phiyega will come under the spotlight today as an inquiry into her fitness to hold office begins.

The Claasen board of inquiry, which was appointed by President Jacob Zuma in October last year to look into Phiyega’s leadership role, will sit in Centurion‚ Tshwane.

Zuma established the inquiry following recommendations by Judge Ian Farlam in the Marikana report. The Farlam Commission implicated Phiyega and other police officers in the murders of 34 miners on August 16 2012.

The Lonmin mine strike led to the deaths of more than 40 people‚ including the 34 miners and police officers.

In appointing the Claasen board of inquiry‚ Zuma said it should look into various Marikana report findings, including that Phiyega had misled the commission by concealing a “tactical option” decision by the National Management Forum; that the decision to implement the “tactical option” should have foreseen tragic consequences; that she had undermined the work of the commission by endorsing police action at Marikana, and that she had issued a misleading media statement about the shooting incidents.

Chairman Judge Cornelis Claasen will work together with advocates Bernard Khuzwayo and Anusha Rawjee.

The board is expected to conclude the hearings next month.