Parliament diary: Stun grenades whizz again, Riah Phiyega hung out to dry

As writer Thando Mgqolozana wryly observed on Twitter, the firing of stun grenades is fast replacing the noon gun as Cape Town’s most recognisable sound. On Wednesday they made an appearance in Parliament once again, this time deployed against Parliamentary workers who are striking for an annual bonus.

The strike in Parliament has been critically affecting the scheduling of what is a very busy time of year for committees concluding reviews, and debating budgets. It means, too, that there have been no translation services available in the National Assembly; something exploited by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) for political mileage, and their own amusement.

The striking workers are being coordinated by the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union, Nehawu. Wednesday morning saw several hundred workers dancing and singing in the Parliamentary precinct, before a breakaway group entered different committee meetings, in turn, to ensure that no essential services were being provided. By noon, the atmosphere had become more volatile, though workers carried no weapons and appeared to pose no direct threat to police.

Parliament went into lockdown after riot police fired stun grenades, with one researcher dragged away by police with blood spotting his shirt. Some Members of Parliament – notably the United Democratic Movement’s Nqabaymozi Kwankwa – attempted to make peace between police and workers. Others took a more condemnatory approach.

“The wrong thing that they did.… was for them to storm into committee meetings,” ANC deputy chief whip, Doris Dlakude, told journalists, as workers milled around, and were intermittently addressed by Nehawu’s leadership.

The central grievance of the strike revolves around annual performance bonuses, with workers claiming that an agreed-upon bonus has not been implemented as negotiated. There are also mutterings about the rigorous security vetting process Parliament staffers have had to undergo recently. One rumour doing the rounds has it that the process has cost R80 million. If Parliament has money for this, the argument goes, why not for decent bonuses?

The figure at the heart of the contention is Parliament Secretary Gengezi Mgidlana, who has been in his job for just less than a year. Mgidlana is widely disliked, seen as arrogant and dictatorial. When Parliament’s Nehawu chairperson, Sthembiso Tembe, told a workers’ meeting held mid-afternoon: “Mgidlana must go!”, he received the biggest cheer of the day.

Dlakude would proceed to assure MPs in the National Assembly that workers had promised not to disrupt committee meetings on Thursday. That was not what Tembe told workers, however. If management did not come to the table, he vowed that Parliamentary meetings would receive visitors on Thursday, once again. He added that reinforcements from Nehawu’s national branch would be forthcoming.

Under the circumstances, it seems unlikely that we’ve seen the last of riot police on the Parliamentary precinct for the week. Police Minister, Nathi Nhleko, was quick to bat away concerns about police heavy-handedness at a press briefing late on Wednesday afternoon, however.

“SAPS have a responsibility to enforce the law,” Nhleko said. “As a country…are we doing our level best to resolve our problems, even before police come to the scene?”

He praised the police’s “honest effort” in dealing with recent protests, saying that the evidence that they had acted “with restraint” was that there had been no loss of life.

“I’ve had this thing about stun grenades,” Nhleko said. “A stun grenade has absolutely no shrapnel. It’s called stun because it stuns you.” He said stun grenades should not be compared to more heavy-duty artillery.

The Police Minister’s primary purpose in Parliament, on Wednesday, was not to deal with protests, however, but to present the results of a ministerial task team, which had looked into human resources complaints at the top levels of the South African Police Services.

The team’s findings were unambiguous: Suspended police commissioner, Riah Phiyega, is the problem. The report concluded that Phiyega committed a string of offences in her time in the post – some of which were criminal. In demoting and dismissing a number of top officials without following proper procedures, Phiyega “caused the SAPS to suffer reputational damage”, “treated members with prejudice and discrimination”, and “caused the SAPS to suffer financial loss through avoidable litigation”.

Phiyega committed the criminal offence of fraud by making one official sign a fabricated performance record, indicating that he had performed well during a period when he was in fact “made to stay at home for more than a year”.

She committed the criminal act of perjury, the report states, when she lied to the court by submitting false affidavits in the case of former crime intelligence boss, Richard Mdluli, accused of fraud, corruption and money laundering. The report recommends that Phiyega be additionally disciplined for having tipped off former Western Cape police commissioner, Arno Lamoer, about a corruption investigation against him. Minister Nhleko noted that the task team’s work was rendered difficult by Phiyega’s refusal to cooperate, which resulted in some documentation not being submitted. Three further teams are now going to take up the matter and formalise charges against Phiyega. Given the severity of the offences Phiyega is said to have committed, journalists had one burning question: Why is she not already behind bars?

“Facing allegations does not mean that you are guilty,” Nhleko replied. “Allegations remain allegations until such time as they get tested.”

Nhleko reminded journalists that the task team which drew up this report is separate from the commission of inquiry tasked by President Jacob Zuma with investigating Phiyega’s fitness to hold office following, the recommendations of the Farlam Commission into Marikana. Whatever the outcome of that inquiry, one thing seems certain: The writing is on the wall for Riah Phiyega. DM

Main photo: Police deploy stun grenades against striking workers at Parliament on Wednesday (Photo: LIEZL VAN DER MERWE)