Riah Phiyega inquiry gets underway
A board of inquiry into allegations of misconduct by suspended National Police Commissioner General Riah Phiyega is set to begin in Centurion today.
President Jacob Zuma appointed Judge Cornelis Johannes Claassen as the chairperson of the inquiry in September last year.
Claassen would be joined by advocates Bernard Sakhile Khuzwayo and Anusha Rawjee on the board.
Zuma established the board following a recommendation by the Farlam Commission of Inquiry which saw Zuma suspending Phiyega on October 14 over allegations of misconduct.
The Farlam commission - headed by retired Judge Ian Farlam, investigating the deaths of 44 people killed during strike-related unrest at Lonmin’s platinum mine in Marikana, Rustenburg, in August 2012 - recommended that she face an inquiry into her fitness to hold office.
The hearing was expected to run until June 10 and would be held at the Law Reform Commission offices in Centurion.
The board has been tasked with establishing whether Phiyega and senior police officers under her leadership misled the Farlam commission by hiding the fact that they decided to implement the so-called tactical option - the decision to use maximum force against the hundreds of striking platinum mine workers at a national management forum meeting of senior police leaders, which took place the night before the massacre.
Phiyega's remarks at a police parade held shortly after the massacre in which she praised police for the action they took, as well as the cover-up of the slaughter of fleeing mine workers that occurred at Scene 2, will also be investigated by the board.
(File photo)