Detractors 'want me gone so they can loot covert funds' - Phiyega

Suspended national police commissioner Riah Phiyega has hit back at her detractors, accusing them of wanting her out of the way so that they can loot police funds.

She is also determined to clear her name.

"I'm not a killer and I'm no liar," she said in her first in-depth interview since her suspension last month following the release of the Marikana report.

Phiyega insinuated, without naming Police Minister Nathi Nhleko, that certain high-profile individuals were "hellbent" on undoing the tight financial controls in the South African Police Service for their own gain.

"Now I think there is too much control, there is no leeway to do the kind of things they want to do. Maybe the bread basket is too organised for them now.

"You no longer have access to the covert funds because we have processes and controls in place."

Speaking to the Sunday Times at her Blue Valley Golf Estate home in Midrand, Gauteng, Phiyega partly blamed her woes on the systematic breakdown in her relationship with her political boss and accused him of interfering with SAPS structures and operations.

She described her relations with Nhleko as "nonexistent and ultra-complex ... Not sound, and tentative", saying they had not spoken in months. Nhleko, she added, refused to take a call from her on Wednesday and ignored an SMS she sent the same day requesting a copy of a damning report on her.

"I used to have robust discussions with [Nhleko's predecessor Nathi] Mthethwa, he would give political guidance, we would not always agree, but we had the best interest of SAPS at heart," she said.

But Nhleko's spokesman, Musa Zondi, said the relationship between the minister and the national commissioner was "constitutionally defined and does not need to be defined in terms of emotionally laden words like 'tentative'".

On Wednesday, Nhleko released details of the so-called Reference Group report, which said Phiyega had flouted the police and labour relations acts, and was guilty of gross misconduct, fraud and perjury. The group investigated complaints about promotions and suspensions of senior officers and her alleged tip-off to suspended Western Cape police commissioner Arno Lamoer that he was facing fraud and corruption charges.

The report recommended that Phiyega face internal disciplinary charges and be charged criminally, and that another board of inquiry be set up to investigate her.

She is already facing a board of inquiry set up by President Jacob Zuma to investigate her fitness to hold office following the killing of 34 striking miners by police in Marikana in 2012. That inquiry, which was scheduled to hold hearings in January, has been postponed to May.

A separate investigation into her, this time conducted by the parliamentary portfolio committee on police, has also recommended an investigation into how provincial commissioners drafted a statement to express their support for her following the Farlam inquiry's findings on the Marikana massacre.

But on Friday, Phiyega said the endless investigations into her were a smoke screen to conceal ulterior motives.

She cited several examples of what she considered Nhleko's deliberate interference in SAPS operations.

She referred to a staff structure Nhleko presented to the portfolio committee in September wherein he increased the number of deputy national commissioners from three to seven, excluding the Hawks.

Phiyega said that five days after her suspension, the changes were effected, with acting police boss Khomotso Phahlane announcing that some divisions would be merged.

These included facilities and supply chain management.

"Why did the minister present the new organogram to the portfolio committee? Structure is not him, it is me. He is not the DG [director-general] of police. I think they want to disintegrate the controls and governance and then be able to achieve particular things."

For Phiyega, the intentions are clear.

"This is where you see the collusion. He is looking at wholesale changes, changing structures, technology, all the monied areas. So I'm not understanding the proposals that he is putting forward. It is very concerning that he is dabbling in that," she said.

"What I am seeing is that the controls and order are a burden to certain individuals ... people enjoy chaos. I'm sitting back and asking why are we avoiding order, because in disorder a lot can be hidden. And why would we change that which is starting to work?"

Zondi denied that the minister had anything to do with the changed organogram.

"The minister neither has the time, expertise, nor desire to change organograms," he said.

Phiyega claimed that she was never given a chance to explain or defend herself during the hearings of the portfolio committee and the Reference Group.

She said she was asked to leave the portfolio committee meeting when the police commissioners were questioned and never called to give her version of events.

As for the Reference Group, Phiyega said Nhleko ignored a letter she sent late last year seeking clarity on its mandate and questions she raised about its security clearance.

Phiyega claims Nhleko never responded and that she was never contacted by the Reference Group.

"I was never called by anyone. They never invited me, they never asked me for documents."

Zondi, however, put the blame on Phiyega: "The national commissioner never co-operated with the Reference Group, in fact, she went as far as to tell senior managers not to co-operate ... Some senior managers did not attend Reference Group consultations as they said they were not allowed to do so by [her] office".

A confident Phiyega said the accusations against her were "very suspicious" and vowed to fight back.

On Thursday she sent a lawyer's letter to National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete, stating that the police portfolio committee contravened parliamentary rules in the way it had treated her. She has given them until tomorrow to rescind their decision to investigate her, or face court action.

"It's malicious, vindictive and derogatory. I am willing to fight to clear my name," said Phiyega.

She claims she is being targeted because she is a woman.

"As a woman I'm not going to be submissive. They thought I'd be like a wilted flower. I have nothing to lose."

Asked if she ever considered quitting, Phiyega said: "Even if they offer me a farm of gold ... millions ... No golden handshake will let me go. I am hellbent on protecting my integrity. I will leave here with my good integrity intact."

Police committee chairman Francois Beukman denied that there was a witch-hunt against Phiyega and said the committee had left it to the executive to decide on whether another board of inquiry was needed.

"We looked from an oversight perspective as portfolio committees do. We as the portfolio committee can't act as a DC [disciplinary committee], it's impossible ... we evaluated from an oversight perspective. We are not colluding or whatever," Beukman said.

Beukman said it had not been necessary to call Phiyega because the committee was not holding a disciplinary hearing at which she would have had to submit evidence. He said Phiyega would have to raise legal arguments at an inquiry if one were set up.

PANEL FOUND RANGE OF FAULTS

Nhleko's Reference Group, established last year, made several damning findings against Phiyega and recommended she face a raft of internal disciplinary and criminal charges.

The group, headed by Advocate Margaret Kruger, was tasked with focusing on a range of issues, including appointments, suspensions, criminal proceedings involving senior management, operational issues, the Zimbabwean renditions, crime intelligence and adherence to good governance.

It concluded its work in September. A shortened version of its report, released this week, detailed how Phiyega allegedly flouted several police and labour regulations in the promotion and demotion of senior police officials.

Nhleko said Phiyega failed to co-operate with the group, but she claims she was never interviewed, never asked to explain some of her actions, or asked to provide any documentation.

Findings against Phiyega include:

• That she effectively demoted Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya and that he was unfairly dismissed. The panel said Lebeya should be reinstated and compensated. Phiyega, however, said the Labour Court had ruled in her favour and that Lebeya was not demoted, but moved to another position with the same rank;

• That she demoted Major-General Bethuel Mondli Zuma within hours of appointing him as Gauteng provincial commissioner. The group recommended Zuma's reinstatement to the rank of lieutenant-general and that compensation be backdated to September 2013. Phiyega said Zuma had failed to declare pending charges of drunk driving and defeating the ends of justice;

• That Phiyega failed to institute disciplinary charges against disgraced spy boss Richard Mdluli. It recommended that she be charged with maladministration and fruitless expenditure. Phiyega said Mdluli had already been charged when she was appointed and that court cases against him were intertwined with internal procedures; and,

• That Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi was without a job for more than a year and that his performance rating by Phiyega was fraudulent. It recommended that Phiyega be investigated for perjury and defeating the ends of justice and that criminal charges be instituted. Phiyega said Mkh-wanazi, after being appointed the acting commissioner, filled his old post, but had retained his rank and was involved in special projects.

On Friday, Phiyega insisted that she had followed all protocols and that the report was "vindictive" and a "kangaroo court".

She said some of the senior officials named in the report claimed they were never interviewed by the Reference Group.

"How can they make factual findings against me, yet they did not interview me? This report requires a court. I can't be found guilty for things I haven't done."

Said Nhleko's spokesman, Musa Zondi: "There is no record of her [Phiyega] having contacted the convenor ... if indeed she was co-operating. So her contention of co-operation must fail."

The panel said further investigation was needed into, among other things, the use of crime intelligence vehicles bought with covert funds.

princec@sundaytimes.co.za, msomis@sundaytimes.co.za