Letter from former National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega to the Chairperson of Polmed, Advocate Mbana, 30 September 2017
SOLIDARITY CONCERNS GENERAL PHIYEGA (ret)
I refer to the letter by Solidarity dated 29 September 2017, which was addressed to the Chief Executive Officer of Polmed.
A. The aforementioned letter is according to me, to the effect, among other things that:
1. Because I was employed on a limited duration contract, when such contract lapsed through the effluxion of time, I did not qualify to be a continuation member of Polmed. The effect of this is that my being a continuation member of Polmed is ultra vires the rules of Polmed and that as such my being a continuation member of Polmed is unlawful.
a. According to the logic above and according to Solidarity I do not qualify to be elected to serve as a trustee of Polmed.
b. My having been elected to the board of trustees of Polmed will, according to Solidarity, result in Polmed suffering serious reputational and financial damage.
2. Furthermore, and in substantiation of their assertions that I should be neither a continuation member nor a trustee of Polmed, Solidarity refers to the Farlam report which, according to Solidarity impugned, my integrity and rendered me unfit to be a trustee of Polmed.
3. Solidarity, on the basis of the above, requests my election as a trustee of Polmed should be disqualified.
B. I wish to respond to avowals of Solidarity as follows:
I wish to place it on record that, as I understand the rules of Polmed, Solidarity has no Locus standi to raise concerns. They are not a member of the scheme as defined by the rules of Polmed in terms of section 6 of the rules. It is only members that, if they feel aggrieved by any act relating to the governance of Polmed, who should lodge a complaint on any matter that concerns them. I put it on record that Solidarity, not being a member of the Polmed medical aid lacks the necessary standing to demand my disqualification from membership and trusteeship of Polmed.
I reject in total Solidarity’s assertion that because of the unique nature of my contract of employment, namely a fixed term contract, on its expiration I do not qualify to be a continuation member of Polmed. I put it on record that I was appointed in terms of the provisions of the South African Police Service Act Section 6. (1) which reads as follows; there shall be a National Commissioner of the Service who shall be appointed in accordance with section 207(1) of the Constitution of the Republic. Section 7 of the Act clearly describes the duration of the National Commissioners and the Provincial Commissioners term of office.
Polmed rules in paragraph 4.26.1 clearly define who is eligible to be a member of the scheme – every member appointed in terms of the South African Police Act of 1995.
I retired, at the expiration of my contract of employment; the employer lawfully terminated my employment. In accordance with the SAPS Act, The President or the National Commissioner, as the case may be, shall notify the Commissioner concerned in writing at least two calendar months before the expiry of the period contemplated in subsection (1), or any subsequent extended period contemplated in subsection (2), whether he or she intends extending his or her term of office or not and, if so, for what period. At the time when my contract ended I was a "current member "duly registered as a member of the Polmed medical aid scheme.
As a member whose employment was lawfully terminated by the employer in accordance with the SAPS Act, I notified the scheme in terms of Rule 6.3.2 of my intention to continue my membership of the Polmed scheme. The notification was done within the prescribed period as per the rules of the scheme. The continuation was duly and lawfully granted. I am thus a bona fide continuation member fittingly defined in 4.26.2 of the schemes rules and as per paragraph 6 of the rules.
I reject in whole Solidarity’s assertion that expiration of my contract of employment would suddenly disqualify me from continuation as member. I submit that the assertion is nonsensical as it does not take into account the unique nature of a contract of employment of the National Commissioner and or Provincial Commissioner as prescribed in SAPS Act.
Furthermore, there is precedence of previous National Commissioners and Provincial Commissioners who retired from the service but whose membership of the medical aid continued.
I can come to no other explanation for the standpoint of Solidarity than that it is vitiated by ulterior, egregious and flagrant motives such as hatred for me or even racism.
Solidarity’s reliance on the Farlam report, which according to them renders me unfit to be a continuation member and trustee of Polmed, is misplaced and unfounded. The Farlam report is the subject of a review application. I submit that before the court has finally determined its status vis-à-vis me, reliance on it is wrong and infringes on my and my family’s right to belong to the medical aid scheme.
As far as the Claassen Board of Inquiry are concerned, the fact that the employer in terms of Section 8 (6) (i) aa (b) and (7) of the SAPS Act did not accept or implement the recommendations of the Inquiry. The findings of the Board of Inquiry are also the subject of a review.
Solidarity’s assertions that the scheme will suffer reputational and financial damage as a result of my membership or trusteeship is not borne out of factual basis. On the contrary the damage to my reputation, financial wellbeing and access to health care will be severely affected were Solidarity to succeed to have me removed from the scheme as a result of their mala fide actions. The action that Solidarity contemplates is of such severe and egregious effect that its entertainment by the scheme would undermine the basis for which Medical Aid Schemes such as Polmed have been established.
I advise that should solidarity take any steps to have me removed as a member of Polmed medical aid scheme or as trustee thereof, I shall exercise my rights as a citizen of South Africa and as a retired continuation member of Polmed who has all the rights of a full member of the scheme.
Kind regards
Signed
Riah Phiyega
General M.V. Phiyega (ret)
Cc Ms Neo Khauoe
