D-day for Phiyega to 'defend the indefensible'

National Police Commissioner General Riah Phiyega will begin her defence of the ‘indefensible’ today when she responds to President Jacob Zuma on recommendations that her fitness to hold office be investigated, says a report in The Times. The Farlam Commission of Inquiry into the Marikana massacre gave her until today to respond to the commission's findings. Analysts believe she has very little room to manoeuvre, with the fact that she took office only two months before the 2012 massacre being her only plausible excuse. Gareth Newham – head of the governance, crime and justice division at the Institute for Security Studies – said it would be hard for Phiyega to ‘defend the indefensible’. He said Phiyega would have to respond to two findings in particular – failing ‘in her constitutional duty to avoid loss of life through the unnecessary use of force’ and the ruling that she gave untruthful testimony and was party to constructing false and misleading evidence. Political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi reportedly told the newspaper he believed she would use as her defence her short time in office prior to the massacre and the fact that the strike was a ‘labour failure’ and a problem the police inherited.