Claassen report into Phiyega’s fitness to hold office made available to MPs

2nd February 2017 By: African News Agency

Claassen report into Phiyega’s fitness to hold office made available to MPs

Suspended police commissioner Riah Phiyega
Photo by: Duane Daws

The report of the Claassen Board of Inquiry which investigated allegations of misconduct against suspended national police commissioner Riah Phiyega was officially tabled in a meeting of Parliament’s portfolio committee on police on Thursday.

The report, which was classified confidential when sent to the committee, was leaked in December last year.

It found that suspended national police commissioner Riah Phiyega was not fit to hold office and that she was an unreliable witness during the Farlam Commission of inquiry which “has tainted her evidence to the extent that her credibility is seriously in doubt”.

The Farlam Commission, which investigated the deaths of 34 mineworkers on August 16, 2012 during a violent strike by miners in the platinum sector, placed much of the blame at Phiyega’s feet.

Police committee chairperson Francois Beukman said MPs would not immediately discuss the report, since it was still awaiting a decision by President Jacob Zuma. The fact that Phiyega had taken the report on review to the courts also factored into them not immediately discussing the report.

The committee would convene in late March to deliberate on the report.