Zuma appoints new police boss

President Jacob Zuma has appointed Lieutenant General Lesetja Mothiba as Acting National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, with immediate effect, the Presidency announced yesterday.

The acting tenure of Lieutenant General Khomotso Phahlane came to an on June 1. Zuma has thanked him for leading the police during his tenure, it said in a statement.

Zuma also congratulated Mothiba, who was the police’s divisional head of management intervention unit, on his new role.

He has also wished Mothiba all the success in his new responsibility.

The position of national police commissioner has not been filled permanently since Riah Phiyega’s appointment in June 2012.

Phahlane was appointed as acting commissioner in October 2015 after Phiyega’s suspension.

He had been serving as the divisional commissioner for Forensic Services at the SAPS prior to his appointment.

Zuma had placed Phiyega on suspension at the time, pending the decision of a board of inquiry which had been established to probe allegations of misconduct, her fitness to hold office and her capacity to execute official duties efficiently.

This was after the release of the Farlam Commission of Inquiry which was established to investigate the deaths of 44 people during an illegal mineworkers’ strike at Lonmin mine in Marikana in August 2012.

Phiyega was appointed to the top position just two months before the violence in Marikana began.

The board of inquiry into her fitness to hold office, compiled by Judge Neels Claassen, states that Phiyega was not fit to hold office and recommended that she be dismissed.

But Phiyega has challenged its findings and has filed a review application.- News24