General Riah Phiyega, the new national commissioner of police, has ties to a company that provides the South African Police Service (SAPS) with IT equipment.
According to the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission's database, accessed this week, Phiyega is a director of Kapela Capital, a subsidiary of Kapela Holdings, which owns 40% of XON. Her appointment to SAPS was announced on 13 June.
XON has been providing SAPS with equipment since 2003 and continued to do so after Kapela's investment in July 2010. According to its Web site, XON's networking and security unit provides services to the police.
Phiyega, who resigned from Kapela on her appointment, has instructed that her stake in Kapela be sold, but this process is still under way. Her link with the company has raised concerns over a potential conflict of interest, as it was not disclosed to a Parliamentary committee.
Quit
XON CEO Carel Coetzee says Phiyega resigned from all positions she held within the Kapela group, with effect from her appointment as the new national commissioner.
Coetzee says the commissioner has also instructed Kapela to dispose of any shareholding within the Kapela group, effective from her appointment.
Kapela Holdings executive director Israel Skosana says Phiyega's stake is in the process of being sold, as her appointment was only announced about two weeks ago and such deals take some time.
Skosana says the decision is that the sale of the stake will be backdated to Phiyega's appointment date and she will not accrue any benefit from after 12 June.
Coetzee says Kapela cannot just sell the holding to “anyone” as it needs to sell to an empowerment partner who can add value. He says one of the company's current empowerment shareholders is buying the shares.
Other interests
Coetzee says he only met Phiyega once about a year ago and her stake in Kapela was not “her main thing”. He says the commissioner only had a minority stake in the company. “It's really a non-event.”
XON is “of the opinion that no conflict of interest exists” as Phiyega has resigned all her positions and instructed that her stake be sold, says Coetzee. “We wish the commissioner well in her new career.”
SAPS confirms that Phiyega resigned from the companies upon her appointment.
However, the police did not respond to specific questions such as whether the commissioner declared her interests in these companies at the time of her appointment as commissioner, or whether there is a conflict of interest.
Worrying
The Democratic Alliance's shadow police minister, Dianne Kohler Barnard, says Phiyega's CV, presented to the portfolio committee, excluded any mention of her Kapela directorship.
Kohler Barnard says the minister should not have hired someone with links to a company that has been awarded state tenders. “It's beyond outrageous... It's a major conflict.”
The committee has just raised a huge issue about over-expenditure by SAPS in the IT sector and now it turns out that the commissioner - who was in the meeting - had belonged to an entity in the industry, says Kohler Barnard.
Sunday Times recently reported that Phiyega would call in the Hawks to probe a R1.6 billion contract awarded by the SAPS.
The three-year IT contract for a property control exit management system was awarded to Unisys Africa, but it has since emerged that the contract excluded the cost of hardware, consumables and the processing of exhibits, which would cost an extra R800 million, the paper said.
Kohler Barnard says Phiyega's links with the IT company raises red flags as it was not disclosed and she could still have a relationship with her former colleagues.
Share