Number 5

by Mandy Wiener

Riah Phiyega sits in the black leather chair that has hosted four men in the past four years. It is hers, for now. But she too, may be no more than a guest. She is an outsider. She will never get straight answers to her questions, she will never get to the bottom of a dysfunctional structure, she will never penetrate an opaque bureaucracy that looks after its own.

The position of National Commissioner of Police is mired in controversy, scandal and corruption. The police force itself is widely disliked. Why would Phiyega, a respected business executive with no experience in policing, accept such a task? And, if she gets to sit in that chair for longer than the four men who left amid flashing cameras, how will South Africa judge her? On doctored crime statistics? On the number of poorly trained rookies who join the service? On the number of policemen killed each year? On the number killed by police? On her loyalty to the president who appointed her?

Mandy Wiener investigates the appointment of South Africa’s first female National Commissioner of Police, and looks ate the state of our police. The more she speaks to senior police officials and retired veterans about the rot hidden within the police force, the more evident it becomes that Phiyega’s task is not merely beyond her... it may be beyond the abilities of anyone.

47 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 13, 2013

About the author

Mandy Wiener is an award-winning journalist for Eyewitness News and Talk Radio 702.