POLICE COMMITTEE ORDERS RETRACTION AND APOLOGY REGARDING STATEMENT OF SUPPORT FOR RIAH PHIYEGA

Parliament, Wednesday, 12 August 2015 – The Portfolio Committee on Police today ordered the SAPS Board of Commissioners to retract the media statement in which provincial commissioners publicly expressed support for General Riah Phiyega. The Committee also instructed the said officials to apologise to the Portfolio Committee, President Jacob Zuma and the South African public at large. 

According to the Committee, the issuing of such a statement was unfortunate and inappropriate in the current set of circumstances. The Committee said this conduct by the said officers blurs the line between the role of civil servants (police officers) and the executive. The Committee said police officers should concern themselves with fighting crime and desist from engaging in political processes.   

The said statement of support was issued on 03 August 2015 and coincided with processes President Jacob Zuma initiated in taking forward SAPS-related recommendations emanating from the Farlam Commission.   The Committee agreed that the conduct by provincial commissioners appeared to undermine such processes and wanted assurances that such actions would not recur in future. 

Provincial commissioners were once more reminded of the role of the Police Service as defined in Section 205 (2) (3) of the Constitution. They were also reminded of the Code of Conduct which all SAPS members are supposed to abide by and as such were discouraged from involving themselves with political matters.  

On Tuesday 18 August 2015, the Committee intends calling before it some SAPS officials who personally issued statements of support for General Phiyega, such as the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner. The Committee will also continue its deliberation on the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act.

Statement issued by Francois Beukman, Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police, Parliament, August 12 2015