National Commissioner reacts to concocted allegations
The National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, General Riah Phiyega, announced today, 25 October 2013, that she has become aware of allegations that a case of defeating the ends of justice has been opened against her in the Western Cape (see The Star report).
Whilst she has not been formally informed of the case, she is aware that the accusation is that she alerted a certain Provincial Commissioner about an investigation Crime Intelligence was conducting against the Provincial Commissioner. Crime Intelligence allege that the Provincial Commissioner had received a bribe from a certain criminal.
Although General Phiyega does not expect her colleagues to behave in such an underhanded manner whereby they concoct a story and then open a case against her, it however comes as no surprise given some of the mischievous activities conducted by Crime Intelligence in the past.
It is clear that this is a lame attempt by certain individuals within Crime Intelligence to discredit her and derail the process of flushing out those within the SAPS who have no integrity and have no interest in taking the SAPS forward. It is interesting that this matter surfaces through some faceless people shortly after her decision to put the former Acting Divisional Commissioner of Crime Intelligence on special leave to allow for criminal and disciplinary investigations to be conducted.
Her message to these individuals who are trying to make SAPS lose focus is as follows: "You can try as much as you like, but you will not succeed. No mud thrown at me will stick. I remain determined to ensure that nothing, absolutely nothing, deters me and my leadership team from the new journey of rebuilding SAPS, especially the Crime Intelligence Division."
Our information is that this matter has been handed to IPID for investigation. We will await contact from IPID should they intend to continue with the matter.
The facts about this matter are as follows:
A parliamentary question was received from the DA as to whether there was an investigation into a bribery matter against a certain Provincial Commissioner. In the normal process of gathering information to enable the Department to prepare a response on the Minister's behalf, the DA enquiry ended up in the Provincial Commissioner's office after passing through various officials. It was at that point that the Provincial Commissioner called the National Commissioner to enquire about the investigation. It therefore cannot be argued that she alerted the Provincial Commissioner about the investigation. Simply put, the National Commissioner committed no crime.
Statement issued by the office of the National Commissioner, Riah Phiyega, South African Police Service, October 25 2013
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