Questions over Phiyega appointment
2012-07-23 22:36
Johannesburg - Questions have been raised over the appointment of new national police commissioner General Riah Phiyega, the DA said on Monday.
"Despite President [Jacob] Zuma singing her praises when announcing her appointment, there have now been numerous questions raised around her employment history and previous business interests," Democratic Alliance MP Dianne Kohler Barnard said in a statement.
"General Phiyega has not declared a conflict of interest on two occasions that we know of - XON and now Lefatshe."
According to a report on Monday, Phiyega quit her job as director of Lefatshe Technologies and a few days later headed a fraud and corruption probe into the company.
A few days before investigations began, Phiyega was reportedly still listed as a director on the Companies' Intellectual Property Commission.
Kohler Barnard said this was a clear conflict of interest which was not revealed in her curriculum vitae, handed to the Parliamentary portfolio committee on police.
Phiyega reportedly also came under fire after it emerged she had links with a company supplying the SA Police Service (SAPS) with IT equipment.
She was a director and shareholder in Kapela Capital, which owns a 40% stake in XON, which has IT contracts with the SAPS.
Kohler Barnard said: "Her excuse in the XON case was that she was no longer in the position when it became a conflict of interest.
"This time, she's using the excuse that she was a 'non-executive member' and never had any shareholding."
"All of this information was conveniently left out of the CV which was submitted to the portfolio committee... Inevitably, we must now question whether or not Parliament was deliberately deceived in the appointment process."
Kohler Barnard said she would write to Zuma informing him of the conflict of interest and would ask for an explanation of how her appointment was decided.
Zuma's spokesperson Mac Maharaj said on Monday that he could not comment on the matter.
He said the presidency would await the letter from the DA before it made any comments.
"We'll wait until that."
Kohler Barnard said: "The DA believes that in light of the fact that the two previous national police commissioners turned out to be disastrous appointments... the president would have been most careful to scrutinise the CVs of all candidates."
- SAPA
